Ficino Quartet

Elaine Clark, violin
Lynda O’Connor, violin
Nathan Sherman, viola
Ailbhe McDonagh, cello

Haydn - String Quartet in B flat major Op.76 No.4 Sunrise [1797]
Amanda Feery - From Ashes [2019]
Beethoven - String Quartet in A minor Op.132 [1825]

The Ficino Quartet comprises four of our most decorated musicians who have been playing as a quartet for many years and have featured in every NSQF season. This autumn they present one of Beethoven’s greatest masterpieces, his A minor quartet Op.132. Perhaps most famous for its moving slow movement, the Holy song of thanksgiving of a convalescent to the Deity, the quartet as a whole depicts a quite extraordinary range of emotions, from the urgency and searching of the opening, through the homely conversations of the second movement and the radiance of the slow third movement, to the glorious finale. Amanda Feery’s From Ashes was written in 2019 as a prelude to the Beethoven quartet, introducing and exploring some of its motifs and ideas. They open with Haydn’s famous and always popular Sunrise quartet.

supported by the Arts Council and RTE Lyric FM