Highlights

THE ARDITTI QUARTET
HIGHLIGHTS

2010 begun with a return visit to the quartet Biennale in the Cité de la Musique, Paris with 2 concerts.

The first on 15th January featured french premiers of Aperghis's quartet movement and Dillon's 5th quartet. The Dillon was premiered at last year's Huddersfield Festival in November.

There was also a world premier of Neuwirth's in the realms of the unreal, her 3rd and long awaited quartet.

The next day Dusapin's latest œuvre for the medium, his large scale 7th quartet Open Time, also received its world premier.

On 21st January in Basle, there was a concert of the 3 quartets of Lachenmann.

The following morning, the composer and the quartet gave a workshop on his quartets.

On 21st February, there was a concert in Oxford, UK of music by Beethoven, Birtwistle and Bartok.

In early March, the quartet gave a composer's workshop at Kingston University.

8 string quartets were selected and rehearsed and discussed with the composers. Two were selected by Victor Ibarra and Diana Soh, and were included in the concert at St Luke's church on 12th March which was presented by the BBC in their series Total Immersion. The programme also included two works by Rihm, his 5th quartet and the Fetzen Cycle for which they were joined by the accordionist Teodoro Anzellotti.

The quartet returned to the Ars Musica festival, this time playing both in Antwerp on 13th and Brussels 14th March.

The quartet gave the world premier of Dufourt's 2nd quartet, which follows close on the heels of his 1st written in 2008.

Apart from this. there was a wide cross-section of music from the quartets repertoire, ranging from Xenakis and Birtwistle to Aperghis, Parra, Paredes and Stroppa. They also introduced the Brazilian composer Felipe Lara who lives in New York.

Further concerts in March will take place in Madrid on the 18th, Barcelona on the 20th, Berlin on the 23rd, Cardiff on the 25th and Cuenca on the 28th. The concert in Cuenca will include a new work by the Mexican composer Hilda Paredes, with the Hilliard Ensemble.

At the end of April the quartet will give the world premier of a work for quartet and orchestra by Dusapin called Quartet no.6 Hinterland with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and Jonathan Nott conducting.