Kvadrat Trio

Performers

Notes on the performers

Kvadrat Trio is a London based clarinet trio. Formed in March 2021, they were soon after awarded in the Harold Craxton Prize for their performance of Contrasts by B.Bartok. Their programming includes pieces for clarinet and piano with violin or viola, which makes the ensemble four-edged instead of three – hence their name (kwadrat – pl. square). They have performed recitals in the Angela Burgess Hall at the Royal Academy of Music, as well as the Southwark Cathedral. In the coming months they are looking forward to performing in St James Pimlico, St James Piccadilly, Summer Piano Festival and Petworth Festival.

Małgorzata Zwierzchowska

Małgorzata Zwierzchowska is a skilled violinist, violist and successful project director, and scholarship student at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM). Born in Warsaw, Poland, she started playing the violin at the age of 7. She is studying violin with Michael Foyle and viola with Martin Outram, Małgorzata pursues busy career performing regularly in renowned venues across Europe and taking part in festivals. She’s been awarded prizes and scholarships and has received the Polish Prime Minister’s Scholarship. Holding leading positions in projects in ollaboration with members of Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra, she works with acclaimed conductors such as Mark Elder, Marin Alsop, John Wilson, Edward Gardner and Jukka-Pekka Saraste.

Robbie Marrs

Northern Irish Clarinettist Robbie Marrs was the Robert McFadzean Whyte Award Holder at the Royal College of Music. He graduated in 2022 and gained a position in the London Sinfonietta Academy. Robbie is now freelances in London and Northern Ireland, working with ensembles. He has given performances on behalf of the Irish Heritage Foundation and is a founding member of the Young Musicians Guild. After winning the Stephen Parker Memorial Award 2017, Robbie made his solo debut with the City of Belfast Youth Orchestra, performing the Weber Concertino at the Ulster Hall. He has performed with the RCM Symphony Orchestra as principal clarinet and was principal Eb Clarinet with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in the BBC Proms 2018. He was selected to lead an ensemble at Highclere Castle and at the Newbury Spring Festival 2022 under rising conductor Nicolo Foron. Robbie plays with the Emerson Launch Pad prize winning Hyde Clarinet Quartet, and recently reached the semi-finals of the Royal Over-Seas League Competition.

Eden Agranat Meged

Eden Agranat Meged is a prominent Israeli pianist. His distinctive poetic expression coupled with his fascination with the inner workings of the music set him as a unique artist. Eden won the first prizes in the Lillian Davis Piano Competition, the Harriet Cohen Bach Competition and the Pnina Salzman Piano Competitions. He won the 3rd prize in the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe Competition. Eden receives the AICF Scholarships and the Zfunot Culture Scholarships. Forthcoming engagements include both solo recitals and chamber music concerts as part of the Kvadrat Trio. His performance will be broadcasted in the Kan Kol Ha-Musika radio station. Eden was invited to the prestigious Henle Verlag Masterclasses celebrating Beethoven’s 250th anniversary in Munich. Murray Perahia has been a central mentor for Eden, guiding him at the selective JMC Excellence Piano Program.

Programme

Programme notes

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

Märchenerzailungen Op. 132

1. Lebhaft, nicht zu schnell
2. Lebhaft und sehr markirt
3. Ruhiges Tempo, mit zartem Ausdruck;
4. Lebhaft, sehr markirt

Märchenerzählungen (Fairy tale narrations) is a trio composition by Robert Schumann in four movements for clarinet (violin ad libitum), viola and piano. He composed the clarinetviola-piano trio in B-flat major, between 9 and 11 October 1853. The movements are connected by a motif (Kernmotiv). The work is dedicated to Schumann’s pupil Albert Dietrich, and was published in 1854 by Breitkopf & Härtel. The composition, one of Schumann’s last works, he was interested in the “picturesque and the fanciful”, but left no link to specific fairy tales. The composition was completed in a few days. Clara Schumann noted in her diary: “Today Robert completed 4 pieces for piano, clarinet and viola and was very happy about it. He thinks that this compilation will appear highly romantic.” The pieces were first performed privately by Clara as the pianist, the violist Ruppert Becker and the clarinettist Johann Kochner.

Alban Berg (1885-1935)

Adagio

1. Movements

Alban Berg composed Kammerkonzert between 1923 and 1925 and dedicated it
to his former teacher Arnold Schoenberg. The influence of Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School is evident throughout the concerto’s structure. It is based, in part, on the earlier Schoenberg Chamber Symphony. It is pervaded, structurally, by a dependence on the number three. It uses as motto themes, the musical spelling of Schoenberg’s, Berg’s, and their associate Anton Webern’s names. The Adagio itself, reduced by the composer in 1935 from the original thirteen winds, violin and piano, is what might be termed a “ternary palindrome.” In other words, the music is cast in two mirror-image sections of three parts each. The second section, joining the first through the intercession of twelve low C-sharp “chimes” on the piano, is a reversal of the first, a formal device used often by the Viennese and particularly by Webern.

Max Bruch

Eight Pieces for Clarinet, viola and piano, Op. 83

Laura Kesiak

Trio Rustico

Laura was born in England to Polish parents, her musical journey beginning at 5 years old. In 2018 she became a student at Cheetham’s School of music studying violin and piano as a soloist and as a chamber musician. Since 2020, she has taken part in competitions and played in prestigious venues. She has won prizes for composition. Her recent successes include the Grand Prize in the composer/performer category at the International Youth Music Competition in New York (November 2022), winning the Christmas Competition for Young Composers in London (January 2023), and a Second Prize at the International Sino-British Youth Composition Competition in Manchester/Beijing (May 2023).