BRINGING LIVE CHAMBER MUSIC TO YOU
SPRING SEASON 2026
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SPRING 2026 SEASON OVERVIEW
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Calathea Quartet (14-18 January)
Vanbrugh & Friends (23-25 January)
Lumiere Quartet (4-8 February)
Ora Quartet (1 March)
Banbha Quartet (4-8 March)
Vanbrugh & Friends (27-29 March)
Solas Quartet (8-12 April)
NSQF concert venues Spring 2025
TOUR 1 - CALATHEA QUARTET - January 14-18
Listowel - Tullamore - Cork - Castlepollard - Dublin
Calathea Quartet
Claudia Tarrant Matthews, violin
Eleanor Hill, violin
Martha Campbell, viola
Haydn Wynn, cello
Calathea Quartet
Haydn - String Quartet in B minor Op.33 No.1 [1781]
Erwin Schulhoff - Five Pieces for String Quartet [1923]
Marion Ingoldsby - Struck by a Raindrop [1999]
Britten - String Quartet No.1 in D major [1941]
Cork violist Martha Campbell joins colleagues from New Zealand, Australia and England in this exciting new string quartet
The first of Haydn’s extraordinary set of Op.33 quartets has surprises at every turn, never failing in its miraculous inventiveness. What a way to start the year!
Erwin Schulhoff’s incorporated a huge variety of styles and influences into his music, nowhere more so than in these Five Pieces from 1923. They make up a brilliant, entertaining, and at times parodistic, dance suite, with a Waltz, a Serenade, a Czech folk piece, a Tango and a Tarantella.
Marian Ingoldsby’s Struck By a Raindrop was premiered at Cork’s Triskel Arts Centre in 1999 by the Jupiter Quartet
The first of Benjamin Britten’s three masterpieces for string quartet was written in a toolshed in California in 1941. Its language is immediately accessible, vividly descriptive and of great beauty. Kai Christiansen on earsense.org offers interesting background and a wide selection of recordings of this great work
Click on the venues for bookings (when available):
LISTOWEL - Wednesday 14th January at 8pm - St. John’s Theatre and Arts Centre
TULLAMORE - Thursday 15th January at 8pm - Esker Arts Centre
CORK - Saturday 17th January at 1pm - Triskel Arts Centre
CASTLEPOLLARD - Saturday 17th January at 7.30pm - Tullynally Castle - presented by Derravaragh Music Association
DUBLIN - Sunday 18th January - venue tbc
TOUR 2 - VANBRUGH & FRIENDS January 23-25
Cork - Macroom - Nenagh - Sligo
Vanbrugh & Friends
Keith Pascoe, violin
Marja Gaynor, violin
Simon Aspell, viola
Ed Creedon, viola
Christopher Marwood, cello
Vanbrugh & Friends
Mozart - String Quintet in E flat major K.614
Brahms - String Quintet in F major Op.88
Mendelssohn - String Quintet in B flat major Op.87
The Vanbrugh & Friends present a beautifully contrasted programme of three masterpieces for string quintet.
Mozart always brings charm, elegance and wit, however harsh his circumstances, and nowhere more so than in his gorgeous E flat major string quintet, written in the last year of his short life along with the Magic Flute, the clarinet concerto and the Requiem.
At the head of each movement of his F major quintet, Brahms wrote ‘in the spring of 1882’ and the resulting nickname of ‘Spring’ Quintet is perfect for this extraordinarily uplifting, fresh and joyful music.
The irrepressibly virtuosic outer movements of Mendelssohn’s B flat quintet offer great contrast to an elegantly playful scherzo and perhaps the highlight of the work, the anguished yet profoundly beautiful funeral march
CORK UCC - Friday 23rd January at 1.10pm - venue tbc - Mozart Quintet plus guest appearance by the Meliora Quartet
MACROOM - Friday 23rd January at 8pm - Briery Gap Arts Centre
NENAGH - Saturday 24th January at 8pm - Nenagh Arts Centre
SLIGO - Sunday 25th January at 3pm - The Model
TOUR 3 - LUMIERE QUARTET February 4-8
Listowel - Limerick - Waterford - Cork - Dublin
Lumiere Quartet
Ioana Petcu-Colan, violin
Elaine Clark, violin
Nathan Sherman, viola
Carina Drury, cello
Lumiere Quartet
Maddalena Lombardini - String Quartet No.3 in G minor [c.1765]
Haydn - String Quartet in D minor Op.76 No.2 Fifths [1797]
Donnacha Dennehy - Pushpulling [2007]
Beethoven - String Quartet in F major Op.18 No.1 [1798-1800]
The Lumiere Quartet explores the expressive, authentic, soundworld created by playing with classical bows on gut strings rather than today’s more practical steel strings. For this tour they present three wonderful classical quartets alongside a short work by Donnacha Dennehy.
Maddalena Lombardini was born in Venice in 1745 and became renowned across Europe as a violinist, singer and composer. Her six elegant and lyrical quartets were published in 1769 and so pre-date most of Haydn’s mature works.
