About

Chamber Music New Zealand present The New Zealand String Quartet, the country's foremost chamber ensemble, celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2012.

They have forged a major international career, earning the acclaim of critics and the delighted response of audiences. The quartet has particularly distinguished itself through imaginative programming and insightful interpretations of the string quartet repertoire.

The string quartets of Beethoven's 'middle' period, a period in which he expressed heroic and revolutionary sentiments, are substantial and profound works. The group includes the three Quartets of Opus 59, commissioned by Count Razumovsky, Russian Ambassador to Vienna. Completed in 1806 after a year of sketching and composing, these works are symphonic in scope.