Extracts of intimate love letters will be read to the audience at a top music festival.
The Tippett String Quartet, who have forged a reputation as one of the UK’s best exponents of chamber music, will be among the star attractions at the North Wales International Music Festival.
In their first ever appearance at the festival they will pay homage to Czech composer Leoš Janáček’s Intimate Letters as well as performing pieces by another Czech composer, Antonín Leopold Dvořák.
The festival takes place between September 20-27, with the help of the Welsh Arts Council, and is held at St Asaph Cathedral
Cellist and founding member of the Tippett String Quartet, Bozidar Vukotic, is looking forward to introducing the North Wales audience to the music that Janáček penned and based on his unrequited passion for a woman 30 years his junior.
London-born Bozidar, the son of an Italian/Montenegrin father and an Essex mother, said: “The Intimate Letters concert is very, very emotional and you can read and understand Janáček’s thoughts through his music.
“He was in his 60s when he became infatuated with a woman, called Kamila Stösslová, who didn’t seek his affections nor completely rejected them either.
“Janáček used his love letters to Kamila as inspiration for his music. It’s very emotional music full of highs and lows and reflective of his deep inner thoughts.
“We will be reading extracts from the letters during the concert to give the audience an understanding of what the composer was feeling when he wrote each movement. I think it really shines through and is such beautiful music.”
He added: “As a quartet we are delighted to be coming to North Wales to perform. I always enjoy playing in front of a Welsh audience. They listen in a different way somehow.
“It’s hard to explain but a Welsh audience seems to understand music and respond very differently to any other. I’m always excited about performing in Wales.”
Bozidar formed the Tippett String Quartet in 1998 taking the name from British composer Michael Tippett who inspired him when, as a student, he had played with the London School Symphony Orchestra.
He said: “We played Tippett’s Triple, a concerto for violin, viola and cello; he came along to listen and was so approachable and easy to get along with. I think, despite his modesty, he enjoyed listening to people, particularly young people, play his music.
“I was so inspired by him that when I formed the Quartet it was an easy choice to name it after him. He was an exceptionally good composer who was, and perhaps still is, very underrated.”
But despite the Tippett String Quartet’s reputation being built on live performances of works by composers such as Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Dvořák they are equally well known for some of their more contemporary recordings.
Bozidar said: “We try and put together our own interesting arrangements of lots of different musical pieces. For example we have recorded our own arrangements from the music of 1950’s blockbusting films: movies such as Ben Hur.
“And our latest project is based on Frank Sinatra and is in celebration of what will be the 100th anniversary, in 2015, of his birth. He recorded an album, Close to You, in 1957 with a Hollywood string quartet.”
Bozidar began playing the violin aged three before switching to the cello and studying at London’s Guildhall School of Music and later, in Moscow.
He said: “It will be an emotional and fabulous evening at St Asaph and I would encourage anyone who likes music that comes from the heart to come along and enjoy what I’m sure will be a fabulous concert.
“The fact we will be reading extracts of Janáček’s letters in between movements will add to the emotion and I’m sure we are going to have a wonderful evening.”
North Wales International Music Festival’s Artistic Director Ann Atkinson is thrilled the Tippett String Quartet is appearing at this year’s North Wales International Music Festival.
She said: “The quartet richly deserves their reputation as one of the UK’s best string quartets and I’m absolutely delighted they have agreed to perform at St Asaph.
“The Intimate Letters concert will, I’m sure, be one of the highlights of this year’s festival. I know it will be an emotional evening full of wonderful music performed by fabulous and highly talented musicians.
“If you haven’t listened to Janáček’s Intimate Letters I would encourage you to get a ticket and come along for a really special musical treat and a simply fabulous evening. You will not be disappointed.”
Among the other star attractions this year is piano virtuoso Llyr Williams, from Pentrebychan, near Wrexham.
The line-up also includes Chinese classical guitarist Xuefei Yang and pianist David Owen Norris, who will be playing a programme of newly discovered piano music from Jane Austen’s family collection.
Mid Wales Opera will be performing Acis and Galatea, an opera that tells an enchanting story from ancient mythology, while the Aspire Inspire Concert will provide a platform for a host of talented young musicians and singers and will include only the second performance of a work called Adar Rhiannon (Rhiannon’s Birds), composed by harpist Catrin Finch.
The climax of the festival on the final Saturday will be the premiere of a new work by talented Anglesey composer Gareth Glyn, which will be performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
The Tippett String Quartet will perform at the North Wales International Music Festival on Thursday, September 25 at 7.30pm. Tickets are £18 (£9 for children) and are available by calling the Box Office on 01745 850197 or online through the Festival website – www.nwimf.com.
