ConTempo Quartet
Bogdan Sofei
Ingrid Nicola
Andreea Banciu
Adrian Mantu
Ina Boyle - Quartet in E minor [1934]
Jane O’Leary - Strings in the Air, Songs in the Stones [2021]
Brahms - Quartet in B flat Op.67
The ConTempo Quartet, resident ensemble of the Galway Music Residency and Ireland’s longest established quartet, opens our Autumn 2022 season with two Irish string quartets, Ina Boyle’s lovely E minor Quartet, written in Enniskerry in 1934, and a new piece by Galway’s Jane O’Leary. Brahms’ sunny, uplifting B flat major quartet was written in 1875 while he enjoyed a summer holiday in the beautiful German town of Ziegelhausen and it was to become his favourite of his three published quartets.
The Contempo Quartet is the resident quartet of the Galway Music Residency and was RTE’s Resident Quartet from 2014 until 2019. Praised as a “fabulous foursome” (Irish Independent) and noted for performances which are “exceptional” (The Strad) and “full of imaginative daring” (The Irish Times), RTÉ ConTempo Quartet has forged a unique place in Irish musical life.
Since its formation in Bucharest in 1995, the quartet has performed more than 1,800 concerts world-wide in 46 countries, including prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall; Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris; St Martin-in-the-Fields; Berliner Philharmonie; Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome; Carnegie Hall and the Opera House Tel-Aviv. ConTempo have had the honour to meet and play in front of world personalities such as Prince Charles, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, EU Ministers, Michael D. Higgins, Hollywood stars and Nobel Prize winners. The ensemble has won a record of 14 international prizes (including Munich, Rome, Berlin, Prague and London) and worked alongside artists of the highest calibre including Emma Johnson, Yuko Inoue, Hugh Tinney, Chen Zimbalista, Jérôme Pernoo, Peter Donohue and Martin Roscoe. Collaborations with other distinguished quartets have also been a feature, such as the Amadeus, Arditti, Vanbrugh, Casals and Endellion.
With thanks to the Arts Council Ireland and RTE Lyric FM.