Quatuor Diotima at 30

Event details

Yun-Peng Zhao  violin
Léo Marillier  violin
Franck Chevalier  viola
Alexis Descharmes  cello

Thomas Simaku   Atomistic Compression – Quartet no. 6 (World Premiere)
Christian Mason   Towards a not yet remembered past (UK Premiere)
Zemlinsky   Quartet no. 2, op. 15

We celebrate Quatuor Diotima’s thirtieth anniversary with a special concert that reflects their longstanding association with the University of York. The world premiere of Professor of Composition Thomas Simaku’s Sixth Quartet, Atomistic Compression, commissioned by Diotima for their anniversary, sits alongside the UK premiere of another Diotima thirtieth-anniversary commission, Towards a not yet remembered past, by Simaku’s former student, York alumnus and Grawemeyer Award-winning composer, Christian Mason. While Mason’s quartet reimagines highlights from the fourteenth-century Chantilly Codex, interleaving them with original material as a reflection on contemporaneity and what it means to be new, Simaku’s is firmly situated in the challenges of our present day: ‘a musical reflection on human suffering and the grim realities of our time,’ the inner world of music ‘reassembling’ aspects of the external world. This expressionist impulse is also the force behind Zemlinsky’s remarkable Second Quartet, a single-movement work of rich harmonies, soaring lyricism and fiercely intense emotion.

If you would like to discuss any access requirements with us, please contact the Box Office. Information about our companion card scheme, group bookings and free tickets for under-16s can be found on our website.