St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5RB. Doors open 6.30pm. Bar.

Programme

Henry Purcell/Marcus Barcham Stevens:  Fantasy and Double No 10

Charlotte Bray:  Ungrievable Lives

Franz Schubert:  String Quartet No. 14 in D minor (Death and the Maiden)

Frederick Delius:  String Quartet in E Minor (Late Swallows)

Tickets: tba

The Fitzwilliam Quartet, Lucy Russell - violin, Andrew Roberts - violin, Francis Kefford - viola, Ursula Smith - cello, is delighted to return to Hay on Wye in 2025, contributing to the festival theme of ‘Exiles and Emigrés’ with works by Charlotte Bray and Mieczysław Weinberg. The quartet has experienced a seismic change over the past year. It has embraced Francis Kefford on viola following the retirement from the ensemble of legendary founding-member, Alan George. After an incredible fifty-eight years with the quartet, Alan leaves behind a cherished legacy. While Alan’s contribution will be sorely missed, the transition provides the quartet with an exciting opportunity to revise and reimagine its music-making. By continuing to add new music and fresh creativity to its core repertoire, the quartet is honouring the spirit of its foundations. The Fitzwilliam Quartet was founded in 1968 by four Cambridge undergraduates and the group quickly achieved international recognition as a result of the members’ personal friendships with Dmitri Shostakovich and subsequent championing of his string quartets following his death. He entrusted the quartet with the Western premières of the last three, and before long it had become the first quartet outside of the Soviet Union to perform and record all fifteen. These discs, which gained many international awards, secured for the quartet a worldwide concert schedule and a long-term recording contract with Decca. While the Fitzwilliam Quartet’s pre-eminence in the interpretation of these works has persisted, the authority gained has also been put to the service of a diverse list of other composers from the late 17th century to the present day. The quartet has appeared regularly across the UK, Europe, North America, the Middle and Far East and Southern Africa, and has made many award winning recordings for Decca, Linn, and Divine Art. A long-term ambition to record Schubert and Beethoven on gut strings, following the success of previous discs on historical instruments, was initiated during the quartet’s 50th anniversary season in 2018 with recordings of Schubert’s late quartets; Beethoven’s Opp.131 and 135 are soon to be released. The quartet continues to champion new works and has helped to bring about the addition of over 60 new works to the repertoire. These range in diversity from a jazz-fusion collaboration, with German saxophonist/composer Uwe Steinmetz and former Turtle Island Quartet violinist Mads Tolling, to quartets and quintets by Ian Stephens, Michael Blake and Liz Dilnot Johnson. The Fitzwilliam Quartet has held various university residencies:  at York for twelve years, Warwick for three, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, from 1998 to 2020 and at Bucknell (Pennsylvania, USA) from 1978-2016. The quartet’s current university work continues at Clare Hall, Cambridge and at St Andrews University. The ensemble is also committed to working with amateur musicians, running its own course, Strings in Spring, at St Andrews University, and teaching regularly at Benslow Music near London. During the 2025/26 season, the Fitzwilliam Quartet will be presenting a series of programmes contrasting works by Beethoven and Shostakovich with works by female composers Amy Beach, Doreen Carwithen and Charlotte Bray. In so doing, the quartet is celebrating its rich history and carrying forward its traditions.