The Endellion String Quartet 2019

The String Quartet QUARTET IN RESIDENCE Tuesdays 23 April, 21 May, 18 June, 16 July 2019

The Venue

Leeds College of Music, Quarry Hill

Join the Endellion String Quartet at the Venue this Spring/Summer for its popular annual residency.

A very warm welcome to the new Endellion Spring Series for 2019.

It is a special year for The Endellion’s members because forty years ago on 20 January 1979 we had our first ever rehearsal and began our concert giving. Within a year or so we had played for the first time in Leeds – at The Leeds Grammar School series. Ever since then we have been delighted to be invited to return to Leeds, especially for our annual spring series at The Venue which began in 2004. The majority of the pieces which we have programmed this season are works which we have loved playing for decades. Such is their many-layered profundity, expressiveness and humanity that we can never tire of exploring and revising them; pieces such as Schubert Death and the Maiden or Beethoven Op 127.

We have also marked our fortieth year by commissioning Sally Beamish, Prach Boondiskulchok, Jonathan Dove and Giles Swayne each to write a short piece for string quartet. The unrivalled greatness, rich variety and sheer volume of the quartet repertoire have long nourished us and kept us going. However,

Andrew Watkinson violin

Ralph de Souza violin

Garfield Jackson viola

David Waterman cello

there are relatively few short pieces for string quartet and we wanted to contribute to making good this deficit. So each of these pieces is around four or five minutes long, and as I write this some of them are being delivered and my first impression is of the sheer variety of their idioms.

The classical core of the repertoire is represented

by Beethoven, early, middle and late; early-ish and late Haydn; Mozart and Schubert. We are also very happy to play the wonderfully communicative Bartók No 2, Ravel, and Dvořák Op 80 which we adopted towards the beginning of our quartet life.

It is our pleasure to welcome you to enjoy these masterpieces with us.

David Waterman • Endellion String Quartet

Formed in 1979, the Endellion String Quartet is renowned as one of the finest quartets in the world.

Over the years, its schedule has included regular tours of North and South America and concerts in Australasia, the Far East, the Middle East, South Africa and every West European country.

Everywhere, the Endellion String Quartet ‘sets the audience ablaze’ (Daily Telegraph) and ‘captivates concertgoers with a remarkable rapport, playing to each other with a sense almost of discovery, communicating to the audience on a level of unusual intimacy’ (The Guardian).

In Britain, the Endellion String Quartet has appeared at nearly all of the major series and festivals and is regularly broadcast on BBC radio and television. In 1996 the quartet was winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Best Chamber Ensemble. Its various recordings have been named Chamber Music Recording of the Year by both the Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, Radio 3’s Critics’ Choice and Editor’s Choice at the Gramophone Awards.

The Endellion String Quartet has been Quartet in Residence at Cambridge University since 1992 and has undertaken three short-term residencies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA. Since 2001 it has been Associate Quartet of the Royal Northern College of Music and in 2004 it began its residency here at The Venue, Leeds.

The Endellion is arguably the finest quartet in Britain, playing with poise, true intonation, excellent balance and a beautiful tone. In music of the Viennese Classical composers it has few challengers but it has won praise in a wide repertory, its Beethoven and Bartók cycles being especially admired.

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2000)

Tuesday 23 April, 7.30pm Beethoven

Quartet Op 18, No 3

Dvořák

Quartet No 8, Op 80

Ravel

Quartet

Tuesday 21 May, 7.30pm Beethoven

Quartet Op 18, No 1

Sally Beamish Prach Boondiskulchok Jonathan Dove Giles Swayne

40th anniversary commissions

Schubert

Quartet No 14 (Death and the Maiden)

Tuesday 18 June, 7.30pm Haydn

Quartet Op 20, No 6

Bartók

Quartet No 2

Beethoven

Quartet Op 59, No 1 (Razumovsky)

Tuesday 16 July, 7.30pm Haydn

Quartet Op 74, No 3 (Rider)

Mozart

Quartet No 15, K421

Beethoven

Quartet Op 127

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Ticket prices

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Booking information

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THE CALLS

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Book for all four concerts and save 20% on the cost of your tickets.

Book online www.leedsconcertseason.co.uk By telephone 0113 376 0318

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10am – 6pm, Monday to Saturday.

In person or by post City Centre Box Office Leeds Town Hall, The Headrow, Leeds, LS1 3AD 10am – 6pm, Monday to Saturday.

Cheques should be made payable to Leeds City Council.

Please enclose a stamped addressed envelope if you would like your tickets to be sent to you.

Booking opens 4 February: Priority booking period for existing subscribers to the Endellion String Quartet series.

Please note that this is a separate subscription from the Evening Chamber (Schubert and Friends) series.

Requests for seat changes by existing subscribers will be processed on a first-come-first-served basis from 11–15 February and can be returned to the Box Office any time from 4 February.

18 February: for new subscribers 26 February: general booking opens Subscription renewals may be made by phone, post, or in person. New subscriptions may also be booked online from 18 February.

Access The Venue is fully accessible. Wheelchair users and companions may obtain two tickets for the price of one – details from the Box Office on 0113 376 0318.

Support dogs are welcome. Please let us know in advance of any special access requirements.

The Venue is equipped with an infra red audio system.

This brochure is available in alternative formats – please call us on 0113 378 6600 or email music@leeds.gov.uk for more details.

Talk to us!

If you have any questions or comments about Leeds International Concert Season, please call us on 0113 378 6600 or email us at music@leeds.gov.uk.

For more information on the music and performers visit www.leedsconcertseason.co.uk.

Whilst every effort is made to avoid programme changes, we reserve the right to change artists and programmes without notice if unavoidable.

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