Gringolts Quartet

Joseph Haydn, the master of string quartets, composed around 70 string quartets in a 40-year period. They all contributed in different ways to establishing the string quartet in the late eighteenth century, and to refining the art in both technique and style.

Gringolts Quartet begins its programme with one of Haydn’s many quartets. The ensemble was formed ten years ago in Zürich by four musicians with roots in Russia, Armenia, Romania and Germany. With a shared passion for all the possibilities of string quartets, they play both the classical repertoire and newly composed music by composers including Marc-André Dalbavie, Jörg Widmann and Jens Joneleit. Highlights from recent seasons have been appearances at the festivals in Salzburg and Lucerne, and on stages such as Wigmore Hall in London and Louisiana in Copenhagen.

Gringolts Quartet also performs the piece Culla d’aria from 2004, by Finnish composer Lotta Wennäkoski, and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat Major, Op. 127, the first of his so-called late quartets. The music was composed towards the end of Beethoven’s life, and carries the weight of his lonely and isolated existence.