Ensemble | Worldwide Representation, Public Relations
March 13, 2024
Danish Quartet Performs Adès Premiere + More on US Tour in April

Danish String Quartet
North American Tour, April 10-20

Santa Barbara, Irvine, Costa Mesa & Berkeley, CA
Vancouver, BC ◾ Easton, PA 
New York, NY ◾ Athens, GA  ◾Richmond, VA

DOPPELGÄNGER IV 
Premiere of New Quintet by Thomas Adès with
Guest Cellist Johannes Rostamo

Quartet Repertoire by Purcell, Haydn, Shostakovich and Schubert,
Plus Traditional Tunes and Compositions 
by the Danish String Quartet

"...some of the most essential listening of the past decade..."
--The New York Times on PRISM (ECM)

"Phrases were passed around with ease; rhythms and voices doubled seamlessly...This was ensemble music at its purest — a consensus interpretation, rendered selflessly in service of the group as instrument."
--The New York Times
 on DOPPELGÄNGER III at Carnegie Hall, 2023

The Danish String Quartet return to North America in April to perform the fourth and final installment of their DOPPELGÄNGER series, an ambitious 4-year international commissioning project that pairs a new work with its “doppelgänger”—the Schubert quartet or quintet that inspired it. In this DOPPELGÄNGER concert (Santa Barbara, Berkeley, Vancouver and New York), the Quartet is joined by the versatile Finnish cellist Johannes Rostamo (principal cellist in the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra) to perform a new quintet by renowned British composer Thomas AdèsWreath – for Franz Schubert, alongside Schubert’s final chamber work, the masterful String Quintet in C major, considered one of the classical canon’s greatest pieces of chamber music. 

The Quartet have had a long relationship with Adès’s music, having recorded his Arcadiana quartet on their debut ECM CD (2016), and featuring his Four Quarters concerts earlier this year. About this new work, Adès writes in his program note: 

Wreath – for Franz Schubert is a single-movement work for string quintet. The central string trio of violin, viola and cello play arco throughout, a gradually unfolding "lifespan" of entwined "blooms." The outer violin and cello outline them in pizzicato. The players are loosely coordinated, but within specific boundaries, so that within certain limits no two performances would be the same, and the duration is flexible: between fifteen and thirty minutes, depending on the players, or maybe the weather.

The inescapable relation to Schubert's double-cello quintet will be clear, especially to its slow movement. At a recent (devastating) performance of it I was fascinated over again by the role of the second cello—at once lead singer, commentator and umpire.

I am most grateful to the great Danish String Quartet for giving me the time and encouragement to realize and develop this new path in my work.

The DOPPELGÄNGER project previously featured works by Bent Sørensen, Lotta Wennäkoski and Anna Thorvaldsdottir. The new works have been commissioned by the Danish String Quartet with the support of Carnegie Hall, Cal Performances, UC Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures, Vancouver Recital Society, Flagey in Brussels and Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam. 

The Quartet's summer engagements in the US include the Aspen Music Festival and School on July 28, the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder on July 30 and Tanglewood on August 1. 

Biography
Press Quotes
Photos & Digital Press Kit

Danish String Quartet plays "Danny Boy," recorded in Tulsa, OK, February 2024

...they’ve matured into a group that, with seeming effortlessness, conveys the deepest and most thrilling emotions of whatever piece they happen to be playing.
-- The Threepenny Review (Princeton, November 2023)

April 2024 Concerts in North America

Wednesday, April 10, 7:00 PM | Santa Barbara, CA
UC Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures | Tickets & Info
DOPPELGÄNGER IV
With Johannes Rostamo, Cello

SCHUBERT: Cello Quintet in C Major, D. 956
THOMAS ADÈS: Wreath – for Franz Schubert - US Premiere
SCHUBERT: "Die Nebensonnen" from Winterreise (arr. Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen)

Thursday, April 11, 8:00 PM | Irvine, CA
Philharmonic Society of Orange County | Tickets & Info

SCHUBERT: Gretchen am Spinnrade, D. 118 (arr. Danish String Quartet)
HAYDN: String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 20, No. 3
SHOSTAKOVICH: String Quartet No. 7, Op. 108
SCHUBERT: String Quartet in A minor, D. 804, "Rosamunde"

Friday, April 12, 7:00 pm | Costa Mesa, CA
Philharmonic Society of Orange County at Westside Museum | Tickets & Info

An evening of traditional tunes arranged by the Danish String Quartet and the Quartet's original compositions. 

Saturday, April 13 at 8:00 PM | Berkeley, CA
Cal Performances | Tickets & Info

DOPPELGÄNGER IV
With Johannes Rostamo, Cello

SCHUBERT: Cello Quintet in C Major, D. 956
THOMAS ADÈS: Wreath – for Franz Schubert
SCHUBERT: "Die Nebensonnen" from Winterreise (arr. Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen)

Sunday, April 14 at 3:00 PM | Vancouver, BC
Vancouver Recital Society | 
Tickets & Info
DOPPELGÄNGER IV
With Johannes Rostamo, Cello

SCHUBERT: Cello Quintet in C Major, D. 956
THOMAS ADÈS: Wreath – for Franz Schubert - Canadian Premiere
SCHUBERT: "Die Nebensonnen" from Winterreise (arr. Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen)

Tour Dates continue below. 

Danish String Quartet plays Purcell's Chaconne | Recorded LIVE in the Eckhard-Gramatté Hall, Calgary - Feb 12, 2024
Sound and video by Calgary Pro Musica Society

Tuesday, April 16 at 8:00 PM |  Easton, PA
Lafayette College Williams Center for the Arts | Tickets & Info

PURCELL: Chaconne in G minor (arr. Britten)
HAYDN: String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 20, No. 3
SHOSTAKOVICH: String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 108
DANISH STRING QUARTET: Original Compositions and Traditional Tunes (arr. Danish String Quartet)

Thursday, April 18 at 7:30 PM | New York, NY
Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall | 
Tickets & Info
DOPPELGÄNGER IV
With Johannes Rostamo, Cello

SCHUBERT: Cello Quintet in C Major, D. 956
THOMAS ADÈS: Wreath – for Franz Schubert - New York Premiere
SCHUBERT: "Die Nebensonnen" from Winterreise (arr. Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen)

Friday, April 19 at 7:30 PM | Athens, GA
University of Georgia Performing Arts Center | 
Tickets & Info
PURCELL: Chaconne in G minor (arr. Britten)
HAYDN: String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 20, No. 3
SHOSTAKOVICH: String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 108
DANISH STRING QUARTET: Original Compositions and Traditional Tunes (arr. Danish String Quartet)

Saturday, April 20 at 7:30 PM | Richmond, VA
University of Richmond Modlin Center for the Arts | 
Tickets & Info
PURCELL: Chaconne in G minor (arr. Britten)
HAYDN: String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 20, No. 3
SHOSTAKOVICH: String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 108
DANISH STRING QUARTET: Original Compositions and Traditional Tunes (arr. Danish String Quartet)

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