In addition to the concerts given by our four permanent chamber music ensembles and the Konzerthaus Chamber Orchestra, each season features a series in which KHO musicians join forces with guests in ever-changing line-ups.

Piano quartets tend to be somewhat overshadowed by string quartets and piano trios – permanent ensembles are rare, and the repertoire is comparatively small. Alongside Antonín Dvořák and Johannes Brahms (who wrote no fewer than three major works for violin, viola, cello and piano), Robert Schumann also composed a significant piano quartet, whose “Andante” begins with one of the most beautiful cello themes of the Romantic era.

Frank Bridge, a pupil of Britten, submitted his contribution to the genre to an English competition in 1910. The British composer was regarded as one of the finest violists of his time, was a member of the Joachim Quartet and the English String Quartet, and therefore, thoroughly familiar with the possibilities of the genre. “Outside Britain, this magnificent work, like so much of Frank Bridge’s output, has remained virtually unknown,” lamented fellow composer and music critic Anthony Payne. In between, Ernst von Dohnányi’s Serenade for String Trio from 1903 – shaped by works of Mozart and Beethoven – is performed, one of the major works of its genre.