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Barbican Quartet – Haydn's 'Sun Quartets' - With Schubert, Schumann, Britten & Mendelssohn
Amarins Wierdsma violin
Kate Maloney violin
Christoph Slenczka viola
Yoanna Prodanova cello
The Barbican Quartet is an original voice on the international chamber music scene. Praised for their unique sound and character, as well as for intensely personal and intelligent performances, the Barbican Quartet celebrates the individual strengths of its members and at the same time forges these into a homogeneous entity, exploring with fervour both the great string quartet repertoire as well as contemporary music.
The Quartet currently holds the Nina Drucker Quartet Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where they coach chamber music.
In June 2024 the Barbican Quartet released their debut CD, “Manifesto on Love”, on the Genuin label. Other exciting highlights of the past season include their debuts at the Elbphilharnonie Hamburg and return visits to the Montreal Chamber Music Festival and the Peasmarch Festival.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe famously described the string quartet as ‘a conversation between four intelligent people’ – elegant, eloquent and full of wit and liveliness. The Barbican Quartet draw together the voices of some of the quartet’s most brilliant and beloved creators in this weekend, from Franz Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn to Benjamin Britten and Robert Schumann. At the heart of their programme is the music of Joseph Haydn, often considered the father of the genre: the gloriously energetic ‘Sun Quartets’ Op. 20 mark a bright new dawn for the ensemble as the most sophisticated and intellectually ambitious of all musical groups.
To complement the four voices of Haydn’s ground-breaking works, we also hear several pieces ‘sung’ by strings: Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn were all consummate song composers, and some of their best-loved lieder are paired here with their original works for quartet to highlight the lyrical nature of their works across genres. Most famous among these is, of course, Schubert’s D minor Quartet ‘Death and the Maiden’. And from virtuoso violist Rebecca Clarke, we hear the achingly beautiful ‘Poem’, only discovered in the first years of this century, but written 100 years ago this year.
Talks on the music are given by Dr Katy Hamilton. A writer and broadcaster, she has provided talks for Wigmore Hall, BBC Proms and the Oxford Lieder Festival, and she is a frequent contributor to BBC Radio 3.
Itinerary
Concert 1: Friday 20 March, 5.30pm
‘Variations: Haydn and Schubert’
Haydn, String Quartet Op.20 No.4 in D major
Schubert, ‘Death & the Maiden’ Song Arr.
Schubert, String Quartet No. 14 ‘Death & the Maiden’
Concert 2: Saturday 21 March, 10.30am
‘Time travel: Haydn & 20th century England’
Haydn, String Quartet Op.20 No.3 in G minor
Britten, String Quartet No.1 in D major
Clarke, Poem for String Quartet
Haydn, String Quartet Op.20 No.5 in F minor
Concert 3: Saturday 21 March, 5.30pm
‘Recitativo & Song: Haydn and Mendelssohn
Haydn, String Quartet Op.20 No.2 in C major
Mendelssohn, Song Arr. (tbc)
Mendelssohn, String Quartet No.2 in A minor
Concert 4: Saturday 22 March, 10.30am
‘From the Classical to the Romantic: Haydn and Schumann’
Haydn, String Quartet Op.20 No.1 in E flat
Schumann, String Quartet No.3 in A major
Schumann, Song Arr. (tbc)
Haydn, String Quartet Op.20 No.6 in A major
Expert speaker
Dr Katy Hamilton
Writer and broadcaster, she has provided talks for, amongst others, Wigmore Hall, BBC Proms and the Oxford Lieder Festival. A frequent contributor to BBC Radio 3, Katy’s specialism is the music of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and she is the editor of Brahms in the Home and Concert Hall (2014) and Brahms in Context (2019). Katy has taught at the Royal College of Music, City Lit, and the Universities of Nottingham and Middlesex.
More tours led by Dr Katy Hamilton
Practicalities
Two sharing:
Standard double US$1,440
Garden Room US$1,730
Single occupancy:
Single bedded room US$1,440
Double for sole use US$1,600
Garden Room US$1,950
Four concerts, talks on the music, accommodation for two nights, breakfasts, two afternoon teas, two dinners, interval drinks, programme, tips for hotel staff.
The Castle is renowned for its excellent service, for comforts traditional and modern, and for its superb catering. It has been owned and run by the Chapman family for over 60 years. Chamber music events have been held here since 1977, and Martin Randall Travel took over the running of them in 2003.
The hotel’s bedrooms are individually and charmingly decorated. Doubles and twins are mainly of a good size, and the largest – the Garden Rooms – overlook the garden.
There is no single-occupancy supplement for the rooms with single beds. The majority of rooms have a bath with a shower fitment.
The hotel has a lift, though some bedrooms are then accessed via stairs. The Music Room is on a mezzanine level, up a flight of stairs from the lobby.
Taunton lies on the doorstep of Exmoor and the Quantocks, areas with some of the loveliest countryside in England.
The event begins on Friday 20 March with afternoon tea available from 3.00–5.00pm (check in is from 3.00pm). The final concert ends at c. 12.30pm on Sunday 22 March.
Dates & prices
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2026
Date
Speaker
Price
Date:
20th - 22nd March 2026
Speaker:
Dr Katy Hamilton
Price:
from US$1,440
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