Esposito Quartet

Wednesday 21st October, 8pm

Mia Cooper, violin

Anna Cashell, violin

Joachim Roewer, viola

William Butt, cello

Haydn – String Quartet in E flat major Op.33 No.2 The Joke [1781]

Kevin Volans – White Man Sleeps [1982]

Dvořák – String Quartet in E flat major Op.51 Slavonic [1879]

The wonderful Esposito Quartet has toured in every NSQF season since 2018, always bringing warmth and energy to their music-making.

Haydn’s E flat major quartet The Joke is the second of his revolutionary Op.33 set of quartets, in which conversational ease, rhythmic playfulness and sly humour redefined what a quartet could be. Its famous finale, with its teasing false endings, remains one of Haydn’s most delightful inventions.

Kevin Volans’ White Man Sleeps offers a dramatically different sound world: spare, rhythmic and hypnotic. Drawing on traditional African dance music, the piece was originally written for two harpsichords, viola da gamba and percussion, but Volans was persuaded to re-work it as a string quartet for the Kronos Quartet and it became perhaps his most popular and memorable work.

Dvořák’s E flat major quartet Op.51 is steeped in the warmth, lyricism and rhythmic vitality of Czech folk music. Its flowing melodies and dancing rhythms bring the programme to a joyful conclusion.

Tickets: €20 / €18 (+booking fee)