Violist

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’.

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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

Discover chamber music masterworks by Mozart and Schubert with a striking new clarity and richness. With a dynamic performance style and use of historical bows and gut strings, the Chiaroscuro Quartet achieves a sound “so immediate, you could summon any musical line at any time for the closest of attention” (The Irish Times). In this program, the ensemble performs the last of the quintessential string quartets Mozart dedicated to Haydn (who, upon hearing it, immediately declared Mozart “the greatest composer I know, either personally or by reputation”). The quartet also performs Schubert’s monumental final string quartet, whose visceral, dynamic intensity and technical variety make it an especially enticing piece.

Carnegie 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.

The Menil Collection

SF Performances audiences know Alina Ibragimova from her galvanizing solo recitals, and now she returns with her Quartet. The Chiaroscuro Quartet fuses the raw, pure sound of historical strings with powerful, contemporary technique in performances “played with enormous conviction and power by this very stylish ensemble” (Gramophone).

War Memorial and Performing Arts Center

Making her debut on our Concert Classics series in April on a modern instrument, violinist Alina Ibragimova first comes with an ensemble that brings “a shock to the ears of the best kind” (The Observer). Playing standing up on gut stringed instruments with historical bows, the Chiaroscuro Quartet performs music of the Classical and early Romantic periods with an utterly unique sound that has brought audiences to their feet across the world. The quartet’s three leading ladies, and one leading gent, bring us a program rooted in love: two string quartets written after their respective composers fell under the spell of the leading ladies in their own lives. Having experienced the group’s revelatory approach to this music, you are bound to fall under their spell as well!

Violist

Emilie Hörnlund

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

Viola in String Quartet in G minor by Haydn

Royal Northern College of Music

Viola in String Quartet No. 15 by Beethoven

Wigmore Hall

Viola in String Quartet No. 2 by Mendelssohn

Wigmore Hall

Viola in String Quartet in A minor by Beethoven

Royal Northern College of Music

Viola in String Quartet in A major by Haydn

Royal Northern College of Music

Viola in String Quartet No. 16 by Beethoven

Wigmore Hall

About

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