November 2008 – Chamber Opera „The Io Passion“
The Chamber Opera „The Io Passion“ by British composer Harrison Birtwistle will receive its German premiere at the Berlin Konzerthaus on November 7th - its instrumental part being performed by the Iturriaga Quartet and bass clarinetist Andreas Langenbuch. „The Io Passion“ is a co-production project of the Berlin Chamber Opera and Konzerthaus, put on stage by Kay Kuntze and conducted by Peter Aderhold.
→ Full programme at Konzerthaus website
October 2008 - Concert for Dimitri Terzakis
Honoring the German-Greek composer Dimitri Terzakis, the Iturriaga Quartet is going to perform his string quartet no. 5 „Nymphen der Nacht und des Feuers“ at an honorary concert at Bad Elster (Germany) on October 5th. The concert will also see the first performance of a work by the septuagenarian composer, performed by Franziska Seibold, soprano (Hamburgische Staatsoper), and Lorenda Ramou, piano (Athens).
July 2008 - Schleswig-Holstein Festival
Following the call of the sea - on July 13, the Iturriaga Quartet will perform at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival for the first time. Their concert in the festival's series "Steife Brise" (stiff breeze) in Hamburg's HafenCity will include Eduardo Toldrás' "Vistas al mar" and Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga's string quartet no. 3. Due to Iokine Iturriagagoitia's maternity leave, the quartet will be playing this concert with Argentinian Rodrigo Bauzá on second violin and Dorothea Vit on violoncello. Rebekka Riedel is then going to return to the cello in September.
→ Full programme at Schleswig-Holstein-Festival website
May 2008 – Debut Performances at Berlin
In the merry month of May, the Iturriaga Quartet will dedicate itself to New Music. The quartet's concert in the Berlin Konzerthaus' series “Studio Neue Musik Berlin” on May 23rd will see the debut performance of string quartets by Peter Weirauch and Gabriel Iranyi as well as the performance of works by Manfred Trojahn, Karl Heinz Wahren and Aristides Strongylis.
→ Full programme at Konzerthaus website
April 2008 – Music at the museum: Les muséiques
In April, the Iturriaga Quartet is going to Switzerland for the festival Les muséiques. Together with percussionist Peter Sadlo, the Iturriagas will be performing the three-part work “Croatoan” for string quartet and percussion by composer-in-residence Moritz Eggert at the Basel museum Tinguely on April 18.
→ Full programme at Les muséíques website
March 2008 – MaerzMusik
“Mexico from afar” – the Iturriaga Quartet will be exploring the music of this Latinamerican country at the Berlin MaerzMusik Festival, together with Steffen Schleiermacher and the Ensemble Avantgarde. The audience is going to hear Mario Lavista’s Reflejos de la Noche for string quartet, among other pieces.
The MaerzMusik concert on March 15 will be a small premiere for the Iturriaga Quartet: from March to August 2008, cellist Dorothea Vit will be substituting for Rebekka Riedel, who is on maternity leave. Welcome, Dorothea!
→ Full programme at the MaerzMusik website
January 2008 – In the studio
In January 2008, the Iturriaga Quartet is in the studio to record its second CD. Subject of the recording is Felix Mendelossohn Bartholdy, whose 200th anniversary will be coming up in 2009. Joined by Liese Klahn of ensemble incanto at the fortepiano, the quartet will be recording works from different periods of the Leipzig composers' life, eg. the violin sonata in F major, the piano quartet in B minor and Mendelssohn's last string quartet, op. 80. The CD will be published around the end of this year, co-produced by German broadcaster MDR.
December 2007 – Farewell 2007 with Clásicos en Ruta
At the end of the year 2007, the Iturriagas will again be performing in the concert series “Classics on the road” (Clásicos en Ruta) of Spanish artists' union AIE. On December 20, the audience at Oviedo's Auditorio Principe de Asturias is going to hear works by Aristides Strongylis, J.C. de Arriaga and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.
The Iturriaga Quartet wishes Happy Holidays and a Joyous New Year to all friends of chamber music.
November 2007 – Concert at the Royal Palace, Madrid
On November 23, the Iturriaga Quartet is again invited to play the Stradivari of the Royal collection at the Spanish Royal Palace. Not only the instruments will make this a very special musical event, but also the artist who is going to share the stage with the Iturriagas – world-famous guitarist Pepe Romero. The Iturriaga Quartet and Pepe Romero are going to perform quintets by Luigi Boccherini.
October 2007 – Beethoven-Haus Bonn – Chamber Music on the Petersberg
In a concert commemorating the centenary of master violinist Joseph Joachim, the Iturriaga Quartet will play quartets of Beethoven at his Bonn birthplace on October 14. Beethoven's string quartets, especially the late ones, were only introduced into the repertoire by Joseph Joachim and his Joachim Quartett. Joined by young Gewandhaus cellist Dorothea Vit, the Iturriagas will also perform a rarely heard quintet by one of Joachim’s Berlin disciples, Wilhelm Berger.
→ Full programme at the Beethoven-Haus’ website
On October 21, the Iturriaga Quartet is again coming to the Bonn region to perform at the Rhein-Sieg Kammermusikfestival, taking place at the Federal Republic’s Petersberg guesthouse. With Guido Schiefen (cello), Michaela Paetsch Neftel, Mark Gothoni (violins), and Hartmut Rhode (viola), the quartet will play Mendelssohn’s String Octet, among other pieces.
September 2007 – Three Countries in Five Days
Italy at Leipzig – Mendelssohn Festtage
Joined by mexican guitarist Krishnasol Jiménez, the Iturriaga Quartet will play guitar quartets by Niccolò Paganini in the course of the Leipzig Mendelssohn-Festtage, with this year’s edition of the Festtage dedicated to Mendelssohn’s relation to Italy. The concert will take place at the Robert-Schumann-Haus on September 11, at 8pm.
