Romanian violinist Corina Belcea founded her quartet while still a student at the Royal College of Music in London. Twenty years on, the Belcea still play like a “young quartet, seizing the music’s energy, shocking us out of our seats with every fortissimo” (Guardian).

The Belcea return to Durham with Mozart’s last quartet, No. 23, which Alfred Einstein noted “seems to mingle the bliss and sorrow of a farewell to life.” From this classical beginning, the Belcea turn to the early romantic “Rosamunde” Quartet of Schubert, written during the turmoil of the composer’s final illness. The evening culminates in Brahms’ lush and romantic op. 51, no. 1, the first quartet he was willing to publish after destroying his first twenty attempts.

Mozart: String Quartet No. 23 in F Major, K. 590 (“Prussian”)
Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, D. 804 (“Rosamunde”)
Brahms: String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, op. 51, no. 1