FRIENDS OF CHAMBER MUSIC
2024/2025 SEASON – Subscriptions and Tickets
Friends of Chamber Music welcome you to our 2024/2025 season. Each season, we offer a series of great concerts featuring internationally renowned artists playing extraordinary music from the rich and diverse chamber music repertoire. Join our enthusiastic and devoted audience members who become our friends – some of whom have been attending our concerts for many years. Friends of Chamber Music started presenting delightful chamber music experiences in Vancouver in 1948 – so this is our 77th season.
Join us to enjoy music from both new and returning chamber music groups, all of whom play exquisitely. This season, we welcome back the Ariel, Pražák, Takács, Pacifica, and Pavel Haas Quartets and the Han Finckel Setzer Trio. We look forward to hearing the Vancouver debuts of the Gropius, Schumann, and Isidore String Quartets, and of the Notos Piano Quartet.
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FULL 10-TICKET-SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGE (all 10 concerts) $550
PYO 4-TICKET PACKAGE (ANY 4 concerts) $240
SINGLE TICKETS $70
STUDENT SINGLE TICKETS $15 – Full-time Students with Valid ID
* Service charges included in all ticket and subscription prices*
Select subscription tab to purchase season subscriptions and PYO4 packages. Select concert tab to purchase single tickets for concerts.
All concerts take place at The Vancouver Playhouse, 630 Hamilton Street, Vancouver, BC.
All concerts are festival seating.
A limited number of accessible seats are available at the Playhouse. Please contact [email protected] before purchasing tickets to ensure that you can be accommodated at the concerts(s) you wish to attend.
No refunds or exchanges.
Artists and programming are subject to change without notice.
All concert attendees must comply with any public health or other VCT requirements in place at the time of the concert.
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When you order subscriptions or tickets, your personal information is requested only for the purposes of the Society and will not be disclosed to any other party or used for any other purpose.
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1. Gropius Quartet – Tuesday, October 15, 2024 – 7:30
Our first concert from this German ensemble. “This quartet plays on four instruments, but with one soul.” (Klassik-begeistert, Germany) “…the four musicians played with a fascinating inner unity and in perfect balance, but each with notable individual characteristics.” (Cellesche Zeitung)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj1Ia-mtNVo
Haydn: String Quartet in E-flat Major, Opus 33, No. 2 “Joke”
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor, Opus 110
Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Opus 80
2. Ariel Quartet – Tuesday, October 29, 2024 – 7:30 pm
Our 2nd visit from this group that blends American, Israeli, and German string playing traditions.
“…high-energy music making presented with impeccable clarity and impressive virtuosity.” (Calgary Herald) “…a gripping and often very subtle reading, setting ear-melting tenderness against seething passion with a deft and precise touch” (The Washington Post).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thJ7XqtWAz0
Ravel: String Quartet in F Major
Matan Porat: 4 Ladino Songs for String Quartet
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Opus 59, No. 3 “Razumovsky”
3. Pražák Quartet – Sunday, November 10, 2024 – 3:00 pm
A return visit by this group playing in the classic Bohemian/Czech string tradition.
