Part of the Feel Good Festival 01-31 March 2025

The Calidore String Quartet plays Beethoven

Just when you think it can’t get any better at Portico it does….

The Calidore String Quartet RETURNS to Portico for the first time in almost 10 years bringing an all Beethoven programme that will coincidentally be recorded by BBC Radio 3 for its prestigious Evening Concert slot. Recognised as one of the world’s foremost quartets, their repertory ranges from the cycles of quartets by Beethoven and Mendelssohn to works of celebrated contemporary voices like György Kurtág, Jörg Widmann, and Caroline Shaw.

For more than a decade, the Calidore has enjoyed performances and residencies in the world’s major venues and festivals, released multiple critically acclaimed recordings and won numerous awards. The Los Angeles Times described the musicians as “astonishing,” their playing “shockingly deep,” approaching “the kind of sublimity other quartets spend a lifetime searching.” The New York Times noted the Quartet’s “deep reserves of virtuosity and irrepressible dramatic instinct,” and the Washington Post wrote that “four more individual musicians are unimaginable, yet these speak, breathe, think and feel as one”.

Apart from Portico the Calidore has appeared in the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Brussels BOZAR and at countless major festivals. They are set to release Beethoven’s complete String Quartets for Signum Records. Volume I, containing the late quartets, was released in 2023 to great critical acclaim, earning the quartet BBC Music Magazine’s Chamber Award in 2024. The magazine’s five-star review noted that the Calidore’s performances “penetrate right to the heart of the music” and “can stand comparison with the best.”

Supported by Lottery Project Funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland

Supported by Ards and North Down Borough Council