A bold, young ensemble who performs entire concerts of string quartet repertoire from memory, the Berlin-based Vision Quartet have grown an unparalleled reputation for daring performances. The group won both the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy competition, International Concours de Geneve competition, and coveted Wurth Prize in 2016, establishing them firmly as a top-tier international ensemble. Their Phillips debut may feature well-known works like Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in G Major, Op. 77, No. 1 and Robert Schumann’s String Quartet in A Major, Op. 41, No. 3, but with absence of the printed score as a safety net, their performance will feel anything but familiar.
PROGRAM:
JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809)
String Quartet in G Major, Op. 77, No. 1; Hob.III:81
GRAŻYNA BACEWICZ (1909-69)
String Quartet Op. 4
INTERMISSION
ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-56)
String Quartet No. 3 in A Major, Op. 41, No. 3
Founded in 2012 and based in Berlin, the Vision String Quartet has already established itself as one of the finest young string quartets of its generation. With a unique versatility that focuses on the classical string quartet repertoire alongside their own compositions and arrangements of other disparate genres, the four young musicians are on a mission to re-address with integrity how classical music is presented and perceived by both new and traditional audiences. Their distinctive characteristics of performing all their concerts completely from memory and standing up lend its performances an added intimacy and intensity which has been widely praised.
The year 2016 was a remarkable one for the Quartet as they achieved not only first prize in two major competitions but all the audience and special prizes too. Adding to their successes at Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition in Berlin at the beginning of the year and at the International Concours de Génève at the end of the year, they were also awarded the prestigious Würth Prize in November 2016, only a month after they had received the audience prize at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival. In 2018 they were awarded the prestigious chamber music prize of the Jürgen Ponto Foundation.
The young quartet experiments with innovative concert formats which they have brought to leading classical concert halls such as the Gewandhaus Leipzig, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Konzerthaus Berlin and Philharmonie Luxembourg as well as to prestigious festivals including the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rheingau Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Heidelberg Frühling and the Lucerne Festival. They have hosted concerts in complete darkness, have collaborated on projects with renowned ballet dancer and choreographer John Neumeier and worked together with lighting designers to bring further creative dimensions to their performances.
The 2018/19 season includes the quartet’s UK debut with concerts at the Wigmore Hall, Sage Gateshead and a BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert live from Perth Concert Hall in Scotland. They will play at Amici della Musica in Florence, undertake a tour of Israel with performances in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa and appear in Copenhagen at the Danish String Quartet’s Series of 4. Concerts in Germany include performances at the Berlin Philharmonie, Cologne Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie Essen, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and Bremen’s Die Glocke. The quartet also start an association with Flagey Concert Hall in Brussels, which will see them perform several concerts across the next three seasons including appearances at the Klara and Musiq’3 Festivals.
The Quartet has studied in Berlin under the Artemis Quartet and Günter Pichler of the Alban Berg Quartet at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid. In addition, they have received tuition from teachers such as Heime Müller, Eberhard Feltz and Gerhard Schulz, as well as participating in masterclasses at the Jeunesses Musicales, ProQuartet in France and the Foundation Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz where they were scholarship holders.
Chamber music partners include Jörg Widmann, Eckart Runge from the Artemis Quartet, Haiou Zhang, Edicson Ruiz, Avi Avital, Nils Mönkemeyer, and the Quatuor les Dissonances.