Felix & Fanny in concert – RPS Enterprise Fund

A concert version of the play by Myla Lichtman-Fields
World Premiere
We are thrilled to be premiering this new work at the Barbican on November 24th 2022. The music and words programme shines a spotlight on the complex relationship between the Mendelssohn siblings and provides an insight into the struggles of a female musician in the C19th.
Fanny’s music is placed firmly centre stage, as letters between the siblings, adapted into a two-person play by Maya Lichtman-Fields, interweave the movements of her expressive String Quartet and a selection from her ground-breaking Das Jahr (arranged especially for the project by Emma Denton).
https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2022/event/carducci-quartet-fanny-and-felix

Royal Philharmonic Society Enterprise Fund in association with Harriet’s Trust.
During the pandemic, Emma had time to fulfil a long term dream of hers; to devise a music and words programme based on Shostakovich’s string quartets. The Carducci Quartet were thrilled to premiere the resulting ‘Shostakovich: Life, Letters & Friendship’ at the Barbican last autumn with the incredible actor and director Samuel West.
The quartet were also thrilled to be recipients of the RPS Enterprise Fund which enabled them to expand on the music and words programme and to bring the Felix and Fanny project to fruition.

Collaborations
The pandemic led us to connect digitally with audiences and fellow musicians alike. We formed some wonderful and ‘remote’ collaborations:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GmLN5G3eyuM
and connected with the incredible playwright/screenwriter, Myla Lichtman-Fields. Her vision and generosity in reworking her play ‘Felix & Fanny’ for this project enabled it to come to fruition and we can’t wait to finally meet her in person at the premiere!

Shostakovich: Life, Letters & Friendship

Online performances – update!

We hope you’re all keeping well. We were delighted to take part in a recreation of a concert from the Wigmore Hall in 1920 – an all Stravinsky concert with readings from the reviews etc. A fascinating event recorded here:

We are very much hoping for more live concerts this autumn – (including a concert for Oxford Coffee Concerts) and are currently updating our concerts page!

Here is our video from the Oxford Coffee Concert series earlier this year:

We really missed performing for and meeting audiences during lockdown. One of our first lockdown projects was with Julian Bliss remotely – recording the finale from Weber’s clarinet quintet.  Here is a link to us performing together from our homes:

Serenata String Orchestra

In these difficult times we decided to start a new project to help support young musicians in the early stages of their careers. With freelance work being decimated by the pandemic, we have set up a new string orchestra – the Serenata String Orchestra – initially recording together remotely and hopefully performing live together in the future! Supported by the Concordia Foundation and the Carducci Trust, we have been able to provide young musicians with valuable recording experience, recording fees and royalties from streaming and downloads.
Please do have a listen online!

Youtube – https://youtube.com/channel/UCGUrZvWMgE7pHsevwDgFJUw

Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0eEJreeWbRXyIywQaZxVg5?si=Io_-mkSnRS-vPircxlRVpw

Apple Music – https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/serenata-string-orchestra/1525035209

Also on Amazon – ask Alexa!

Beethoven of course!!

In Beethoven’s 250th anniversary we will of course be performing many of his quartets and delving deeper into his music. Beethoven has always felt like the pinnacle of the repertoire for us, so this will be an exciting year!  We begin with an immersive experience – ‘The Beethoven Weekender’ at London’s Barbican, where we will perform movements from his quartets alongside actor Simon Callow, who will read from Beethoven’s letters.
Following this in February we will perform Beethoven quartets at two of our favourite venues – the Holywell Room in Oxford and Syde Tithe Barn in Gloucestershire. Other immersive experiences include a weekend of Beethoven quartets at the Bath Festival (27-29th March) and later in the year for Concerts at Cratfield (12-13th September).

Follow our 2020 schedule here!

A busy start to 2019!