Poland – Wratislavia Cantans
Two concerts at Wrocław’s Wratislavia Cantans, one of the most acclaimed festivals of East-Central Europe, will be the first time the Iturriaga quartet plays at the lower Silesian capital and the third time in Poland. The Iturriaga Quartet will be performing Arriaga’s string quartet no. 2 in A major on September 12 and be part of the Polish debut performance of John Tavener's ‘Kaleidoscopes’ on September 13.
Austria – Kalkalpen Festival
From Poland the quartet will travel to Austria to take part in the Kalkalpen Festival at Grossraming for a week, right in the middle of the scenic Austrian Kalkalpen (Chalk Alps) national park. The quartet will be performing Mozart’s string quintet together with Hatto Beyerle, among other pieces.
More on the Kalkalpen Festival (German) and its programme
Interview with Hatto Beyerle on the festival (German)
July 2007 – Festivals in Spain and Germany:
Early July – Spanish Festivals
The Iturriaga Quartet will be performing works by Aristides Strongylis, Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga and Johannes Brahms at the International Granada Festival and the „Noches Clásicas“ in Cadiz (Spain) in July. Aristides Strongylis’ string quartet “Die Zeit des Narziss (Narcissus’ Time),” a piece the young Greek composer dedicated to the quartet and which the quartet premiered at the Osnabrücker Kammermusiktage to a delighted audience in April, will thus be heard in Spain for the very first time.
July 7 – MDR Musiksommer: minimal?maximal!
Minimal Music at the MDR Musiksommer festival: together with Steffen Schleiermacher and the Ensemble ATONOR, the Iturriaga Quartet will be performing early works of Philip Glass at the Musiksommer’s concert series “Klangrausch”. The concert on July 7 will take place at the historical ballroom of Leipzig’s Schaubühne Lindenfels venue and will be recorded by the German broadcasting corporation MDR in cooperation with Deutschlandradio, to be aired by Deutschlandradio Kultur on July 12, 2007, at 8pm.Projects in March 2007:
Musica Nova
Together with the Ensemble Avantgarde, the members of the Iturriaga Quartet will be performing the world premiere of the work "Aura-Studien" by Spanish composer José M. Sánchez-Verdú at the Leipzig Gewandhaus on March 07, in the series Musica Nova, organized and conducted by Steffen Schleiermacher.
Concerts with Fortepiano
Aitzol Iturriagagoitia, Miguel Ángel Lucas, Rebekka Riedel, and Liese Klahn on fortepiano will be playing chamber music of the 19th century at the Christian Daniel Rauch-Museum at Bad Arolsen (D). The audience is going to hear works of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia. More upcoming concerts with Liesel Klahn on fortepiano on July 14 and 15, 2007, at Schloss Kochberg (D).
December 2006 - Clásicos en Ruta
The Iturriaga Quartet has been chosen by the Spanish Association of Performing Artists AIE to take part in its “Classics on the road” (Clásicos en Ruta) programme. In 2006/07, the quartet will be “on the road” with the AIE, performing in various regions of Spain, eg. in Barcelona, Malaga, and Sevilla.
'Clásicos en Ruta' programme of the AIE (Spanish)
November 2006 - Touring South America
On invitation of the German Goethe Institute, the Iturriaga Quartet will be touring South America in November, playing Chile, Brasil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. Apart from concerts with works of Mozart, Webern, and Mendelssohn in various South American countries, the quartet will also be holding master-classes and workshops.
September 2006 – Kalkalpen Chamber Music Festival
Europäisches Kulturforum Großraming 2006
The Iturriaga Quartett will be performing solo as well as together with the Polish Quarrel Quartet.
On the agenda are works by J.C. de Arriaga, J. Haydn, F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy and B. Goldschmidt.
August 2006 – International Musikfest Goslar
Concert at the Marktkirche GoslarAugust 8, 2006, Marktkirche Goslar. Program in detail (pdf)
May 2006 – Arriaga: the Spanish Mozart
Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga is one of the most distinguished composers in Spanish history. He is often called the “Spanish Mozart” because of the genius and gracefulness of his works. The Iturriaga Quartet celebrates his two hundredth anniversary.
20th May 2006, Alte Börse Leipzig 7.30 p.m.
The programme will include works by J.C. de Arriaga and Luigi Boccherini.
Arriaga was born exactly 50 years after Mozart on 27th January 1806 in Bilbao. He was first taught by his father, an organist, and started composing at the age of eleven. Exceptional talent can already be noted in his first compositions. His opera “Los Esclavos Felices”, written at the age of 13, was first performed with great success in Bilbao. In 1821 he was sent to Paris where he studied with François Fétis, François de Sales Baillot and Luigi Cherubini. Just two years later he became Fétis’ assistant. Shortly before his 20th birthday, on 17th January 1826, he died of tuberculosis.
Three string quartets and a symphony belong to the most important of his Parisian compositions. His teacher François Fétis wrote:
"It is impossible to imagine something as original, as elegant and as pure as these string quartets."
April 2006 – The Strads of the Royal Palace, Madrid
A very special chamber music concert awaits the Iturriaga Quartet in April. At the concert hall of the Spanish Royal Palace, the Iturriaga Quartet is going to play the Stradivarius collection of the Royal Family, performing works of J. Haydn, W. A. Mozart and J. C de Arriaga. His Majesty the King Juan Carlos I. of Spain will be present.
Read the report on the concert on the official website of the Royal Palace (in Spanish).