20 September 2018
< Back to NewsSeptember 2018 update
We’re back to school after a short summer break, so we thought we’d be in touch with you.
In the summer holidays Amy has been hard at work running La Mariette Junior – a music course for 10 to 16-year-old string players in the Chinon region of France, Ali has been honeymooning around Portugal, Steph has been to Aldeburgh in residence with Manchester-based contemporary music group House of Bedlam, and Will was performing at Southwell Music Festival featuring Sheku Kanneh-Mason (for the second time this summer)!
Thank you to all of you who came to support us at concerts across the Summer. We were particularly thrilled to play at the Wigmore Hall; for those of you who missed it, here we are performing the second movement from Bartók’s Fourth Quartet.
We also had an amazing week at MusicFest Aberystwyth. Highlights for us this year were performing brilliant brand-new works written for us by Gareth Moorcraft, Kaare Dyvik Husby and Richard Blackford. A huge thanks from us to Carol Nixon for making this possible!
In the week ahead, we’ll be recording Richard’s work which is based on paintings by the Japanese artist, Hokusai. The piece will be released on a disc alongside the Five Naidu Songs (also by Richard Blackford) which we recorded last year with David Campbell and Rosanna Cooper. Watch out for that disc coming soon!
The biggest event of the summer, though, was the marriage of Ali to his wonderful wife, Laura. It was one of the rare occasions where all members of the Solem family were present! (photo above, l-r Catherine, Amy, Michael, Ali, Steph, Will).
Looking ahead, we’re travelling around the country in the next few months quite a bit so we will hopefully be playing a concert near you.
In London, we’ll be performing at The Old Church, Stoke Newington for Sutton House Music Society on the 7th October.
We’ll be performing in Wales for Wye Valley Music Society on the 14th October and for Lampeter Music Society on the 17th October.
Last Saturday, we played in Northumberland for Music in Allendale and we’ll be back in the North of England on November 9th at Scunthorpe and North Lincs Concert Society: North Lincolnshire, and on November 18th at North Westmorland Arts: Cumbria.
We are delighted that our position as Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Liverpool has been extended for this year, and our first visit will take place between the 6th and 8th November, when we’ll be working with students, playing in lectures and performing a lunchtime concert on the 7th at the Leggate Theatre. For more detailed information, check our news section of our website in November.
Tickets and more details for all of these are available via links on the Performances page and for news updates like this to be sent directly to your inbox, sign up via the contact page. Hope to see you soon!