Haydn’s Op.76 was his last complete set of quartets, written at the height of his extraordinary powers and for sizeable public audiences befitting his fame as a composer. No.2 in D minor features a virtuosic finale with a distinctly Hungarian flavour
Describing Pushpulling, Donnacha Dennehy writes of the poignancy of ever-elongating pushes away from home, only to return, as sure as night follows day, to the same position again. The Carducci Quartet’s 2023 performance is part of our Irish Quartet Archive, click here.
Beethoven’s iconic F major quartet was written only a year or two after the Haydn quartet but in his first set of quartets the 28 year old composer is already exploring new and boldly original directions. At the heart of the work is a slow movement of great drama and emotional power, inspired by the tomb scene from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Earsense.org offers no fewer than twelve great recordings here
Click on the venues for bookings (when available):
LISTOWEL - Wednesday 4th February at 8pm - St. John’s Theatre & Arts Centre
LIMERICK - Thursday 5th February at 7.30pm - Belltable
WATERFORD - Friday 6th February at 7.30pm - Dr. Mary Strangman Large Room - presented by Waterford Music
CORK - Saturday 7th February at 1pm - Triskel Arts Centre
DUBLIN - Sunday 8th February - venue tbc
SPECIAL EVENT - March 1
THE ORA QUARTET with PAUL GRENNAN, cello
University Concert Hall, Limerick
Benjamin Britten - String Quartet No.2 Op.36 [1945]
Franz Schubert - String Quintet D.956 [1828]
Some of our very finest musicians present two of the greatest pieces of chamber music from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Britten’s second quartet was premiered at the Wigmore Hall, London in November 1945, barely two month after the end of the second world war. In July of that year Britten had travelled to Germany with violinist Yehudi Menuhin to play concerts to concentration camp survivors. He wrote:
“We traveled in a small car over bad roads, saw heavenly little German villages, completely destroyed towns, and millions of d.p.’S – [displaced persons] – some of them in appalling states, who were thrilled to be played to. We stayed the night in [Bergen] Belsen and I needn’t describe that to you.”
He returned home and wrote this dramatic string quartet in which the intensity of emotion is almost palpable.
Quoting Kai Christansen’s article on earsense.org:
the range of dynamics, textures and sonorities is startling, exploiting both delicate polyphony as well as mighty unisons with a nearly orchestral force… the music is modern yet accessible, original yet compellingly "recognizable", ingeniously constructed yet emotionally communicative
Cellist Paul Grennan joins the Ora Quartet for Schubert’s towering string quintet, widely regarded as one of the greatest artistic achievements in Western culture. Francis Humphrys of West Cork Music writes
Schubert’s last years were a race against time. He knew he was fatally ill and this clearly heightened the emotional perceptions of his inspired romantic imagination. He died on 19th November 1828, after a ten-day illness. During the last days he was often delirious, but when he was lucid he spent his time correcting proofs of Winterreise. In the two previous months he had completed the last three magnificent piano sonatas in C minor, A major and B flat; the thirteen songs that make up Schwanengesang; the joyous Der Hirt auf dem Felsen that brings clarinet and soprano together; and, as if that were not enough, this overwhelming quintet. There seems to have been no commission for these works, just a desperate need to keep writing while he still could.
It is likely that Schubert never even heard a rehearsal of the quintet before he died, and the piece lay unpublished in his papers until 1853
LIMERICK - Sunday 1st March at 3.30pm - University Concert Hall
TOUR 4 - BANBHA QUARTET - March 4-8
Castlebar - Ennis - Clonmel - Cork - Dublin
Banbha Quartet
Lidia Jewloszewicz-Clarke, violin
Maria Ryan, violin
Robin Panter, viola
Peggy Nolan, cello
Click here to read more about the Banbha Quartet and its members
Jane O'Leary - Mystic Play of Shadows [1995]
Dobrinka Tabakova - The Smile of the Flamboyant Wings [2019]
Germaine Tailleferre - String Quartet [1919]
Henriëtte Bosmans - String Quartet [1927]
Emilie Mayer - String Quartet in G minor [c.1840-1850]
In association with Finding a Voice Festival, the acclaimed Banbha Quartet marks International Women’s Day with a programme of fine music by women composers from the past three centuries.
Now in her 80th year and honoured with this year’s NCH Lifetime Achievement Award, Jane O’Leary wrote Mystic Play of Shadows in 1995 at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre. It was inspired by the birdsong around the lake at dusk and Jane regards it as ‘one of my very favourite pieces’
Bulgarian-British composer Dobrinka Tabakova is a composer of ‘exciting, deeply moving’ music (Washington Times), with ‘glowing tonal harmonies’ (The Strad). Her lovely 2019 Smile of the Flamboyant Wings contrasts relaxed, playful and tuneful music with a more introverted central section
Germaine Tailleferre studied composition in Paris with Debussy and Ravel and much of her miniature string quartet from 1919 reflects their influence. It culminates in a dramatic finale based on a ‘Saltarello’, a traditional Italian dance.
