MOLINARI QUARTET'S TWENTIETH AND BEYOND SERIES Returns December 16

To continue its 25th anniversary-season, the Molinari Quartet's Twentieth and Beyond series is hosting its next concert on Friday December 16th at 7:30 pm in the concert Hall of the the Conservatoire de Montréal. The concert was originally scheduled for December 9th but has been rescheduled for the 16th due to Covid.

This concert will explore the vast range of sounds that can produce a string quartet and will also underline the centennial year of Iannis Xenakis' birth with Ergma, a very powerful work. You will also assist to the world premiere of Hologramme Modal for string quartet and kamancheh by Iranian composer and kamancheh virtuoso Showan Tavakol and hear Krzysztof Penderecki's very exploratory Quartet No. 1. The Molinari will play Oasis by Azerbaijani composer Franghiz Ali-Zadeh and will close the concert with the revolutionary Quartet no.3 written in 1927 by Béla Bartók.

"With the repertoire of this concert, we really dive into the incredible possibilities of sounds a quartet can produce" says Olga Ranzenhofer, founder and artistic director of the quartet.

Works on the program

• Krzysztof Penderecki: Quartet No. 1
• Iannis Xenakis: Ergma
• Showan Tavakol: Hologramme Modal for string quartet and kamancheh
• Franghiz Ali-Zadeh: Oasis
• Béla Bartók: Quartet No. 3

Twentieth and Beyond

December 16 at 7:30 PM

Concert hall of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal
(4750, Henri-Julien Avenue).

Tickets: 29,50$, 24,50$ and 12,50$.

Info: https://quatuormolinari.qc.ca/en/event/acoustic-exploration-from-delicacy-to-tectonic-force/

Throughout the past quarter of a century, the Molinari Quartet has produced 20 albums, played over 300 works including 123 Canadian pieces (75 from Quebec), 123 world premieres and 79 commissions. It has also organized 8 editions of its successful Molinari Quartet International Composition Competition, receiving over a thousand unpublished pieces from 70 countries.

The series Intimate Concerts continues on December 18th, the Molinari Quartet and its guest, the virtuoso oboist Vincent Boilard, will play quintets for oboe and string quartet by Brian Cherney, Stuart Grant and Elizabeth Raum. The young mezzo-soprano Odile Portugais will also offer to the public arias from Händel and Vivaldi with the Molinari Quartet.

These concerts will take place at the Guido-Molinari Foundation (3290, Ste. Catherine Street East) in an intimate environment and surrounded by the exhibit Molinari, the Sixties. The audience is limited to 30 people. Two concerts will be given the same day, at 1 PM and at 4 PM. Reserve your place by calling 514 527-5515 or writing an email to qm@quatuormolinari.qc.ca Tickets : 20$.

The Molinari Quartet thanks the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Conseil des arts du Canada, the Conseil des arts de Montréal, the Conseil québécois de la musique, the City of Montreal, Alfred Dallaire | Memoria, ATMA Classique, and the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal for their generous support.

Acclaimed by the public and the international musical critic since its foundation in 1997, the Molinari Quartet dedicates itself to the rich string quartet repertoire of the 20th and 21st centuries. It is formed by world class musicians: Olga Ranzenhofer (violin), Antoine Bareil (violin), Frédéric Lambert (viola), and Pierre-Alain Bouvrette(cello).

Winner of 23 Opus Prizes given by the Conseil québécois de la musique for its excellence in concert music, the Molinari Quartet is recognized as one of the best ensembles in the country. Critics describe the quartet as « essential », « prodigious », and « Canada's answer to the international quartets Kronos and Arditti.