NEW PAVEL HAAS QUARTET LINE-UP
TO GIVE DEBUT CONCERT IN PRAGUE
12th April 2018
After a year, the Pavel Haas Quartet will return to the La Fabrika culture centre in Prague, where they will give a concert on 4 May 2018 at 7:30 pm at the Slévárna hall. The programme is solely made up of Dmitry Shostakovich works – String Quartets No. 7 in F sharp minor, No. 8 in C minor and No. 2 in A major. Peter Jarůšek said about the concert: “Shostakovich’s music has been an integral part of our repertoire, yet a programme solely consisting of his pieces is a promise of an extraordinary artistic experience, for the audience and us alike. Shostakovich created the quartets during the harsh Soviet era, but notwithstanding the regime’s darkness and cruelty, you can feel hope in them. We would like to convey his bold personal message to the audience, as the theme appears to be topical at the present time too.” At the concert, the Pavel Haas Quartet will give the official debut in their new line-up, featuring the violist Jiří Kabát.
This event will be followed by concerts in London and Liverpool, at a festival in the German town of Schwetzingen as well as three concerts within a concert series at the culture and historical center Kartause Ittingen, Switzerland. In June, the quartet’s Asian tour is starting. It includes coming back to South Korea (a recital in the famous Seoul LG Arts Centre) and first-time visits to China (Peking) and Taiwan (Taipei and Taichung). The quartet’s members are going to conclude this year’s concert season on 17th June by appearing at the Smetana’s Litomyšl international music festival with Smetana’s String Quartet No. 1 in E minor “From My Life” and Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 14 in A flat major, Op. 105.
The quartet bears the name of the Czech composer Pavel Haas (1899–1944), the most talented pupil of Leoš Janáček, who in 1941 was imprisoned by the Nazis in the Terezín ghetto and three years later died in Auschwitz. Pavel Haas’s oeuvre includes three splendid string quartets.
Pavel Haas Quartet: Veronika Jarůšková (1st violin), Marek Zwiebel (2nd violin), Jiří Kabát (viola), Peter Jarůšek (violoncello)