Adventurous spring programme
 
In the coming two months, the Utrecht String Quartet will be presenting a concert programme that is completely in line with the surprising and audacious nature on which the USQ’s international reputation is based. Accompanied by bandoneonist Per Arne Glorvigen, the Utrecht ensemble will be performing works by A. Esphai and the world première of a work by C. Micháns.
 
The passion of the Utrecht quartet is for rediscovering forgotten composers, especially from the period from 1880 to 1940. However, the ensemble also regularly performs new compositions written on commission and gladly combines these with classical and romantic works for string quartet.
 

HIGHLIGHTS
* 8 March: Dutch première of Concordia Discordans by A. Esphai.
Zeewolde, De Verbeelding.

* 16 March: world première of Dravidian Moods for oboe and string quartet (2008) (Five Movements on South Indian themes), a commissioned piece by C. Micháns.
Utrecht, Vredenburg-Leeuwenberg.

* 29 March: Dutch première of Duda y Fuerza for bandoneon and string quartet (2007) with the well-known Norwegian bandoneonist Per Arne Glorvigen. Amsterdam, Felix Meritis.

What the press said

> Op het mooie Duitse label Dabringhaus und Grimm heeft het Utrecht String Quartet van Delden’s drie strijkkwartetten vastgelegd. Het Utrecht String Quartet speelt de stukken alsof het kernrepertoire is. Het Parool 07/07

> Van Delden’s earlier scores win the listener with a charged intensity; the late ones add a freewheeling sense of fantasy and humor.
New York Times 07/07

> So, wie von den hochmotivierten Utrechtern hier kredenzt, wird Kammermusik zum Erlebnis: weder altbacken noch abgehoben, sondern wahrhaft beseelt. Neue Muzik Zeitung 07/07

> Their controlled intensity worked well, finding the right blend of soulful melancholy with a restrained expression of Shostakovich's ever-present irony. The Australian 11/06