Escher String Quartet

The renowned Escher String Quartet plays Dvořák’s masterful, late-career Op. 105—which the Czech composer began while living in America and completed after he returned to Prague—and gives the US premiere of the Festival-commissioned String Quartet No. 4 by Julian Anderson, one of today’s most compelling composers. The program begins with the first two of four works that make up Mendelssohn’s Op. 81, a collection that was assembled and published posthumously and that features, in the first work, Mendelssohn’s only variations for a string quartet. 

MENDELSSOHN Andante and Scherzo for String Quartet, Op. 81  

JULIAN ANDERSON String Quartet No. 4 (Festival Co- Commission, US Premiere) 

DVOŘÁK String Quartet in A-flat Major, Op. 105 

Escher String Quartet (Adam Barnett-Hart, Brendan Speltz, violin; Pierre Lapointe, viola; Brook Speltz, cello) 

Approximate length: 1 hour and 10 minutes