(Please Note: This is one of our occasional ‘premium’ concerts for which the price of an individual ticket is £30.)

For today’s concert the Quatuor Modigliani make a return visit to Oxford following their sell-out concert at the Sheldonian in 2023. Founded in 2003, they are recognised as one of today’s most sought-after quartets, featuring regularly in prominent international series and on the world’s most prestigious stages. In addition to annual tours in the United States and in Asia, their numerous European tours have brought them to the Wigmore Hall, Paris Philharmonie, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, Saint-Petersburg Philharmonia and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.

They have established a remarkable reputation for the quality of their musicianship in performance, gaining many plaudits. A review in Süddeutsche Zeitung places them as ‘One of today’s best quartets in the world…Balance, transparency, symphonic comprehension, confident style, their performance reached a very high and inspiring level’. The quartet has also released 15 recordings, many of which have received international critical acclaim. But, at the heart of the quartet’s activities is their encouragement of younger performers through masterclasses and workshops, and their exploration of contemporary music.

For the 100th anniversary of the birth of György Kurtág, the quartet will play his vivid 12 Microludes, complete works in miniature, exploring a variety of individual and ensemble techniques. These pieces reward concentration to experience the richness of sounds. The last quartet that Haydn completed, the Op.77 No.2, illustrates his mastery of the form in its effortless lyricism and verve. The concert concludes with the intense and dramatic Brahms’ Op.51 No.1 quartet.

This will be an afternoon of sparkling chamber music, much to be anticipated.

Amaury Coeytaux (violin), Loïc Rio (violin), Laurent Marfaing (viola), François Kieffer (cello)

Photo credit © Jérome Bonnet