Ireland’s longest established string quartet, the ConTempo Quartet, was founded in Bucharest in 1995 and has been based in Ireland since 2003 as Galway Music Residency’s Ensemble in Residence. They were also RTE’s Resident Quartet from 2014 until 2019 and have performed nearly 2000 concerts in 46 countries. Praised as a ‘fabulous foursome’ (Irish Independent) and noted for performances which are ‘exceptional’ (The Strad) and ‘full of imaginative daring’ (The Irish Times), the ConTempo Quartet has forged a unique place in Irish musical life.

Mozart’s D minor quartet K.421 is the second in the set of six quartets that Mozart dedicated to Haydn, famously describing them as his children and as ‘the fruit of long and laborious efforts’. It is the only one of the set in a minor key and the prevailing mood of intense darkness sets in memorable relief those precious moments where the music moves into a major key and the clouds lift.

Rhona Clarke’s ‘Pas de Quatre’ was written for the ConTempo Quartet in 2009. The title (A Dance for Four) is inspired by the movement between the players as they direct and interact with each other.

Beethoven wrote his set of three Rasoumovsky Quartets in 1806, commissioned by the Russian Ambassador in Vienna, Count Andrey Rasoumovsky. The famously edgy and brittle first movement gives way to one of Beethoven’s most gorgeous creations, the slow second movement which he marked ‘to be played with deep feeling’. The intricate Scherzo is followed by a wild and spectacularly virtuosic finale.

In association with the National String Quartet Foundation.

The ConTempo Quartet

Bogdan Sofei, violin
Ingrid Nicola, violin
Andreea Banciu, viola
Adrian Mantu, cello

Programme

Mozart  String Quartet in D minor K.421 [1783]
Rhona Clarke Pas de Quatre [2009 rev 2023]

Beethoven String Quartet in E minor Op.59 No.2 Rasoumovsky [1806]

About The Contempo Quartet

The Contempo Quartet is the resident quartet of the Galway Music Residency and was RTE’s Resident Quartet from 2014 until 2019. Praised as a “fabulous foursome” (Irish Independent) and noted for performances which are “exceptional” (The Strad) and “full of imaginative daring” (The Irish Times), the ConTempo Quartet has forged a unique place in Irish musical life. The group marks its 30^th anniversary this year.

Since its formation in Bucharest in 1995, the quartet has performed more than 1,800 concerts world-wide in 46 countries, including prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall; Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris; St Martin-in-the-Fields; Berliner Philharmonie; Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome; Carnegie Hall and the Opera House Tel-Aviv. ConTempo have had the honour to meet and play in front of world personalities such as Prince Charles, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, EU Ministers, Michael D. Higgins, Hollywood stars and Nobel Prize winners. The ensemble has won a record of 14 international prizes (including Munich, Rome, Berlin, Prague and London) and worked alongside artists of the highest calibre including Emma Johnson, Yuko Inoue, Hugh Tinney, Chen Zimbalista, Jérôme Pernoo, Peter Donohue and Martin Roscoe. Collaborations with other distinguished quartets have also been a feature, such as the Amadeus, Arditti, Vanbrugh, Casals and Endellion.