LUNCHTIME RECITAL
Myriade String Quartet
(Participant: 2025 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition)
FREE ADMITTANCE
Retiring Collection
The Programme
Julia Mirzoev – violin
Russell Iceberg – violin
Cynthia Blanchon – viola
Braden McConnell – cello
String Quartet in C, Op 74 No 1
1. Allegro moderato
2. Andantino grazioso
3. Menuetto. Allegro – Trio
4. Finale. Vivace
String Quartet No 2, ‘The Spaniard’
1. Animato
2. Tempo di Menuetto
3. Cantabile
4. Energico
Commissioned by Wigmore Hall and Britten Pears Arts
COMPOSER’S NOTE
Shortly after completing my Second Quartet, I realised that all of its formal features reminded me of moments from Beethoven’s quartets. An edgy, conversational opening followed by a long cello tune; an athletic minuet and trio; a hymn-like slow movement; and a second scherzo for the finale, ending with an extended, impassioned coda. I hadn’t intended to write a Beethoven homage; but neither was the resemblance to my favourite quartet composer a coincidence. So my subtitle is also an oblique reference to him. ‘The Spaniard’ was Beethoven’s nickname at home in Bonn, on account of his “short, stocky build” and “dark-brown facial complexion”; according to his Bonn contemporary and neighbour, Gottfried Fischer.
Judith Weir (December 2023)
The Artists
The Myriade String Quartet is a Participant in the 2025 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition.
The Myriade String Quartet was founded in 2021 at the McGill University Schulich School of Music and works under the tutelage of André Roy.
With members hailing from Canada, France, and the United States, the Myriade String Quartet was selected to participate in the 2021 Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition and was chosen as Artist in Residence at the 2022 Prince Edward County Chamber Music Festival, which included collaborations with Charles Richard-Hamelin, Scott St-John, Angela Park and Sharon Wei of the New Orford String Quartet.
Recent performance highlights include the Chapelle du Bon-Pasteur series, Concerts aux Îles du Bic, a residency as part of the 2023 Unionville Music Academy Competition, the quartet fellowship at the Colorado Music Festival and selection as a senior string quartet for the McGill International String Quartet Academy (MISQA).
Photo © Tam Long Truong
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