New Music: The Ligeti Quartet

Mandhira de Saram – Chers Amis

Emily Hazrati – György’s Apprentice

Rolf Hind – L’Esprit de l’Escalier

Sidney Corbett – Suspended Disbelief

Nicole Lizée – Entreflaques

Xiaoyong Chen – The blocked and in between: memories of György Ligeti

György Ligeti – String Quartet No.2

British string quartet the Ligeti Quartet has been at the forefront of modern and contemporary music since its formation in 2010, breaking new ground through innovative programming and championing of today’s most exciting composers and artists. This ensemble has been making waves between classical, contemporary and electronic music worldwide in countries including the UK, Canada, United States, China, Colombia, Germany, Denmark and France.

Recent and upcoming highlights for the ensemble include the US premiere of their latest Anna Meredith album, ‘Nuc at Bang on a Can Festival’ in New York City; a tour showcasing electroacoustic music by various composers at the CrossCurrents Festival in Birmingham (UK) paired with the sister location in Bogota, Colombia; and performances at Kings Place, Barbican Centre and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival alongside concerts in Turkey, Spain, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and the US.

This is my fifth season as the New Music Curator at Kettle’s Yard, and it’s a real pleasure to see just how keen musicians are to come and play in this uniquely special place. We started the year with the fantastic Ligeti Quartet returning to us for the first time since 2018. Their concert set up something of a theme for this series, with great composers from the end of the last century sitting alongside music composed in recent years. Although each concert will be completely different, like the Ligeti Quartet, the Leonore Trio, Marie Schreer, Joseph Havlat and Deni Teo are all mesmerising performers. They can communicate directly with an audience, as they take us through fascinating, beautiful, wild, gentle and engrossing evenings of music.