Our Konzerthaus Chamber Orchestra in a particularly “focused” line-up playing a string sextet, a string quintet, and a string octet! Cellist Viola Bayer, a member of the board of this member-run ensemble, on the concert:

 “We’ve been playing together in the Konzerthaus Orchestra for many years, and we also perform together regularly in the Chamber Orchestra. Especially for this evening’s smaller lineup, it’s wonderful that we can build on so much musical common ground. There are hardly any string quintets or sextets that exist as permanent independent ensembles, because far, far fewer pieces have been written for them than for string quartets. Otherwise, a quartet usually brings in an additional player and then has to find a new balance. But it’s well worth the effort, because among these larger ensembles there are some truly wonderful classics that are rarely performed—such as the works by Borodin or Glazunov we will play in this concert.”

The programme also features a brilliant early work by the 16-year-old Felix Mendelssohn from 1825, for which normally, two string quartets would have to join forces to form an octet. He posthumously dedicated it to Eduard Rietz, his friend, violin teacher, and concertmaster at the “Sunday concerts” held at the Mendelssohn home, who died in 1832 at the age of only 29.