Viano Quartet speelt Dvořák en Mendelssohn

Viano Quartet

If you win the Banff International String Quartet Competition, you've really got something. The Viano Quartet took home the first prize in 2019. That was quite a while ago, but it is magnificent when you consider that the string players only met in 2015 at the conservatory in Los Angeles and decided to form a quartet. The Boston Globe praised their 'virtuosity, deeply felt expression, and rare unity of intention'. Tonight, they will put this to use for Haydn, Dvořák, and Mendelssohn, but also for the European premiere of the Second String Quartet , 'Dhara' by Reena Esmail.

Dvořák and Mendelssohn

Ah, love as a source of inspiration—where would we, music lovers, be without it? Cypresses began as a series of love songs written by the young Dvořák when he was hopelessly in love with his singing student Josefina. Decades later, he returned to his youthful heartbreak with an arrangement for string quartet. The result: intimate, melancholic chamber music, like a musical diary from long ago. Mendelssohn composed his Fourth String Quartet after his honeymoon with Cécile Jeanrenaud. He was exceptionally happy—and you can hear it; the work sparkles and sings. Yet Mendelssohn could not resist thoroughly revising his quartet before publication. Even in times of happiness, he liked to keep a tight grip on the reins.