Hi folks!
We’ve been hard at work prepping for our next run of shows, coming up in a few short weeks! This tour features two monumental works — Benjamin Britten’s Quartet No. 2 in C Major, which we played way back in 2022, and Bryce Dessner’s powerful “Impermanence.” When we asked our newsletter subscribers to recommend quartets for us to perform last season, we had quite a few of you request that we bring back the Dessner — well, luckily for you, it’s one of our favourites, too!
We’ve had a couple changes since the season dates launched in the summer — we’re thrilled to be traveling up to perform for the first time in Bathurst! Thank you to Classikfest Chaleur-Bathurst Chamber Fest for co-presenting this show with us.
Tickets are on sale now!
Saint John - November 19th, 7:30PM:
Saint John Arts Centre
Fredericton - November 20th, 7:30PM:
Wilmot United Church
St. Andrews - November 22nd, 3:00PM:
Wesley United Church [PLEASE NOTE NEW DATE]
Moncton - November 25th, 7:30PM:
Centre culturel Aberdeen
Bathurst - November 29th, 3:00PM:
First United Church
Folks in St. Andrews — please note that we’ve changed the concert date to the afternoon of Sunday November 22nd. If you’ve already purchased a ticket, you should have received an email - your tickets are still valid for the new date, but if you can no longer attend, please reach out and we will send you a full refund. Thanks for your understanding!
photo by Annie France Noel
Concert 2: Curated by Emily Kennedy!
Britten’s String Quartet No. 2 has been one of my favourite chamber pieces for a very long time. I first discovered it during my undergrad, after I was gifted a CD of his quartets which prompted me to fall into a Britten craze (I even did a composition program at Snape Maltings, the organization/arts centre he established in the UK). Quartet No. 2 is so intricately written; it makes it a real challenge to put together, but something about the tension in the music really revs me up. I love it. I have a sweet memory of showing it to Mark when we were first becoming friends — we listened to it in his old car on our way home after a gig, and sat parked in his driveway listening until the quartet finished.
I really loved playing the Bryce Dessner with the ECSQ during our 2024-25 season — I had been a big fan of his work in the band the National, and was so excited when I discovered that he also wrote classical music! I listened to the Australian String Quartet’s recording of Impermanence pretty obsessively back when it was released in 2021, and was thrilled that we got to play the Canadian premiere of it once the sheet music was published.
-Emily Kennedy