Friends of Chamber Music unveils a 75th anniversary season with Takacs Quartet, Emerson Quartet, and more

Lineup for 2022-23 also includes Casals Quartet, Cremona Quartet, and Juilliard String Quartet

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Takacs Quartet

Emerson String Quartet

 
 

Friends of Chamber Music has announced it will celebrate its 75th-anniversary season with a stellar lineup of diverse quartets and trios.

Many of the ensembles visiting the Vancouver Playhouse for the 2022-23 season have long, rich relationships with both Friends of Chamber Music and its audiences.

Cremona Quartet kicks off the season on October 25 in its second concert with the organization. Now in its 20th year, the quartet has toured extensively in Europe, Asia, and North and South America.

On November 15, the Czech Republic’s foremost chamber ensemble, Smetana Trio, renowned for its focus and beauty, makes a return visit to Friends of Chamber Music. Founded back in 1934, the group is currently comprised of Jitka Cechová (piano), Jan Talich (violin), and Jan Pálenícek (cello).

 

Juilliard String Quartet plays here November 22. Photo by Erin Baiano

 

Juilliard String Quartet, hailed by the Boston Globe as “the most important quartet in American history” hits town soon after, on November 22.

December 4 sees the return of the celebrated Emerson String Quartet, winner of nine Grammy awards and four Gramophone Awards, praised for its “Extraordinary fusion of experience and authority with audacity and freshness” by the Boston Globe.

In the new year, Han Finckel Setzer Trio, a group of experienced chamber musicians—two from Lincoln Center and a member of the Emersion Quartet—play here on February 7.

The reliably excellent American ensemble Takacs Quartet visits Friends of Chamber Music on February 21. Entering its 48th season. the ensemble features violinists Edward Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes, violist Richard O’Neill, and cellist András Fejér.

 

Casals Quartet. Photo by David Ruano

 

Soon after, Barcelona’s Casals Quartet (also known as Cuarteto Casals) marks the 25th anniversary since its first visit to Vancouver with a concert on February 28. “No other group can match this group’s four–voiced marriage with its particular blend of fine honed precision and passionate expressiveness,“ the Independent has raved about these string masters.

March 14, England’s Elias Quartet makes its second appearance with Friends of Chamber Music. The ensemble has been praised for its “diligence, candour, and unguarded searching commitment” by the Guardian.

And don’t miss the young Lincoln Center Musicians on March 26, when piano virtuoso Wu Han will lead young musicians Bella Hristova (violin) Dmitri Atapine (cello) in works of Arensky and Brahms.

Stay tuned to the Friends of Chamber Music website for subscription information coming soon.

Post sponsored by Friends of Chamber Music