Talks & Entertainment

Listen to the Balourdet Quartet

Recipient of the 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award, the Balourdet Quartet was born from late-night chamber music sessions and became one of the most celebrated young ensembles in the world. Described as “unafraid to show its personality,” their playing balances clarity with expressive warmth, and a deep belief that music exists to break down walls. Their Washington Performing Arts program reflects that ambition: spanning four centuries from Monteverdi to Ben Johnston’s microtonal meditation on “Amazing Grace,” with Bartók’s haunted and personal Sixth Quartet, and Mendelssohn’s passionately constructed Second at the center. 

Program:
Claudio Monteverdi (arr. Benjamin Zannoni) – Selection of Madrigals
Béla Bartók – String Quartet No. 6, Sz. 85
Ben Johnston – String Quartet No. 4, “Amazing Grace”
Felix Mendelssohn – String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, op. 13 

Photo by Luke Ratray