SUNTORYHALL

JAPANESE

  • SUNTORY HALL
  • For press
  • Suntory Hall Chamber Music Garden 2024 Verus String Quartet performs Beethoven’s String Quartet Cycle

For press

Press Contact

Public Relations Department

  • suntoryhall-pr@suntory.co.jp
  • This email is only for press & media enquiries. Please clarify the name of your company or media for your enquiry. For any other enquiries, access this link.

PRESS RELEASE

No.she045April 18, 2024

Suntory Hall Chamber Music Garden 2024
Verus String Quartet
performs Beethoven’s String Quartet Cycle

Suntory Hall presents “Verus String Quartet – Beethoven Cycle I – VI” as part of its annual early summer festival, Chamber Music Garden (June 1–16 2024). The accomplished Japanese quartet will perform the complete cycle of Beethoven’s string quartets over six days (June 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15) in the intimate space of “Blue Rose” (Small Hall).
The performance of Beethoven’s string quartet cycle is now an established feature of the Chamber Music Garden festival, and it is considered a unique event even internationally. Every year, a different quartet is invited to take on the cycle; past participants include the Casals Quartet and the Jerusalem Quartet. This year it is the turn of the Verus String Quartet (Naoto Sakiya, Hisao Mihara, Koichi Yokomizo, Rentaro Tomioka), which is the second Japanese quartet to undertake this monumental journey since Quartet Excelsior in 2016.

Verus String Quartet was formed in 2006 by four students of the Toho Gakuen School of Music. Awards include the third prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in 2008 and the OSAKA International Music Competition in 2011. It has performed at prestigious chamber music venues including OJI HALL, Kioi Hall and Hakuju Hall, and have collaborated with many renowned musicians including Menahem Pressler, Alexander Romanovsky, and Richard Stolzman. Each member is an active musician on their own right and brings that experience to the quartet.

This will be the group’s third Beethoven cycle, after recent cycles in Oita’s iichiko Culture Center and Tokyo’s Dai-ichi Seimei Hall. Also, a recording of the cycle is ongoing from the fontec label. It will be a great opportunity to witness the group’s evolving interpretation.
The sixteen string quartets have been programmed over the six concerts in a well-balanced and thoughtful way, taking in account the key and movement structure, and compositional background. In particular, the five late period quartets will be performed in the order Beethoven composed them. It should be a rewarding journey for the performers and audience alike.

Details of Verus String Quartet’s Beethoven String Quartet cycle can be found at the following:
https://www.suntory.com/culture-sports/suntoryhall/article/detail/001400.html

For further information and press photos, please contact:
suntoryhall-pr@suntory.co.jp
Public Relations, Suntory Hall

Website: http://suntory.jp/HALL-e/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suntoryhall/
X(Twitter): https://twitter.com/SuntoryHallE

Page Top