Eloquent. Spellbinding. Monumental. Exquisite. How else can we describe the Esmé Quartet? This young German-based, South Korean ensemble launched their international career by winning first prize at the 2018 International String Quartet Prize at London’s Wigmore Hall. They then embarked on a whirlwind year of concerts in North America, Hong Kong and Japan.
For their Australian debut they play works which are the epitome of youth: an early work of Webern overflows with romantic invention, while Mendelssohn’s second String Quartet blazes with the heart-on-sleeve emotion of a teenage genius; and young Australian composer Jack Frerer’s Spiral Sequences is an exhilarating roller-coaster ride. Add to this Claude Debussy's only string quartet, brimming with rhythmic and harmonic invention.
Esmé comes from the medieval French word for ‘beloved’. Be among the first to discover why everyone loves Esmé.
‘***** The lyricism and airy limpidity of the four performers give these movements a profundity and unexpected allure.’
— Diapasson, France
WONHEE BAE violin
YUNA HA violin
DIMITRI MURRATH viola
YEEUN HEO cello
WEBERN Langsamer Satz (‘Slow Movement’)
MENDELSSOHN String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13
Jack FRERER Spiral Sequences
DEBUSSY String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10