Amaury COEYTAUX, violin

Loic RIO, violin

Laurent MARFAING, violin

François KIEFFER, cello

Programme: Pēteris Vasks, String Quartet No. 6 / Franz Schubert, String Quartet No. 15

The opening concert of the April of Pēteris Vasks’ Music festival will feature String Quartet No. 6 by Pēteris Vasks and String Quartet No. 15 by Franz Schubert interpreted by the Modigliani Quartet, one of the world’s most sought-after and recognised string ensembles in the world.

Vasks’ String Quartet No. 6 premiered in Autumn 2020, when it was performed by another much renowned ensemble, the Artemis Quartet. Commissioned to mark the 250^th birthday anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven, the piece is like an autobiographical look back at the life experiences by the great Viennese composer; its four movements speak of farewells, looking back, leaving and new encounters ‒ including with Beethoven’s own unworldly music.

I thought a lot about the great master and the ways I could include him in my music, which is simple and quite emotional. The whole concept led me to making the first three movements an absolutely personal conversation with himself, with the musicians, with the listeners. The third movement concludes with a kind of departure from this world, but life goes on, in a different dimension. I imagined that this new dimension might be the setting for this incredible encounter where a Latvian 21^st-century composer from a small European country dares to meet Ludwig van Beethoven.

- Pēteris Vasks

January 2022 saw the Modigliani Quartet release a new series of albums with recordings of all fifteen string quartets by the great lieder writer and lyrical composer Franz Schubert. Alongside Vasks’ String Quartet No. 6, the French musicians have chosen to perform Schubert’s final ‒ fifteenth ‒ string quartet, which reveals the heights of the composer’s artistry, his message and ideas that are still a great inspiration today.

Founded in 2003, the Modigliani Quartet is recognised as one of today’s most sought- after quartets, featuring regularly in prominent international series and on the world’s most prestigious stages.

In addition to annual tours in the United States and in Asia, the quartet’s numerous European tours have brought them to Wigmore Hall, the Paris Philharmonie, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Saint-Petersburg Philharmonia and the Elbphil-harmonie in Hamburg.

The Modigliani Quartet also performs and commissions a wide range of contemporary works from composers including Marc-Antony Turnage, Philippe Hersant, Peter Vasks, Kaija Saariaho and Evgeny Kissin.

Supported by State Culture Capital Foundation.

Preschool-age children are not admitted to the event.

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