The Heath and Fibonacci quartets present a beautiful combination of Britten and Beethoven alongside the unique opportunity to hear Helen Grime’s two distinctive string quartets side by side.

Each string-quartet recital in this Festival contains one of Beethoven’s quartets, and today’s is his wonderful 14th, in C sharp minor. The recital opens with Britten’s Three Divertimenti, written in his early twenties and among his less weighty works. They often serve as appetisers for his own quartets, but they make an equally appealing start to this delicious programme.

Featured Musician Helen Grime writes music of wonderful colour and texture. Today we present her two string quartets side by side; both were written around the birth of her two sons, eight years apart, and they have a lovely sense of seamlessness that encompasses an intriguing range of form.

Helen says: “I’ve never had both my two quartets in one recital before. It will be interesting to see the travel between the two. The first was quite influenced by Britten, and the second has all the stress of childcare and also a sense of calm and hope. And with the Beethoven, there is a really interesting interplay of light and dark in this programme and it all links together".

This recital celebrates the impact of artist development. The Fibonacci Quartet is currently being championed by both YCAT and the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme, whilst the Heath Quartet was a YCAT ensemble two decades ago and now teaches on our own Young Artist Programme.

Heath Quartet:
Sara Wolstenholme violin
Juliette Roos violin
Gary Pomeroy viola
Christopher Murray cello

Fibonacci Quartet:
Luna De Mol violin
Kryštof Kohout violin
Elliot Kempton viola
Findlay Spence cello