Castalian String Quartet: Mozart & Mendelssohn

Wednesday 2 February 2022, 7.30pm
Mathematical Institute

Mozart - String Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K. 421
Fanny Mendelssohn - String Quartet in E flat major
Interval
Felix Mendelssohn – String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80

The Castalian String Quartet returns to Oxford to perform at the Mathematical Institute. Starting with one of Mozart's quartet tributes to Haydn, his String Quartet No. 15 in D minor; this is followed by one of the earliest known string quartets written by a woman composer, Fanny Mendelssohn's String Quartet in E flat major; and ending with Felix Mendelssohn’s final String Quartet, his last major work, powerful and tempestuous.

The concert will be preceded by a talk by Dr Sebastian Wedler at 6.30pm.

Tickets £15, free entry for all under 21s plus Music Faculty students and staff. Book tickets here. Those who can claim free tickets should events@music.ox.ac.uk to obtain the discount code to use at checkout.

Named 2019 Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist of the Year, the Castalian String Quartet’s recent and forthcoming highlights include debut invitations to Carnegie Hall, Vienna Konzerthaus, Paris Philharmonie, Auditorium du Louvre, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Lucerne Chamber Music Society, Brussels Flagey, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Saffron Hall, and the Aldeburgh, East Neuk, Spoleto, North Norfolk, Heidelberg Spring, Rheingau, Mosel, and Dresden festivals.

Formed in 2011, the Castalian String Quartet studied with Oliver Wille of the Kuss Quartet at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik, soon winning 1st Prize at the 2015 Lyon Chamber Music Competition and 3rd Prize at the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition. Their influential teachers to date include Simon Rowland-Jones, David Waterman, and Isabel Charisius. In 2016, the Quartet were selected by the Young Classical Artists Trust, and more recently were named recipients of the inaugural Merito String Quartet Award/Valentin Erben Prize and a 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship.

In only a few seasons, the Quartet have made critically-acclaimed debuts at New York’s Lincoln Center, Banff International String Quartet Festival, the Vancouver Recital Series, Montreal’s Salle Bourgie, and The Philips Collection in Washington D.C. Other highlights include performances at the Hamburg Chamber Music Series, International Musikfest Goslar, Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker, and the Bath, Cheltenham, North Norfolk, Peasmarsh, and Winchester festivals. They were also the resident ensemble at the Esbjerg International Chamber Music Festival in Denmark. Their many notable collaborators have included Aleksander Madzar, Alasdair Beatson, Simon Rowland-Jones, Daniel Lebhardt and Olivier Stankiewicz.

This concert forms part of the Hans Keller String Quartet Residency at the Oxford University Faculty of Music. The Faculty are grateful for the generosity of The Cosman Keller Art & Music Trust for their donation to the Castalian String Quartet to support this concert.

We regret to announce that the quartet will no longer be performing Beethoven's String Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 18/3 or Berg's – String Quartet, Op. 3. Ticket holders will be notified shortly with more information.

2021-22 season: