Solem Quartet

In 2025/26 the Solem Quartet continue to champion contemporary music, performing new work by leading British composers, while also celebrating American music past and present as the US marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence.

In the first half of this programme, the warm lyricism of William Grant Still’s Lyric Quartette meets the lean soulfulness of Meredith Monk’s Stringsongs. Dvorak wrote his Quartet no. 13 on his return to Bohemia following three years in America as Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, where he left a permanent and valuable mark on a generation of American composers. The piece is full of playfulness and energy, combined with the composer’s characteristic romantic melodicism.

A new work from British composer Ryan Latimer whose music has been described as “anarchic and cartoonishly fun” (BBC R3) and “deliciously playful” (Classical Music Magazine) can be performed in place of the Monk in this programme.