Castalian String Quartet
Mozart / Bray / Sibelius
Music connects
A Finnish nomad, a Welsh Liverpool fan, a British yoga instructor and a London watercolourist; two women and two men: the members of the Castalian String Quartet are the perfect proof that nothing counts in music – except the music itself. Founded in Hanover ten years ago, the quartet has won a whole number of international awards since then and appears in concert all over the world – in London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall as well as in exotic locations such as prisons and the Columbian rain forest. The Castalian String Quartet now makes its long-overdue debut at the Elbphilharmonie with works by Mozart and Sibelius plus the first performance of a piece by British composer Charlotte Bray.
Ms Bray, who now lives in Berlin, has written spirited and often very emotional works for famous interpreters, among them the London Philharmonic Orchestra and viola player Tabea Zimmermann. Her new composition is her very first for string quartet. It was inspired by a new installation by London-based artist Caroline Burraway comprising 13 children’s dresses handmade from discarded refugee lifejackets, which is exhibited in the foyer before and after the concert..
Mozart likewise only approached the genre after »a long and taxing effort«. He is said to have written his D minor quartet while his wife Constanze was giving birth in the same room. D minor is also the key that Jean Sibelius chose for his best-known piece of chamber music, which points towards the modern age in dark and mysterious tones.
Performers
Castalian String Quartet
Sini Simonen violin
Daniel Roberts violin
Ruth Chinyere Gibson viola
Christopher Graves violoncello
Programme
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Streichquartett d-Moll KV 417b
Charlotte Bray
Ungrievable Lives (Uraufführung)
– Interval –
Jean Sibelius
Streichquartett d-Moll op. 56 »Voces intimae«
Encore:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Andante / aus: Streichquartett F-Dur KV 590
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