Library of Congress: Meta4 Quartet
Free (registration required)
- Antti Tikkanen, violin
- Minna Pensola, violin
- Atte Kilpeläinen, viola
- Tomas Djupsjöbacka, cello
Dmitri Shostakovich — String Quartet No. 4 in D major, Op. 83
Jean Sibelius — String Quartet in D minor, Op. 56 "Voces intimae"
Dive into the brimming sea of the Meta4 Quartet's musicianship; rarely performing in the U.S., Meta4 offers performances of Saariaho and Sibelius that are analogous to none.
Well known in music centers like the Vienna Konzerthaus and Madrid's Auditorio Nacional de Música, Finland's Meta4 Quartet appears at the Library on a rare U.S. tour. The group is noted for a striking range of color and articulation and "breathtaking levels of technical and interpretive finesse" (The Times, U.K.).
Meta4 brings its distinctive, sometimes flamboyant performing style to works by two composers for whom they have made benchmark recordings, Kaija Saariaho and Dmitri Shostakovich. Saariaho's poetic Terra Memoria ("Earth Memory") is dedicated "for those departed." "Certain memories keep on haunting us in our dreams," she writes. "Even after many years, some of these memories change some remain clear flashes which we can relive." A work by another Finnish master is the concert's centerpiece: Jean Sibelius's String Quartet "Voces Intimae" ("Intimate Voices"), Op. 56.
Preconcert Conversation with the Artists: 6:30pm, Whittall Pavilion
About Meta4 Quartet
Meta4, formed in 2001, is one of the most internationally successful Finnish string quartets. In 2004 it won the first prize in the International Shostakovich Quartet Competition in Moscow and was also awarded a special prize for best Shostakovich interpretation. The quartet enjoyed continued success in 2007, when it won the first prize in the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna. Later that year the Finnish Minister of Culture awarded Meta4 with the annual Finland Prize in recognition of an international breakthrough. Meta4 was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist for 2008–2010 and in 2013 Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation awarded the quartet with a special prize in recognition of its work.
https://www.opus3artists.com/artists/meta4/About Tomas Djupsjöbacka, cello
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