12.04.2011 - 12.04.2011

Concert of The Balthus Quartet

Four instrumentalists from Warsaw, Paris, Bydgoszcz, and Szczecin, have created a unique string quartet in Gdańsk, a famous former Hanseatic town. With all our enthusiasm, passion and devotion to chamber music, we have created a committed and dynamic ensemble performing in Poland and in other European countries.

Balthus Quartet will this time perform with an oboe:
Arnaud Kaminski - violin
Maria Radoszewska - violin
Krzysztof Tymendorf - viola
Kamila Slodkowska – cello
Ireneusz Stawniak - oboe (guest)

Concert’s programme:
1. F. Schubert - String Quartet d minor, D.810 The Death and the Maiden
2. W. A. Mozart - Quartet n°30 with oboe, F major, KV 370
3. A. Dorati - Notturno e capriccio for oboe and string quartet

START: 7.00 pm
TICKETS : 20/15 zl (can be purchased one hour before concert in the Old Town Hall)

The Balthus Quartet was founded in 2008 and is composed of young artists from the Paris Conservatoire and The Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music.

Members of the Quartet comprise scholarship students from the Polish Ministry of Culture and laureates from numerous national and international competitions. Our members have given regular concerts and have participated in diverse festivals dealing not only with the classical genres but also with different art forms. These festivals have taken place in many countries including Germany, Austria, France, England, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Italy and Poland. They have also recorded for Deutschlandradio Kultur and Radio Wien.

Our members have taken part in master classes, workshops and personal lessons from some of the greatest musicians performing in string quartets and chamber music ensembles as well as from famous soloists. The former include the Alban Berg Quartett (Vienna), the Apollon Musagete Quartett (Vienna), the Royal String Quartet (Warsaw), the Artis Quartett (Vienna), the Quatuor Enesco (Paris), and the European Chamber Music Academy. The soloists include Ivry Gitlis, Avri Levitan, Enrico Bronzi, Stefan Popow, Averis Kuyumjian, Sergiej Stadler, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka and Roland Daugareil.

Balthus – Count Balthasar Klossowski de Rola – (1908-2001) is the Quartet’s patron. Although somewhat disregarded in recent years, he remains one of the great artists in the pantheon of music – having created a whole mysterious universe of artistic and emotional discovery – and deserves our fullest and profound contemplation.

www.balthusquartet.com