Henriëtte Bosmans was a celebrated Dutch pianist and composer. Her string quartet dates from 1927 and is based around a beautiful lament, full of hazy, atmospheric colours.
Emilie Mayer was a highly regarded and prolific German composer, a contemporary of Mendelssohn who wrote eight symphonies and a considerable body of chamber music. Her music fell into obscurity after her death and has only been re-discovered in recent years. This quartet is in the traditional classical four movements and features a lovely slow movement and an exciting, highly charged finale
MARKING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY MARCH 8th
in association with
Click on the venues for bookings (when available):
CASTLEBAR - Wednesday 4th March at 7.30pm - Linenhall Arts Centre
ENNIS - Thursday 5th March at 8pm - glór
CLONMEL - Friday 6th March at 7.30pm - Main Guard - presented by Finding a Voice
CORK - Saturday 7th March at 1pm - Triskel Arts Centre (O’Leary, Tabakova, Bosmans, Mayer)
DUBLIN - Sunday 8th March - venue tbc (O’Leary, Tabakova, Tailleferre, Mayer)
TOUR 5 - VANBRUGH & FRIENDS March 27-29
Cork - Rosscarbery - Kilkenny - Fota
Vanbrugh & Friends
Keith Pascoe, violin
Marja Gaynor, violin
Simon Aspell, viola
Ed Creedon, viola
Christopher Marwood, cello
Mozart - String Quintet in E flat major K.614
Brahms - String Quintet in F major Op.88
Mendelssohn - String Quintet in B flat major Op.87
The Vanbrugh & Friends present a beautifully contrasted programme of three masterpieces for string quintet.
Mozart always brings charm, elegance and wit, however harsh his circumstances, and nowhere more so than in his gorgeous E flat major string quintet, written in the last year of his short life along with the Magic Flute, the clarinet concerto and the Requiem.
At the head of each movement of his F major quintet, Brahms wrote ‘in the spring of 1882’ and the resulting nickname of ‘Spring’ Quintet is perfect for this extraordinarily uplifting, fresh and joyful music.
The irrepressibly virtuosic outer movements of Mendelssohn’s B flat quintet offer great contrast to an elegantly playful scherzo and perhaps the highlight of the work, the anguished and yet profoundly beautiful funeral march
Click on the venues for bookings (when available):
CORK UCC - Friday 27th March at 1.10pm - venue tbc - Mendelssohn B flat quintet plus guest appearance tbc
ROSSCARBERY - Friday 27th March at 8pm - St. Fachtna’s Church - presented by Barrahane Music
KILKENNY - Saturday 28th March at 8pm - venue tbc - presented by Music in Kilkenny
FOTA - Sunday 29th March at 3pm - Fota House - presented by the OPW
TOUR 6 - SOLAS QUARTET April 8-12
Clifden - Strokestown - Rathmore - Cork - Dublin
Solas Quartet
Solas Quartet
Katherine Hunka, violin
Marja Gaynor, violin
Cian Ó Dúill, viola
Aoife Nic Athlaoich, cello
Maddalena Lombardini - String Quartet No.2 in B flat [c.1765]
Milo McCarthy - String Quartet Sí an Bhrú [2025] †
Purcell - Fantasia No.4 in F major [1680]
Mendelssohn - String Quartet in E flat major Op.12 [1829]
† first performances
In Clifden, Strokestown and Rathmore, the quartet will end the first half of the concert with a selection of trad tunes from Ireland, England and Scandinavia in arrangements by Marja Gaynor and the Danish String Quartet
The Solas Quartet has been touring for NSQF since 2020 and has built a reputation for exciting and innovative programming as well as brilliant performances!
Our second Lombardini quartet of the series (see Lumiere Quartet February 4-8) opens this lovely programme performed by the Solas Quartet. An elegant and conversational first movement gives way to a playful and virtuosic finale.
Milo McCarthy’s new string quartet, written for the Solas Quartet, is inspired by imagined sights and sounds from ancient Ireland and brings together elements of Irish traditional and contemporary classical music.
Purcell’s F major Fantasia from 1680 was written for four viols but also works beautifully for string quartet and will set you up perfectly for Mendelssohn’s magnificent E flat major quartet. Written by the 20 year old composer during an extended stay in Britain which he often referred to as one of the happiest experiences of his life, the quartet conveys a sense of serenity and well-being. Beethoven had died just a couple of years previously and there is also a sense of homage to the great master, particularly to his Harp quartet, in the same key.
Click on the venues for bookings (when available):
CLIFDEN - Wednesday 8th April at tbc - venue tbc - presented by Clifden Arts Society
STROKESTOWN - Thursday 9th April at tbc - Strokestown Park House - presented by Irish Heritage Trust
RATHMORE - Friday 10th April at tbc - Knocknaseed House
CORK - Saturday 11th April at 1pm - Triskel Arts Centre
DUBLIN - Sunday 12th April at tbc - venue tbc
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