A chamber music group from London will perform in Ames Friday in a concert that’s been three years in the making.
The Castalian String Quartet will perform at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3 at First United Methodist Church, 516 Kellogg Ave.
“We were very excited to engage this great young ensemble for a concert back in the fall of 2020, very soon after they won several important international competitions,” said Paula Forrest, artistic director of the Ames Town & Gown Chamber Music Association, which is hosting the group.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 caused an abrupt cancellation of that tour, postponing the group’s much-anticipated trip to central Iowa. With three years to prepare, the group is ready to put on a show.
“We’re particularly happy that they’ll be with us this time,” Forrest said. “The quartet did treat us to a wonderful online virtual concert that fall, but ‘in person’ is always the best.”
The Castalian Quartet is a “feisty group, with a real personality and strong interpretive ideas, according to The Guardian .” The musicians’ interpretations caused The Observer to note how their performances are “full of poetry, joy and sorrow, realized to such perfection.”
The quartet is well-regarded and well-respected throughout London, garnering many awards and prestigious honors during their 12-year run.
Castalian formed in 2011 and was recently named the Hans Keller String Quartet in Residence at the University of Oxford. The group was also awarded first prize at the 2015 Lyon International Chamber Music Competition and was even chosen to represent the Britain’s Young Classical Artists Trust in 2016.
In 2018, the quartet received three major awards, including the inaugural Merito String Quartet Award, the Valentin Erben Prize and a prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship. In 2019, the group was named Young Artists of the Year at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards.
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The group’s name comes from Greek mythology
The musicians derived their name from the Castalian Spring in the ancient city of Delphi. According to Greek mythology, the nymph Castalia transformed herself into a fountain to evade Apollo’s pursuit, thus creating a source of poetic inspiration for all who drink from her waters.
The quartet is committed to sharing their own inspiration with diverse audiences for classical music, performing everywhere from great concert halls to maximum security prisons and even in the Colombian rainforest. They perform frequently at Wigmore Hall in their home city of London. Recent international debuts include New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Friday’s program in Ames will feature a set list of Janacek’s Quartet No. 1 (“Kreutzer Sonata”), Beethoven’s Quartet Op. 130 with the Grosse Fuge, Op. 133, and a work titled “Awake,” by Mark-Anthony Turnage, which was commissioned by the quartet.
The Castalian String Quartet will meet with sixth-grade students at Gilbert Middle School during an outreach event before the concert, supported by a special project grant from the City of Ames Commission on the Arts.
Tickets for Friday’s concert are free for students in grades K-12 and for college and university students with a school ID. General admission tickets for adults are $35 and are available online at www.amestownandgown.org, in person at Rieman Music and Chocolaterie Stam in Ames and at the door.
Ames Town & Gown’s 74th concert season is presented in cooperation with the Department of Music and Theatre at Iowa State University and is made possible in part with support from the Ames Commission on the Arts.
The line-up for the rest of the Ames Town & Gown season includes:
- The Canellakis-Brown Duo, cello and piano — 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall at Iowa State. Nicholas Canellakis and Michael Stephen Brown both enjoy successful solo and collaborative careers. A unique aspect of their programming is the inclusion of their own highly original compositions and arrangements. Michael Brown has been described by The New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” Program: Grieg, Lukas Foss, Saint-Saëns, Clara Schumann, Debussy, Michael Stephen Brown, Nicholas Canellakis, Paganini, Don Ellis.
- 35th annual Town & Gown Musicale gala fundraiser — 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, St. John’s Episcopal Church. This unique collage of musical talent from central Iowa is paired with a celebratory buffet and is a favorite feature every concert season.
- The New Century saxophone quartet — 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 23, Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall at Iowa State. The New Century Quartet has performed from New York to Zurich to Hong Kong. In this return visit to Ames, the group will again engage the Ames audience with a repertoire that ranges from intriguing arrangements of works by J.S. Bach to works they themselves have commissioned. Program: J.S. Bach, Shostakovich, Dvorák Jun Nagao, John Mackey, Paul Harvey, Marcelo Zarvos, Barbara Kolb.
- Michelle Cann, solo piano — 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 12, Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall at Iowa State. Called “a compelling, sparkling virtuoso” by Boston Music Intelligencer, Michelle Cann is an equally passionate scholar and pedagogue. She is the chair of piano studies at the Curtis Institute and winner of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence. Program: Ginastera, Joel Thompson, Ravel, Liszt, Florence Price. An extra event will include a public lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 11, at Tye recital hall, which is co-sponsored by Iowa State University Lectures.
Ronna Faaborg covers business and the arts for the Ames Tribune. Reach her at rlawless@gannett.com.
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