The Dante Quartet

Works

Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet in F Major, op. 135
Edward Elgar: String Quartet in E minor, op. 83
Ian Venables: The Wreaths of Time (world premiere)

One of the U.K.’s premier string ensembles, the Dante Quartet is known for its imaginative programming and impassioned performances. 

For its Moss debut, the quartet is joined by Virginia Tech faculty member Brian Thorsett — an exceptional and versatile American tenor whose singing is often praised for its clarity, warmth, and expression — in the world premiere of a new work, a song cycle of American poetry for string quartet and voice, created for Thorsett and the Dante Quartet by British composer Ian Venables. The evening also includes performances of two poignant, emotionally deep, and introspective works: Beethoven’s String Quartet in F Major, op. 135, and Elgar’s String Quartet in E minor, op. 83. 

About the Quartet

The Dante Quartet was founded in 1995 and chose its name to reflect the idea of an epic journey. The quartet has been honored with the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Chamber Music and has also received international awards for its recordings. Frequently heard on Radio 3, the quartet has appeared many times at London’s Wigmore Hall and Kings Place, as well as at some of the U.K.’s foremost festivals and music societies. Abroad, the ensemble has played in France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, Finland, the Czech Republic, and Poland, and has twice toured Japan.

The Dante Quartet has made a series of acclaimed recordings for Hyperion, winning the BBC Music Magazine Award and the French Diapaison d’Or. The quartet has also recorded for Signum and Toccata Records, and its recording of the string quartets by Herbert Howells was released on the Naxos label in 2019. The Dante Quartet has recently recorded the eight string quartets and two quintets of C.V. Stanford on the SOMM label. 

The ensemble has performed cycles of the complete Beethoven and Shostakovich string quartets in single marathon weekends and has collaborated with playwright Clare Norburn (author of concert drama Breaking the Rules) on a dramatized version of Beethoven’s quartet cycle, featuring actor David Timson as the composer. This innovative format has proved popular and has been performed many times.

Tenor Brian Thorsett

Hailed as “a strikingly gifted tenor, with a deeply moving, unblemished voice” (sfmusicjournal.com), Brian Thorsett is excelling in opera, oratorio, and recital across the world. Since taking to the operatic stage, he has been seen and heard in over 100 diverse operatic roles, ranging from Monteverdi to Britten, back to Rameau and ahead again to works composed specifically for his talents.

As a concert singer, Thorsett fosters a stylistically diversified repertoire of over 250 works, which has taken him to concert halls across the U.S. and Europe. Closely associated with expanding the vocal-chamber genre, he has been involved in premieres and commissions of a number of acclaimed composers. Thorsett has released the albums Everyone Sang – The Vocal Music of David Conte; a collection of American song cycles for orchestra, Nature, Love and Death; Rapture and Regret, featuring song cycles of Daron Hagen; and October Skies, featuring chamber music for tenor.

He is a graduate of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program; Glimmerglass Opera’s Young American Artist program; American Bach Soloists' Academy; the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme at Aldeburgh, England; and spent two summers at the Music Academy of the West. Thorsett is currently associate professor in the School of Performing Arts at Virginia Tech and previously served on faculty at Santa Clara University and University of California at Berkeley.

This is the Dante Quartet's first performance at the Moss Arts Center.

This performance is supported in part by gifts from Mr. Bruce Prichard and Mrs. Nancy Beville Prichard and Intimate Voices.