Evolution of the String Quartet | House Program

Welcome to Evolution of the String Quartet.

I am honoured to serve as Program Director for EQ’s second summer. It was as a participant in music programs at the Banff Centre that I first fell in love with string quartets, and playing quartets has remained at the core of my musical life ever since. My hope is that Evolution of the String Quartet will build on the long and storied tradition the string quartet genre already has at the Banff Centre.

Over the next three weeks our participants and faculty will dive deep into the study of historical performance practice, the refinement of standard repertory, and the creation and interpretation of new quartet music. Where did the string quartet start? Why did it become such a popular form of chamber music? What is the future of the string quartet? These are topics we will explore together through playing, performance and discussion.

Integral to EQ’s core philosophy is the presence of composers and the living tradition of the creative process. I am proud that this summer we have three world-renowned composition faculty members to mentor our participant composers. No less than nine world premieres will be performed at EQ over the course of the program.

Goethe once described the string quartet as “four rational people conversing with one another”. I trust we all agree that our troubled world stands to benefit greatly from more rational discourse. We invite you to join us in our discourse with music and through music to consider the larger issues of our time.

To me one of the most compelling things about string quartets is that, when a group truly connects, it becomes even more than the sum of its parts. Four individuals unite in artistic flight and become something new, something greater.

There’s magic in string quartets. There’s magic in Banff. Let’s listen.
 

- Aisslinn Nosky

Led by violinist Aisslinn Nosky and featuring four of the most exciting string quartets to be found anywhere — JACK, Eybler, Parker, and Bozzini quartets — along with an extraordinary group of soloists, composers, and scholars, Evolution of the String Quartet (EQ) explores the string quartet lineage from Haydn to music made in Banff by and for the faculty and participants of EQ.