Roman River presents April 2020 tour – The Passionate Quartet

Performing three dates across Suffolk, The Passionate Quartet tour from Roman River Music will perform in some hauntingly atmospheric churches, which are wonderfully sympathetic for the dramatic narrative and exhilarating acoustics.

Following their sold-out performance last year in the Train Shed in Chappel, Artistic Director Orlando Jopling teams up with the same exceptional musicians Simon Blendis, Matthew Ward and Meghan Cassidy to bring you three passionate, beguiling and varied quartets by Beethoven, Janacek and Philip Glass.
The performers will introduce the music and the fascinating narrative behind each one, bound up with the composers’ own remarkable life stories. Sweetness is tempered with grit as Jopling’s exceptionally skilled and enthralling quartet explore the rich tapestry of human emotion.

Ludwig van Beethoven – Romeo & Juliet Quartet (Op 18/1)
Philip Glass – Quartet no. 3 – from the film Mishima
Leoš Janáček – Quartet no 1 – The Kreutzer Sonata

Simon Blendis enjoys an international career as a chamber musician and soloist and has led all of the major London symphony orchestras, including permanent positions as concertmaster of the London Mozart Players and the Kanazawa Orchestral Ensemble. He is Professor of Violin at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Matthew Ward has worked with a diverse mix of artists, groups and orchestras crossing genres from classical to Palestinian, blues and jazz. He is a member of one of the great chamber orchestras of the world – the Academy of St Martin in the Fields – and regularly appears as an orchestral guest principal with other orchestras.

Meghan Cassidy is a versatile chamber musician who has performed with numerous groups at festivals and events throughout Europe and appears as guest principal viola with major British orchestras. She runs her own music festival.

Orlando Jopling has a wide-ranging career as a conductor of opera, ballet and orchestral concerts, including his current position as Associate Conductor of English National Ballet, with whom he has conducted performances at the Coliseum, Sadler’s Wells, Royal Albert Hall and on tour in the UK and abroad. As a cellist Orlando has played with all of the great London orchestras, as well as extensive chamber music and solo appearances, including solo recitals in over 125 churches around the UK as part of his ‘Cello Pilgrimage’.
Bringing these world-class musicians to Suffolk follows the ever-growing success and reputation of Roman River’s annual Festival. The Passionate Quartet: Love, loss and longing is a captivating programme, as three beloved composers delve deeper into exploring the layers of human emotion.

The Passionate Quartet: Love, loss and longing plays at;
St Peters Church, Sudbury, Suffolk, – Thursday 23rd April, 8pm
St Marys Church, Bures, Suffolk, – Friday 24th April, 8pm
United Reform Church, Hadleigh, Suffolk – Saturday 25th April, 6pm
Tickets are £15, available to book online now at www.romanrivermusic.org.uk