The Chamber Music Week: The Zorá Quartet from the Norwegian Academy of Music plays a collaborative concert with the visiting Artel Quartet. Music by Mendelssohn and Mozart.
With the Artel Quartet.
With the Zorá Quartet.
Formed in 2018 in Vienna and with members of three nationalities; Kazakhstan, Russia and France, the Artel Quartet represents unified diversity through one musical language. Named after the traditional Russian associations of workers, craftsmen and artisans working collectively in absolute equality, the Artel Quartet reunites four musicians from widely different backgrounds and aims to promote a cultural dialogue between East and West. With a lively and passionate approach to music, a broad and original repertoire, the quartet is one of the rising European string quartets. Studying in Vienna in the class of Johannes Meissl and working regularly with Oliver Wille and Ebehard Feltz, the Artel Quartet aims to develop personalities through the deepest traditions of chamber music playing. The quartet is the guest of prestigious venues and made its debut this year at the ORF Radiokulturhaus with a series of live-streamed concerts, and have been invited to the Chopin Festival, the ISA Festival, Junge Talent in Haydn Haus, the Academia Perosi, as well as performing in Russia, Luxembourg, France, Germany and Italy. Eager to expand artistically, the Artel Quartet works in close relation with composers and directors as well as on new performances. Taking part in events and masterclasses all over the world, the Artel Quartet had the opportunity to work with musicians such as Günter Pichler, the Quatuor Ebène, the Jerusalem Quartet, Alastair Tait, Isabelle Charisius, Reinhard Latzko, Tim Vogler, Michael Vogler, Volker Jacobsen, Konstantin Heidrich, Wolfgang Redik, Are Sandbakken and Avri Levitan.
Finding a direction in life is not an easy task while at the same time trying to master so-called simple things like playing in tune – but for the four members of the Zorá Quartet it became clear early on that string quartet was the way to go. In 2019 their "chamber music guru" Merry Peckham brought them together and after a night of deep conversations about Haydn, Mendelssohn and other life-and-death matters, the rest is quartet history.
Zorá is based in New York, but at the moment they are participating in the European ECMAster programme, taking their master degrees while performing and receiving instruction in Oslo, Vienna and Paris. At the same time, they are Artists-in-Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium and part of Le Dimore del Quartetto in Italy. All signs point to Zorá having a great career ahead of them, and their music has received praise such as "melting sound and affecting impetuosity" in the New York Times. The Zorá Quartet consists of Dechopol «Top» Kowintaweewat and Haruno Sato (violins), Julian Sawhill (viola) and Zizai Ning (cello). Together they represent the countries the USA, Thailand, Japan, Morocco and China.
ECMA Pro is a cooperation project, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the EU. ECMA Pro was launched last winter and involves several music colleges and festivals and is an extension of this programme. The ECMA Pro cooperation project aims to take the existing ECMA work to another level by adding and proving new formats and activities. Twelve partner institutions from nine different European countries will realize this project cooperatively in the course of the coming four years.
In an academic year that has been very challenging for universities throughout the world, there is now new momentum for chamber music: with ECMA Pro we are able to realise a new, top-class training programme for European chamber music ensembles almost unhindered, despite the coronavirus crisis.
Despite the fast-changing coronavirus measures, which differ from country to country, ECMA can look back on a successful first semester, having held “hybrid” and “digital” sessions in different European cities. Even before the coronavirus, mdw staff would, if necessary, fall back on the LOLA streaming system. However, everyone is also fervently hoping that it will already be possible to hold in-person events in the summer semester.
Musethica is a training programme for young, talented musicians, aiming to bring classical music on the highest level out of the concert halls and onto other areas in society, where the musicians meet people without possibilities to attend concerts because of different personal circumstances. The programme collaborates with hospitals, nursing homes, accommodation centres for refugees and prisons, and future professional musicians get the chance to play a high number of concerts during one week, together with and under the guidance of recognised instructors. The Norwegian Academy of Music organises a Musethica session from 1–8 November, where the Artel Quartet and the Zorá Quartet play in 20 different institutions in and around Oslo.
Published: Oct 9, 2021 — Last updated: Oct 28, 2021