Violinist

The Chiaroscuro Quartet, playing on period instruments, takes a tour from the early years of the string quartet’s history to visit one of the genre’s highest summits. It devotes its programme’s first half to two seminal works by Haydn, jewels from his pioneering Op. 20 set, before turning to Beethoven’s Op. 132, complete with its exalted ‘Hymn of Thanksgiving to God for recovery from illness’.

EPSG:4326

Chiaroscuro Quartet

Wigmore Hall

‘A shock to the ears of the best kind’ – The Observer.

Chiaroscuro Quartet is renowned for Classical and early Romantic interpretations, bringing the group’s signature style to Manchester for the very first time.

Brought to life on gut strings and with historical bows, the programme opens with Haydn’s pivotal Opus 20 string quartets. While the bright and optimistic third quartet may be seen as more conventional, the enigmatic sixth quartet blossoms and pushes the boundaries of structural norms.

Royal Northern College of Music

The Chiaroscuro Quartet is named for the Italian term for light and shade in art, an apt description of their refined phrasing and ability to illuminate familiar works with their subtle period-instrument tones. The ensemble’s recording of Mendelssohn’s Op. 13 prompted the Observer to conclude that its ‘unadorned sound is a shock to the ears of the best, most arresting kind’. It begins this morning with the intricate musical argument of Beethoven’s final string quartet, considered by the composer Robert Simpson to contain ‘the most sensitively coloured quartet writing in existence’.

Kleinhans Music Hall

Renowned for their fresh approach to period instrument performance of classical repertoire, the members of this Russian-Swedish-French ensemble together produce a unique sound – described by The Observer (London) as “a shock to the ears of the best kind.” Rediscover great works of Beethoven and Schubert in the ensemble’s Houston debut.  Chiaroscuro Quartet translates into sound the Renaissance painting technique they are named after – crafting unforgettable music through shifting shades of light and darkness.

Violinist

Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux

Events

Past events

Oct 14, 2026

Chiaroscuro Quartet · Wigmore Hall

Oct 12, 2026

Chiaroscuro Quartet · Royal Northern College of Music

Future and recently performed repertoire

Violin in String Quartet in G minor by Haydn

Royal Northern College of Music

Violin in String Quartet No. 15 by Beethoven

Wigmore Hall

Violin in String Quartet No. 2 by Mendelssohn

Wigmore Hall

Violin in String Quartet in A minor by Beethoven

Royal Northern College of Music

Violin in String Quartet in A major by Haydn

Royal Northern College of Music

Violin in String Quartet No. 16 by Beethoven

Wigmore Hall

About

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