...My thanks are due to the Aroha Quartet and Oleksandr Gunchenko for their wondrously committed efforts, and especially in bringing to life music whose sounds I felt “enlarged my world” that evening....
(Peter Mechen (Middle C, 15/7/24))
Sunday, December 10, 2017 - 9:23pm

10 December 2017 - In 2018 we tour with a programme containing four contrasting but complementary works. Two of them must be amongst the best known string quartets of all: Haydn’s “Emperor” Quartet Op 76 No 3, with its famous variations on an anthem he wrote for Kaiser Franz II, and Dvorak’s “American” Quartet Op 96. Dvorak wrote of this quartet in 1893 “I wanted to write something for once that was very melodious and straightforward, and dear ‘Papa’ Haydn kept appearing before my eyes, and that is why it all turned out so simply.”

Different moods and sound worlds are explored in the other two works in the programme. Ross Carey’s Toccatina (Elegy) was part of our concert of New Zealand music in 2015 and we are delighted to have an opportunity to bring this lovely piece to new audiences. The fourth work is String Quartet No 11 in F minor Op 122 by Shostakovich, a profound work in seven short movements played without a break.

We will be taking this programme to Auckland, Thames, Tauranga, Cambridge, Taupo, New Plymouth, Hawkes Bay, Palmerston North, Wellington, Rangiora, Christchurch, Wanaka and Dunedin between April and November.

Use the 'Concerts' tab to find out more details of our concerts.