Quatuor van Kuijk

Quatuor Van Kuijk is a young French string quartet that has been praised for its masterful interpretations, energy and musical courage. When the Quartet begins with Joseph Haydn’s “The Joke”, be prepared for surprises! The piece, composed in 1781, is filled with musical jokes and is said to have made Clara Schumann laugh aloud in the audience.

Ligeti’s first string quartet, entitled Métamorphoses nocturnes, has a darker tone, as it was written in uncertain times. The piece is imbued with folk music rhythms, and also has traces of the micropolyphony which would later become characteristic of Ligeti. With style traits from both the waltz and jazz, he explores the dynamics, scope and tonal quality a string quartet can generate.

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s String Quartet No. 4 was composed when he was a newlywed 28-year-old who had just been hired as conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. The scherzo of the second movement is particularly “Mendelssohn-esque” in style: shimmering, like a fairy dance. The subsequent andante resonates with a wordless song in the first violin’s expressive melody.

French Quatuor Van Kuijk has been chosen for ECHO Rising Stars, a collaboration between 21 of Europe’s leading concert halls in the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO). The concert is part of Konserthuset’s chamber music weekend from 23-25 March, which will present all of this year’s Rising Stars musicians.

Quatuor Van Kuijk is nominated by Cité de la Musique – Philharmonie de Paris and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.

ECHO Rising Stars is an annual top-level chamber music festival featuring young stars. In a unique and forward-looking partnership between 21 of Europe’s leading concert halls, which belong to the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO), a few young musicians and ensembles from various countries are selected each year and given the opportunity to tour all of the concert halls and perform before an international audience.