The Carducci String Quartet perform Numbers 1 & 2 from Shostakovich’s String Quartet Cycle

The Carducci String Quartet is one of the world’s most accomplished string quartets. Since forming in 1997, the Anglo-Irish ensemble has won countless awards performing an astonishing diverse repertoire, from Haydn to leading contemporary composers including Karl Jenkins and Jonny Greenwood. They even run their own festival, and we’re delighted to welcome them to Kilkenny for this mouthwatering series of six concerts presenting the complete cycle of Shostakovich string quartets.

Composed between 1938 and 1974, Shostakovich’s 15 string quartets constitute one of the great cycles in the medium. Obliged for much of his career to celebrate the glories of the Soviet Union, Shostakovich relished the form of the string quartet which enabled him to explore his most intimate ideas.

From Quartet No. 4 – a tribute to the Jewish people harshly treated (like the composer himself) by the Soviet regime – to Quartet No. 9 – an exuberant expression of love for his new wife Irina, Shostakovich’s quartets overflow with melody, passion and boundless creativity.In 2016 the Carducci Quartet won a Royal Philharmonic Society Award for their performances of the cycle, and we’re thrilled to welcome them to the Festival to perform these great works in full.

‘As a quartet, we have always felt a great connection to the Shostakovich Quartets and were delighted to receive, in 2016, a Royal Philharmonic Award for our project - Shostakovich15 - which saw us mark the 40th anniversary of the composer’s death one year earlier. The project included various complete cycles of the 15 String Quartets and featured a marathon of them across one day at Shakespeare’s Globe. We will soon release our third Shostakovich CD for Signum Records and have more cycles of his String Quartets planned across this year.’ - Carducci String Quartet