Extending String Quartet: La Serenissima + a new Wantenaar

The Belinfante Quartet is ‘glowing with interplay and experimentation’ (NRC). This young foursome, participants in the SQBA Residency a few years ago, has broad musical interests and effortlessly spans centuries. Nine hundred years sit between Hildegard von Bingen and Mathilde Wantenaar, whose new work will be heard, written on commission for the String Quartet Biennale. Rhiannon Randle composed Baile for the Belinfantes. Two program pieces fit together perfectly: Hildegard von Bingen’s O virtus sapientiae and the final movement, La Serenissima, from Britten’s Third String Quartet. Hildegard lived all her life in the Rhineland; Venice remained terra incognita for her. But Venice's title of honor, ‘La Serenissima’, evokes associations with the main characteristic of Hildegard's music: the serene. For centuries, diplomacy and justice brought peace to Venice - concepts Hildegard refers to as ‘the virtue of wisdom’. That Britten reached a deep spirituality in his very last notes, written in Venice, just like Hildegard, completes the circle.