Founded in 2018, the Korossy Quartet aims to transmit the famous Hungarian string quartet tradition, and to present the broadest possible repertoire to Hungarian and foreign audiences. In 2021, the ensemble was awarded 5 different special prizes at the international Bartók World Competition, and a year later they were accepted into the class of Günter Pichler, first violinist of the legendary Alban Berg Quartet, at the Reina Sofia School of Music in Madrid. The Korossy Quartet's Bartók series, starting in autumn 2023, includes all of Bartók's string quartets in 6 concerts over 2 years, paired with a selection of works by the greatest composers of music history.

Péter Eötvös's string quartet Korrespondenz is a symbiosis of text and music. Through this composition, Eötvös enters into a dialogue with the classics: the instruments of the quartet engage in "conversations" in which excerpts from the correspondence of Leopold Mozart and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are transcribed for the string quartet. Wolfgang is represented by the viola, Leopold by the cello, while the two violins are present as the surrounding family. The first half of the concert focuses entirely on the classics, with the String Quartet in C major from Joseph Haydn's Opus 20, composed in 1772. Out of Bartók's six String Quartets, which form the backbone of the concert series, No. 4 will be performed this time. Composed in September 1928, this large-scale work is centred around the slow movement (Non troppo lento), which is enclosed by two scherzi (Prestissimo, con sordino and Allegretto Pizzicato) and further surrounded by two fast movements at the edges (Allegro, Allegro molto) – this is the so-called bridge form.

Photo: Andrea Felvégi