*There are two performances each evening*
Performance #1: 6:00 - 8:15 PM
Reception - 6:00 - 6:45 PM
Walk/Trolley to the Catacombs - 6:45 - 7:15 PM
Show - 7:15 - 8:15 PM
Performance #2: 7:30 - 9:45 PM
Reception - 7:30 - 8:15 PM
Walk/Trolley to the Catacombs - 8:15 - 8:45 PM
Show - 8:45 - 9:45 PM
Each performance includes a tasting of food and cocktails by Via Carota, followed by a walk through the cemetery to the Catacombs.
We continue our multi-season Catacombs traversal of Beethoven's transcendent final string quartets, with the Ariel Quartet performing String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131. Opening with what Richard Wagner described as “surely the saddest sentiment ever expressed in music," this seven-movement masterpiece is played without pause, creating an expansive, kaleidoscopic musical journey through faith, fear, madness, wonder, and more.
Praised by The New York Times for their "full-blooded, dynamic playing" and by The Washington Post for their "ear-melting tenderness and seething passion," the Ariel Quartet has established itself as one of today’s leading string quartets. They've recently recorded the Op. 131, part of their ongoing exploration of the complete Beethoven String Quartets.
We'll let the great composer Franz Schubert sum things up – after first hearing the Op 131 Quartet, he remarked how "it seems to me to stand on the extreme boundary of all that has hitherto been attained by human art and imagination... After this, what is left for us to write?"
I. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo
II. Allegro molto vivace
III. Allegro moderato – Adagio
IV. Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile – Più mosso – Andante moderato e lusinghiero – Adagio – Allegretto – Adagio, ma non troppo e semplice – Allegretto
V. Presto
VI. Adagio quasi un poco andante
VII. Allegro
Distinguished by its virtuosity, probing musical insight, and impassioned, fiery performances, the Ariel Quartet has garnered critical praise worldwide for more than twenty years. Formed when the members were just teenagers studying at the Jerusalem Academy Middle School of Music and Dance in Israel, the Ariel was named a recipient of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, granted by Chamber Music America in recognition of artistic achievement and career support. Celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2023, the Quartet serves as the Faculty Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where they direct the chamber music program and present a concert series in addition to maintaining a busy touring schedule in the United States and abroad.
Recent highlights include the Ariel Quartet’s sold-out Carnegie Hall debut, a series of performances at Lincoln Center together with pianist Inon Barnatan and the Mark Morris Dance Group, as well as the release of a Brahms and Bartók album for Avie Records. In 2020, the Ariel gave the U.S. premiere of the Quintet for Piano and Strings by Daniil Trifonov, with the composer as pianist for the Linton Chamber Music Series in Cincinnati.
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