Event Archives

Cuarteto Casals

Arriaga, Shostakovich and Beethoven

February 14, 2026
Baldwin Auditorium

Presented by Duke Arts Presents
Chamber Arts Series

Four musicians sitting on a white couch with their instruments. — Photo Credit: Jason Walker

“A sonic signature entirely its own“
The new york times

“Virile, clean, surging with expression, the Cuarteto Casals’ sound is so arresting that any scientist would be itching to put it under the microscope. What would be discovered?” – The Guardian

Now in its 28^th year, the arresting Spanish ensemble Cuarteto Casals returns to Duke with a program that traces a powerful arc through the stages of a composer’s life.

The Quartet specializes in under-represented Spanish repertoire, and they begin with a quartet from Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga. His three delightful string quartets, written at age 16 (1824), were the only works published before his early death at 19. From Arriaga’s astonishing early talent, we move to Shostakovich’s Third String Quartet, written in the shadow of the Second World War. It veers between playfulness and severity – characteristic of the composer’s conflicted mid-life period under Soviet scrutiny.

Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 13 reflects the boldness of his later years. It is paired here with its original final movement, the epic Grosse Fuge, initially deemed so fiendishly difficult that a new, lighter, more conventional finale was written. Today’s audiences are fortunate to hear the full original piece in the hands of this astonishing ensemble.

Program

Arriaga: Quartet #3, E-flat Major
Shostakovich: Quartet #3, F Major, Op. 73
Beethoven: Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 130 With the “Grosse Fugue”

About Cuarteto Casals

Since winning First Prizes at the London and Brahms-Hamburg competitions, Cuarteto Casals, which was founded in 1997 at the Escuela Reina Sofía in Madrid, has been a continual guest at the world’s most prestigious concert halls including Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie Berlin, Cité de la Musique Paris, Philharmonie Paris, Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Suntory Hall among many others.

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the quartet released to much critical acclaim a recording of the complete ‘Art of Fugue’ by J.S. Bach and is currently undertaking a recording of all 15 quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich, one of the great cycles of the 20th Century which will be released in the fall of 2024.

With more than 27 years of experience together, the Cuarteto Casals has compiled a substantial discography with the Harmonia Mundi label featuring repertoire ranging from lesser known Spanish composers Arriaga and Toldrá to Viennese classics Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms, through 20th Century greats Debussy, Ravel, Zemlinsky, Bartok, Ligeti and Kurtag, as well as a live Blue-Ray recording of the complete Schubert quartets, for Neu Records.

A prize from the prestigious Burletti-Buitoni Trust in London enabled the quartet to begin a collection of matching Baroque and Classical period bows which it uses for works from Purcell through Schubert, refining its ability to distinguish between diverse musical styles. In addition, the quartet has been profoundly influenced by its work with living composers, especially György Kurtág, and has given the world premiere of quartets written by leading Spanish composers, including a concerto for string quartet and orchestra by Francisco Coll, premiered with the Orquesta Nacional de España and commissions by Mauricio Sotelo, Benet Casablancas, Dahoud Salim, Lucio Amanti, Aureliano Cattaneo and Matan Porat. Additionally, the quartet has performed John Adam’s ‘Absolute Jest’ with many orchestras and will perform the world premiere of Elisenda Fabregas’s ‘Fiery Earth’ in the Palau de la Música Catalana in 2025.

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When

Sat, Feb 14, 2026 at 7:30pm

Where

Baldwin Auditorium
1336 Campus Drive
Durham, NC 27705

Venue Details

Ticket prices

^$47Tier 1
^$35Tier 2
^$10*Students

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