Manchester Jewish Museum’s autumnal celebration of Jewish music and art concludes on Thursday 8 December, with an intimate performance from Quatuor Danel in the stunning 1874 Synagogue on Cheetham Hill Road.
The Synagogue Nights programme has taken audiences through the sounds of jazz, to entertaining – and thought-provoking – comedy shows, to the greatest of classical hits, showcasing Jewish art in all its diversity.
The 1874 Grade II* listed Spanish and Portuguese synagogue is a truly atmospheric space to immerse yourself in all forms of art that celebrate diverse Jewish experiences. Thursday 8 December is the last opportunity in the current season to experience one of Manchester’s most unique venues and enjoy an evening out that’s just that little bit different.
The University of Manchester’s internationally-acclaimed string quartet-in-residence, Quatuor Danel bring their lively repertoire with Quartets Written In Memory Of Lost Sisters.
The Quatuor Danel was founded in 1991 and has been at the forefront of the international music scene ever since, with important concert performances worldwide and a row of ground-breaking recordings.
The quartet is famous for their bold, concentrated interpretations of the string quartet cycles of Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Shostakovich, and Weinberg. Their lively and fresh vision on the traditional quartet repertoire has delivered them subsequent praise from public and press.
For Thursday’s Synagogue Nights concert they will perform two well-known pieces:
The first one will be Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No.6 in F Minor, Op.80, which was the composer’s last major piece, completed just two months before his death in 1847. It was written in tribute to his sister, the composer Fanny Mendelssohn, who herself died earlier that year.
The second piece will be Mieczysław Weinberg’s String Quartet No.16 in A-flat Minor, Op. 130. In 1939, Weinberg and his sister Ester fled from the Nazi invasion of Warsaw to the USSR. Mieczysław went on, Ester turned back. The two would never see one another again. The Weinberg’s Quartet No.16 was written in memory of his sister in 1981.
On Thursday evening, the Quatuor Danel will be introduced by The University of Manchester’s resident Mendelssohn expert, Professor Thomas Schmidt.
To get a flavour of this immersive experience, the video below is of Quatuor Danel performing Weinberg’s Quartet No. 5 Mvt III:
The Quatuor Danel are a French string quartet. They have been artist-in-residence at The University of Manchester since 2005, where they coach and collaborate with world-renowned musicologists. Since 2015, they also teach regularly at the Netherlands String Quartet Academy in Amsterdam. Russian composers have a special place in the quartet’s repertoire. They were the first quartet to record the 17 quartets by Mieczysław Weinberg.
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