Dublin Guitar Quartet
$28
György Ligeti — Six Bagatelles
Nikita Koshkin — Changing the Guard
Philip Glass — String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima"
Arvo Pärt — Alleluia - Tropus
Kevin Volans — White Man Sleeps
Urmas Sisask — Songs in honour of the Virgin Mary
Leo Brouwer — Cuban Landscape with Rhumba
Cyrillus Kreek — Maga maga Matsikene
Cyrillus Kreek — Mis a sirised sirtsuke
John Tavener — The Lamb
The Dublin Guitar Quartet is a one-of-a-kind classical guitar ensemble that occupies a unique space in the wider chamber music world. It is the first classical guitar quartet devoted to new music. Since its formation, DGQ has worked to expand the limited repertoire by commissioning new works and adapting modern masterpieces from outside of the guitar repertoire. Audiences can expect an explosive, entertaining, and completely novel concert experience.
The Dublin Guitar Quartet perform contemporary music exclusively. Concerts include a mix of celebrated works of the guitar quartet repertoire and modern classics by internationally acclaimed composers such Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Henryk Gorecki and Arvo Part. The quartet are also committed to performing new Irish works. In March of 2004, Lyric FM broadcast their Mermaid Arts Centre concert over two installments of the ‘Horizons’ programme. This concert included a world premier of Four Guitars by internationally acclaimed composer Kevin Volans. The composer became interested in the group on hearing their arrangement of a work he originally composed for New York’s Kronos Quartet and this inspired him to compose a radical new work for their repertoire.
2014-2015 program:
William Kanengiser
Gongan
Nikita Koshikin (Russia, b.1956)
Changing The Guard
Philip Glass (b.1937)
String Quartet No.3 “Mishima” (20’)
Arvo Part (Estonia b.1935)
Psalom
Arvo Part
Alleluia – Tropus
John Tavener (1944 -2013)
The Lamb
Kevin Volans (South Africa, b.1949)
White Man Sleeps
Urmas Sisask (Estonia, b.1960)
Songs in honour of the Virgin Mary
Leo Brouwer (Cuba, b.1939)
Cuban Landscape with Rhumba
Cyrillus Kreek (Estonia, 1889-1962)
Maga, maga Matsikene
Cyrillus Kreek
Mis a sirised, sirtsuke
György Ligeti (Romania, 1923 -2006)
Six Bagatelles
Sponsored by: Francesca Fund, Richard & Dodi Briscoe, Andrew & Jane Hatt, Cad-Based Solutions/Eric Wahl, David & Gail Alskog, Doreen Marchione, Lori Hein & Nora Carlson, Jay & Suzy Wakefield, Kirkland Uncorked
About Dublin Guitar Quartet
Described as a "quartet with a difference" by the Irish Times, Dublin Guitar Quartet is the first classical guitar quartet entirely devoted to new music. Since its formation at the Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama, the DGQ has worked to expand the limited repertoire by commissioning new works and adapting contemporary works from outside of the guitar repertoire.
With the help of eight and eleven-string guitars the quartet has created an original catalogue of arrangements by composers such Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Arvo Part and Gyorgy Ligeti. The DGQ's work has brought the attention of some of the world’s leading composers. This includes an album release on Philip Glass’s Orange Mountain Music label and a new 55-minute commission by Michael Gordon (NY). In April 2015, the quartet performed alongside the Grammy award-winning LA Guitar Quartet, Conspirare, and Texas Guitar Quartet in a premiere of How Little You Are for three guitar quartets and choir by Nico Muhly in Austin, Texas. In 2019, DGQ performed their own reduction of this work in a US tour in collaboration with vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth. The quartet have also premiered a commission by Chicago-based composer Marc Mellits in Syracuse, NY in March of 2016.
In 2010 the quartet were involved in a special performance of Repentance for cello, guitars and double bass by celebrated Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina. The composer was present as they joined the Russian cellist Ivan Monighetti in a concert in St. Peter’s Church, Drogheda. The DGQ's recording of this work was released on the LCMS label in March 2012. In 2008, the quartet was honored to share the stage with legendary American composer Philip Glass in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dundalk. Their recording of these transcriptions reached No.8 on the US iTunes classical charts in 2014.
Other performance highlights include a four-city tour of Colombia and nine tours of North America. The DGQ have also performed at the prestigious chamber music venue, Wigmore Hall in London, and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. They have also performed in many of the leading venues in the US including The Philips Collection Washington, Celebrity Series Boston, Subculture, Symphony Space, Yale University, and the Lincoln Center in New York. In 2019 the quartet performed as one of the jury selected ensembles at Classical Next, Rotterdam.
The DGQ are developing the electric side of their guitar quartet repertoire with works like Amplified a recent commission for electric guitar quartet by Michael Gordon. This was premiered at the David Lang/Bang on a Can curated festival of new music at the National Concert Hall, Dublin in February 2015. The US premiere took place at four-night residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in December 2016.
http://dublinguitarquartet.com/