ConTempo Quartet

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

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]

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.

Part of a tour supported by the Arts Council and RTE Lyric FM. This concert is also supported by Cork County Council