The End of a Busy Year!
We look back at 2023 and look forward to the New Year...
As we wind down for Christmas, we have been looking back fondly at the previous year which has been filled with activity for the RSQ! In 2023 we gave 30 concerts and 15 educational workshops, seeing us working up and down the country from Inverness to Cornwall. Time for a break!
Highlights from the end of last season include our weeklong residency in Aldeburgh as Britten Pears Young Artists, covering for the Fitzwilliam String Quartet at York Late Music and our Female Composers Tour. Here we are with Nicholas Daniel OBE after we had the privilege of performing Arthur Bliss’ Oboe Quintet with him at the end of our time in Aldeburgh:
As anyone familiar with our ensemble knows, school visits form a integral part of our work, and wherever we go to perform we endeavour to teach as well. From Rothesay Academy on the Isle of Bute in March to West Buckland School during our most recent tour, we have been expanding our educational wings and gaining valuable experience, allowing us to hone the delivery of our workshops. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that West Buckland School’s Director of Music, Nick Smith, is also an alumnus of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Here we are after giving a performance and masterclass there:
Speaking of our last tour, we began in Inverness and ended in London by way of Cornwall and Devon, performing the second of Beethoven’s Razumovsky Quartets and Mendelssohn’s a minor Quartet alongside Julian Broughton’s String Quartet No. 4 “The Crossing Point”, which was written especially for us. One highlight from our venture into the hedgerows of the Southeast was playing at Lavethan Barn in Cornwall, a venue run out of the home of Krysia Osostowicz, first violinist of the Brodsky Quartet, and her estimable husband Simon. Even in the cold November night, we had a great audience, though having mulled wine on offer probably convinced many of them to come… here is a picture of us with Krysia and Simon, who also happen to be very gracious hosts:
Julian Broughton’s piece was quite a hit among audiences during our tour, weaving together traditional Christmas music from Scotland and England. Many have requested that we record it, so hopefully SONY Music is reading this blog of ours… until they get in touch, below is a short clip of a video we took before our concert in Fletching, where we first met Julian back in 2021. Bonus points go to those of you who can name the two Christmas tunes Julian used…
(Paid Subscribers: the full video of the whole piece will be available in another post for your viewing pleasure!)
Our programme for the beginning of 2024 sees us playing Mozart’s glorious “Dissonance” Quartet as well as Shostakovich’s powerful Quartet No. 3 in F Major, a musical reflection on the Second World War which is ever relevant in our own time. Shostakovich had first hand experience of war. A little known fact is that he enlisted as a firefighter during the brutal Siege of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), all the while writing his Symphony No. 7 “Leningrad” which premiered in the city during the battle wherein one third of the city’s population was killed.
Looking ahead, we hit the ground running on the 14th of January with a concert for Music in Peebles, where earlier in December we gave some workshops at the high school and one of the primary schools, as well as a short performance at a care home in the town. Leveraging support from music societies bolsters our ability to make these visits a possibility and a priority, so thanks to Music in Peebles for sponsoring these endeavours! As live classical music in Britain slowly recovers from the dip in audience numbers brought on by Covid, it’s a ripe time to invite younger generations to experience the rich world of chamber music.
We are taking that programme, slightly modified here and there, all over the country–from Aberdeen to London–so we hope to see you at one of our concerts soon! All details are on our website here.
Wishing you all a Merry and Happy Christmas and all the very best for the New Year.
RSQ