America’s premier string quartet, the Takács Quartet returns to our stage with a program inspired by the natural world.

Haydn’s Sunrise Quartet – with its magical, evocative opening – sets the tone for the New York premiere of Flow, a nature-themed 92NY co-commission by acclaimed composer and violinist Nokuthula Nwengyama, hailed by Gramophone for “music of bold, mesmerizing character.” The program concludes with the second of Beethoven’s Razumovsky quartets, with its middle movement written after the composer reputedly gazed at stars twinkling in the night sky. The Takács plays with vivacity, charisma, and insight, always searching for the next level of meaning in the music they play – something they explore thrillingly in this dawn-to-dusk program.

Haydn, String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 76, No. 4, Sunrise

Nokuthula Nwengyama, flow (NY premiere; 92NY co-commission)

Beethoven, String Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No. 2, Razumovsky

About the Takács Quartet

The Takács Quartet, now in its 49th season, is “one of the world’s greatest string quartets” (The New York Times), consistently receiving enthusiastic critical acclaim for its virtuosic performances, ingenious programming and unsurpassed recordings. The members of the quartet are violinists Edward Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes, violist Richard O’Neill and cellist András Fejér (the remaining original member).

“These are both powerful, brilliantly imagined interpretations, painted in bold, rich colors and shaped with flashing virtuosity,” wrote Gramophone about the Quartet’s 2023 release of music by Hough, Dutilleux and Ravel, which earned five stars from BBC Music Magazine. Also in 2023, Scherzo magazine in Madrid wrote, “Even with personnel changes, the Takács Quartet remains one of the greatest chamber string ensembles we have on the world stage.” 

The Takács Quartet has a large, varied and award-winning discography. In 2021, the Quartet won a Presto Music Recording of the Year Award for their recordings of string quartets by Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, and a Gramophone Award with pianist Garrick Ohlsson for piano quintets by Amy Beach and Elgar. Other releases for Hyperion feature works by Haydn, Schubert, Janá?ek, Smetana, Debussy and Britten, as well as piano quintets by César Franck and Shostakovich (with Marc-André Hamelin), and viola quintets by Brahms and Dvorák (with Lawrence Power). For the ensemble’s CDs on the Decca/London label, the Quartet has won three Gramophone Awards, a Grammy Award, three Japanese Record Academy Awards, Disc of the Year at the inaugural BBC Music Magazine Awards, and Ensemble Album of the Year at the Classical Brits. For more information, visit https://www.takacsquartet.com/.

About Nokuthula Ngwenyama

“Mother of Peace” and “Lion” in Zulu, Nokuthula Ngwenyama (No-goo-TOO-lah En-gwen-YAH-ma) has garnered recognition as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and composer.  Her performances provide “solidly shaped music of bold mesmerizing character” (Gramophone). Her music has been performed by leading orchestras, including the Detroit, London and Chicago Symphonies, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, KwaZulu Natal Philharmonic and the Orquesta Nacional de Madrid, among others. Her chamber works have been performed in North America, Africa and Asia.

Ngwenyamagained international prominence winning the Primrose International Viola Competition at age 16. The following year she won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, which led to debuts at the Kennedy Center and the 92nd Street ‘Y.’  As a recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant she has performed as soloist and in recital around the world.  

Born in Los Angeles, CA of Zimbabwean-Japanese parentage, Ngwenyama attended the Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences and the Colburn School for the Performing Arts (now the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts) before graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music.  As a Fulbright scholar she studied at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris and received a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School.  A voting member of the Recording Academy, Ms. Ngwenyama is the first composer in residence with the Phoenix Chamber Music Society.  She resides with her family in Arizona on Tohono O’odham land. For more information, visit https://thulamusic.com/about/.

When: Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 7:30pm

Where: Kaufmann Concert Hall and Online.

Location: Kaufmann Concert Hall, 1395 Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street, New York, NY 10128

Tickets start at $25 and are available at https://www.92ny.org/event/takacs-quartet.

Click Here for more information.