” A warmth that recalled the proximity of coffee house and concert hall in the old Austro-Hungarian empire.” (The Strad) ” Poetic…powerful…It was the kind of performance that grabbed you by the collar and refused to behave.” (Los Angeles Times)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp45RBHFymc
Milhaud: String Quartet No. 1, Opus 5
Smetana: String Quartet No. 2 in D Minor
Dvořák: String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Opus 96 “American”
4. Takács Quartet – Sunday, December 8, 2024 – 3:00 pm
Our perennial favourites, growing from the classic Hungarian tradition of string playing. “Classical music doesn’t get much more life-enhancing than this.” (The Guardian) “Rich contrasts: a Wigmore Hall evening of dazzling versatility…” (Seen and Heard International)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI5oc56AVMY
Haydn: String Quartet in C Major, Opus 54, No. 2
Britten: String Quartet No. 2 in C, Opus 26
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Opus 135
5. Schumann Quartet – Tuesday, February 11, 2025 – 7:30 pm
A first visit from this accomplished German ensemble. “high emotional intelligence” “supreme technical accomplishment” “personal and profound” (BBC Music Magazine) “With no ifs or buts, the ‘Schumanns’ are amongst the best quartets in the world” … “one of the most exciting string quartets of the present day.” (Fono Forum)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2RXmWyvxMQ&list=OLAK5uy_ldtduqW_uNuk7-JEHv5D7WPrcdbpeTj5Y&index=95
Mozart: String Quartet No. 20 in D Major, K499 “Hoffmeister”
Prokofiev: String Quartet No. 1 in B Minor, Opus 50
Smetana: String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor
6. Han Finckel Setzer Trio – Tuesday, February 18, 2025 – 7:30 pm
Hear profound artistry from our returning friends, steeped in American and Russian musical traditions. “This piano trio is one of the very few distinguished American trios before us.” (Vancouver Classical Music) “Together their playing was almost startlingly intimate.” (Washington Post)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7kklF0NVak
Haydn: Piano Trio in A Major, HOB XV:18
Beethoven: Piano Trio in G Major, Opus 1, No. 2
Dvořák: Piano Trio No. 4 in E Minor, Opus 90 “Dumky”
7. Notos Quartet – Sunday, March 2, 2025 – 3:00 pm
Our first concert with this German piano quartet. “A musical sensation, highly virtuosic, with verve and spirit” (Schwäbische) “Ecstatic, elegant, explosive, and cultivated…it seems impossible to escape this sound.” (Die Rheinphalz)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM9wlpuc0tU
Mozart: Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, K 493
Walton: Piano Quartet in D Minor
Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Opus 47
8. Pavel Haas Quartet – Sunday, March 16, 2025 – 3:00 pm
Amongst the greatest and most acclaimed of the younger Czech quartets, and featuring that burnished string sound, we look forward to the 6th Vancouver concert in 14 years by this group. “A great chamber music experience, at the end of one of music’s most challenging years.“(Bachtrack) “A quartet in its element…intense, highly charged music. (The Strad)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb3jPORwL74
Martinů: String Quartet No. 3
Korngold: String Quartet No. 2, Opus 26
Dvořák: String Quartet No. 11 in C Major, Opus 61
9. Pacifica Quartet – Tuesday, April 1, 2025 – 7:30 pm
The 3rd visit to Vancouver by this dynamic American string quartet. “Nothing short of phenomenal.” (The Telegraph) “superb music making” and “an ensemble of extraordinary polish, commitment, and unanimity. They play as one, but with four interdependent strands.” (Berkshire Eagle)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgw9EH8-IGo
Dvořák: Cypresses String Quartet B152
Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2, Opus 10 (1908)
Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D 810 “Death and the Maiden”
10. Isidore Quartet – Tuesday, April 15, 2025 – 7:30 pm
The 1st visit by the winning group from the 2022 Banff International String Quartet Competition.
“Impressive…combining easy grace with carefree beauty.” (The Artsdesk) “Exquisite poise and balance.” (Chicago Classical Review) “The sweeping coherence and blazing virtuosity…had the audience leaping to its feet…” (Violinist)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkZNeHMCd6c
Billy Childs: String Quartet No. 3 “Unrequited”
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat Major, Opus 127
Mozart: String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, K 465 “Dissonance”
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Friends of Chamber Music is a not-for-profit volunteer-operated society. A season’s subscription purchase automatically entitles the purchaser to a one-year membership in Friends of Chamber Music.
We are profoundly grateful for the support of our generous subscribers, donors, and sponsors. Ticket sales alone do not cover our full concert costs so your contributions help assure our future. All donations of $20 or more are tax deductible. Registered charity #18932474RP000. Donations can be made online using the “Canada Helps” link or by cheque or credit card in the mail.
Other ways to give include “In Memoriam” donations, concert sponsorships, and bequests. Please get in touch with us if you would like to discuss possibilities.
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We will not be producing a print brochure this season. If you would like the above information printed and sent by mail with a print order form, please e-mail [email protected] or send your request by mail to: Friends of Chamber Music, PO Box 38046, RPO King Edward Mall, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4L9. Mailed tickets subject to $5 mailing charge.
***Please e-mail [email protected] or through the “contact us” link on the website if you do not want to receive e-blasts from Friends of Chamber Music.***
