Rising Stars: Armida Quartet

Since the Armida Quartett triumphed at the ARD International Music Competition in 2012, the group’s career has raced ahead at a furious pace. In 2014, the quartet participated in the BBC’s concert series for young musicians, and this season they are Rising Stars. Formed in Berlin in 2006, the quartet is named after an opera by the father of string quartets, Joseph Haydn.

And Haydn will begin the programme with one of the “Russian” quartets – which are known as such because Haydn dedicated them to a Russian grand duke. Beethoven’s quartet also has a Russian connection: Opus 59 was commissioned by the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Count Razumovsky, and for the first quartet in F major, Beethoven used a Russian theme as a tribute to the count. The programme will also include a newly written piece, Tiefenrausch, by Serbian composer Marko Nikodijevic. 

The Armida Quartett was nominated for Rising Stars by Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Elbphilharmonie & Laeiszhalle Hamburg and Kölner Philharmonie.