The first few months of 2019 have been busy with some exciting new projects! We collaborated with wonderful clarinettist Emma Johnson  in giving the word premiere of Stephen Johnson’s quintet ‘Angel’s Arc’ in Cadogan Hall, London, followed by further performances in Guildford and Warwick. We also performed on a new recording of music by Ian Venables for Signum Records, alongside singers Allan Clayton and Mary Bevan and pianist Graham J Lloyd. Concerts abroad included Saarbrucken in Germany, the Musika:Musica Festival in Bilbao, where we were delighted to join Britten Sinfonia in Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro. We also had an Irish tour with the superb Julian Bliss (clarinet), performing David Bruce’s ‘Gumboots’ to enthusiastic audiences in Cork, Sligo, Wexford and Kilkenny. We travelled to Rome for a very memorable concert in the exquisite Quirinale Palace (pictured) followed by a trip to Naples (we even got to visit Pompeii)!

Our first ‘Carducci in the Cotswolds’ in Cheltenham was a sell-out success and we are planning another event in Moreton in Marsh this December. This is already close to sold out so get in touch soon if you would like to make a booking!

A great end to 2018!

We’ve had a fantastic last few months of 2018 with lots of exciting repertoire and travels around the UK and abroad! We concluded our Bartok cycles both at Syde Manor and Kings Place. Performing all of his quartets was an exhilarating challenge which we won’t soon forget! We travelled to the Spanish town of Cuenca, an incredibly picturesque and historic setting. We also had a tour in Ireland with performances in Thurles, Cork and the National Concert Hall in Dublin.

In November we celebrated our 21st birthday with a gala concert in Cheltenham, collaborating with Craig Ogden (guitar), Emma Johnson (clarinet) and lots of wonderful Gloucestershire young musicians! Shortly after, we travelled to Pisa for a performance in the stunning Teatro Verdi. We rounded off the year with a performance of Schubert’s wonderful quintet in Nottingham with exciting young cellist, Benedict Kloeckner. We’ve loved 2018 and here’s to a great 2019!

Cheltenham Adventures!

We’re pleased to announce 2 exciting Events in Cheltenham coming up over the next few months:
21st Birthday Celebration!
Firstly we will celebrate our 21st birthday with a celebration concert on Friday 9th Nov at 7.30pm at Pitville Pump Room.
The programme includes Mozart Clarinet quintet (with Emma Johnson), Boccerhini ‘Fandango’ Quintet with Craig Ogden (guitar). Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro, Adiemus and Palladio and a brand new string quartet by Karl Jenkins.
Joining us will be young musicians from the Gloucester Academy of Music and the Cheltenham Girls Choir. For tickets click here:
http://www.cheltenhamtownhall.org.uk/event/carducci-quartet-21st-birthday-concert-233556/

Carduccis in the Cotswolds
Next February we are excited about a new venture! We hope you will join us for a 2 night stay (4th-6th Feb) at the 4 star Queens Hotel in Cheltenham.  Included are breakfasts, 2 dinners, a drinks reception, and 3 concert performances by the Quartet. The hotel is ideally situated for exploring the lovely surrounding boutiques and wine bars of the Montpellier district and is just a short walk along the tree lined promenade to the town centre.
Music will include some of the greatest string quartet repertoire, works by Mozart, Mendelssohn, Haydn,
Shostakovich, Dvorak and Borodin.
For more info click here!
www.carducciquartet.com/carduccis-in-the-cotswolds/

Back to School!

We’ve had a fantastic summer, performing amazing music in beautiful places with wonderful musicians! Some of the highlights include performing at St George’s Bristol with Julian Bliss (recorded for BBC Radio 3), the World premiere of Gavin Higgin’s extraordinary ‘Gursky Landscapes’ with cellist David Cohen, a residency at Lichfield Festival, Haydn and Bartok at Wigmore Hall, a return to Ryedale and North Norfolk Festivals and new collaborations with pianist Nicolas Stavy at Comminges Festival and cellist Benedict Kloeckner at Koblenz International Music Festival. We also managed to fit in a recording, including our latest EP of music by Thomas Hewitt Jones. A wonderfully varied summer and now we are back to school and looking forward to the season ahead, particularly our 3 concert series at Kings Place, where we will be performing the complete cycle of Bartok string quartets alongside works by Kurtag. You can find more details here: https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/contemporary/macro-micro-i/

The Theory of Time Video!

Here’s another video for our new recording of ‘The Theory of Time’ by Thomas Hewitt Jones!