vision string quartet

Vision String Quartet performing with instruments

November 8, 2019 | 7:30PM
Mandel Hall

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Grażyna Bacewicz: String Quartet No. 4
Haydn: String Quartet in G Major, Op. 77, No. 1

Schumann: String Quartet No. 3, Op. 41, No. 3

6:30 PM lecture with Florian Walch

It is often the youngest performers and ensembles that take the greatest risks in concert, but none may put more on the line than Berlin’s vision string quartet. Known for innovative performances—the quartet has performed with elaborate lighting design and in collaboration with ballet dancers—the vision quartet performs standing and entirely from memory, without the comfort and assurance of sheet music in front of them. Though it may be terrifying to the audience to imagine performing without a net to catch us, the result for the vision quartet is exhilarating performances and thrilling takes on both new and old music.

Despite being one of the younger quartets on the scene, vision has already captured international attention, winning competitions and establishing themselves as one of the finest quartets of the next generation. In its Chicago debut, the ensemble brings a program that ranges from dazzling counterpoint to post-war exuberance, featuring music by the so-called “father of the string quartet” and by a long-overlooked female composer.

vision string quartet makes its Chicago debut on the Mandel Hall stage at 7:30 pm on Friday, November 8. Before the performance, UChicago doctoral student Florian Walch offers a pre-concert lecture on the program.