Haydn – String Quartet in B flat Op.1 No.1 La Chasse [c. 1757]

Judith Ring – Of Woods and Water [2022]

Dvořák – Cypresses (selection) [1887]

Janáček – On an overgrown path (selection) [1900-1911] arr. for string quartet

Beethoven – String Quartet in E flat Op.74 The Harp [1809]

Formed in 1995 in Bucharest and based in Ireland since 2003 as Galway Music Residency’s Ensemble in Residence, the ConTempo Quartet is one of the most exciting and vibrant chamber ensembles performing today.

They present a programme of music spanning three centuries, from the elegance of Haydn’s very first string quartet to Judith Ring’s folk-infused Of Woods and Water, written in 2022 for the Appalachian Chamber Music Festival in Virginia, USA.

Dvořák’s Cypresses is a collection of love songs arranged for string quartet by the composer, and Janáček’s On an overgrown path is a series of piano pieces, also arranged for quartet, which contain distant reminiscences… so dear to me that I do not think they will ever vanish.

Beethoven wrote three of his best loved and most serene masterpieces in 1809, the Emperor piano concerto, the piano sonata Les Adieux and this magnificent quartet, all in the warm and radiant key of E flat major. The quartet is full of confidence, lyricism and dramatic contrasts, the work of our greatest composer at the height of his powers.

Bogdan Sofei, violin

Ingrid Nicola, violin

Andreea Banciu, viola

Adrian Mantu, cello

Thurs 10 September | 8pm

Tickets €20 / €18 Concession (+€1.50 Booking Fee Per Ticket)