Juilliard String Quartet

So it’s apt that the four musicians should bring along two works from across the pond for their Elbphilharmonie debut. Their recital opens with a real classic: Dvořák’s »American String Quartet«. In the summer of 1883, the Czech composer visited the quiet town of Spillville, 350 km west of Chicago, where he put his impressions of the vast expanses of the New World to paper. Fascinated by African American gospel music, he produced a score in the space of only two weeks that combines what were new sounds for his ears with the dance music of his native Bohemia.

As quartet in residence at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York, the Juilliard String Quartet is particularly keen to support top young artists. One of today’s most promising young American composers is Tyson J. Davis (b. 2000). He wrote his Second String Quartet »Amorphous Figures«, which was premiered in New York in April 2023, especially for the Juilliard String Quartet.

After the interval there is another classic string quartet on the programme: Schubert’s last string quartet in the key of G major, in which he demonstrated the entirety of his experience as a composer.