International Summer Music
Concert 6

Belcea Quartet

Sunday 19 July 7.30pm

Franz Schubert  Death and the Maiden
Ludwig van Beethoven  Quartet Op59 No 2

Biography  |   Supper menu   |   Audience reviews   |   Summer Q&A

Quotes

'..The Belcea Quartet...brightly illuminated the masterworks they had selected, and shone throughout an evening that was an object lesson in fine ensemble playing...'
Review Vancouver

'The Belcea Quartet... is without question one of the best of the younger quartets...Their playing is artistically sound and technically assured. They bring polish and eloquence to their interpretations — (their playing) is expressive, well-defined, multi-dimensional and irresistibly dynamic and compelling...'
Deseret Morning News Salt Lake City

'...Though barely older than Schubert at the time of his death, the Belcea players gave us playing and interpretation of the highest imaginable standard throughout this demanding program...String quartet playing at this phenomenally high level is a rare experience and one to treasure...'
Crosscut Seattle

Belcea Quartet

Established whilst studying at the Royal College of Music in 1994, the Belcea Quartet has quickly gained a reputation as one of the world's leading chamber ensembles. Their principal teachers were the members of the Chilingirian, Amadeus and later the Alban Berg Quartet. The Belcea Quartet represented Great Britain in the ECHO Rising Stars series and were selected for the BBC Radio 3 New Generations scheme from 1999 to 2001. They won first prizes at both the Osaka and Bordeaux International String Quartet Competitions in 1999 and the Royal Philharmonic Society's Chamber Music Award in both in 2001 and 2003.

In 2001 the quartet began an exclusive recording contract with EMI and won the Gramophone Award for the Best Debut Recording. Subsequent recordings for EMI include Schubert quartets, Brahms’ String Quartet Op. 51 No. 1 and the String Quintet op. 111 with Thomas Kakuska, Fauré La Bonne Chanson with Ian Bostridge, Schubert’s Trout Quintet with Thomas Ades and Corin Long, a double disc of Britten’s string quartets and most recently Mozart’s “Dissonance” and “Hoffmeister” quartets. Their future recording plans include the complete Bartok quartets.

The Belcea Quartet’s international engagements take them to the Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Brussels’ Palais des Beaux Arts, New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Chatelet in Paris and to festivals including Luberon, Istanbul, Trondheim, Lausanne, Salzburg and the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade. In the UK they regularly appear at the Bath, Petworth, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh, Perth and Edinburgh festivals and at Wigmore Hall where they were resident Quartet from 2001 to 2006. They regularly work with leading instrumentalists including Thomas Ades, Isabelle van Keulen, Michael Collins, Imogen Cooper, Piotr Anderszewski, Valentin Erben and Natalie Clein and singers including Angelika Kirschslager, Iain Bostridge, Simon Keenlyside, Lisa Milne and Ann Sofie von Otter.

In 2006 the Quartet has been appointed Quartet in Residence at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

www.belceaquartet.com

Summer Q and A

Corina Belcea

Q1    Who or what always puts a smile on your face?
     My daughter Isabella and a good viola joke!

Q2    What was your earliest childhood memory of summer?
     From about 5 years old, at my grandparents' house in a small village in Romania.

Q3    Are you going anywhere nice for your summer holidays?
     Hopefully Portugal

Q4    What is your favourite city?
    Rome and Sydney

Q5    What are you reading at the moment?
    "Conversations with Menhuin"

Q6    What music are you currently listening to?
     Beethoven Duo Concerto with Till Felner

Q7    What’s your favourite summer drink?
    Fresh Lemonade

Q8    What food would you most associate with summer?
    Nice fresh salads

Q9    Which composer would you most like to have met?
    Schubert

Q10    How would you like to be remembered?
    As a kind, caring person who played the violin well.

Krzystof Chorlski

Q1    Who or what always puts a smile on your face?
     Charlie Chaplin - sometimes that smile is abit tearful.

Q2    What was your earliest childhood memory of summer?
     Being bitten by a bee – I was about 4, I guess...

Q3    Are you going anywhere nice for your summer holidays?
     Israel and Columbia

Q4    What is your favourite city?
    New York

Q5    What are you reading at the moment?
    Thomas Mann "The Magic Mountain"

Q6    What music are you currently listening to?
     Brahms Sextets with the Amadeus Quartet and their guests – so inspiring!

Q7    What’s your favourite summer drink?
    A glass of good rosé

Q8    What food would you most associate with summer?
    Grilled lamb

Q9    Which composer would you most like to have met?
    Schubert

Q10    How would you like to be remembered?
    As someone who made others smile...

After concert supper 6

After concert supper bookings for this concert is now closed.

MAIN: Loin of pork with sage and pear cider, served with parmitier potatoes and seasonal vegetables.  
VEGETARIAN: Mixed bean and tomato goulash with creamed potatoes and green vegetables.
DESSERT: Normandy apple tart served with crème anglais. Coffee/tea.

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