A Brahms evening is proposed by the Arcadia Quartet on Tuesday, April 21st, on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest. The ensemble has been present on Romania's concert stages for two decades, serving as the resident quartet of the National Art Center "Romanian Youth" and gaining international recognition. Their achievements are reflected in an impressive list of accolades, including prestigious prizes at the International Chamber Music Competitions in Hamburg (2009), Almere, Netherlands (2011), Wigmore Hall in London a year later, and Osaka in 2014-distinctions that have brought the Arcadia Quartet onto the world's concert stages. To this we can add collaborations with major record labels: Orchid Classics (for a Leoš Janáček album) and Chandos, with which they signed a contract in 2017. Under this label, they released the complete string quartets of Béla Bartók and have already recorded the final album in another complete cycle-the 17 string quartets by Mieczysław Weinberg. Each new release has received outstanding praise from leading international publications, including the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik for the first volume and a Diapason d'Or for the third volume. We should also recall the Arcadia String Quartet's performance at the latest edition of the George Enescu International Festival, where they performed three quartets by Mieczysław Weinberg.

For the April 21st recital, however, the four musicians-principal players of the "Transylvania" Philharmonic in Cluj-Napoca-shift stylistic direction, offering the two String Quartets, Op. 51 by Johannes Brahms. These works were painstakingly developed by the German composer, much like his Symphony No. 1 in C minor. As Brahms himself remarked in 1872, "you have no idea what it is like to always hear a giant like Beethoven marching behind you." He is also said to have destroyed 20 string quartets before publishing his first, Op. 51.

Regarding the String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 51, violist Traian Boală speaks, in an interview with our colleague Ariadna Ene Iliescu, about the emotional connection all members feel when performing this Brahms work-one of the first pieces tackled by the Arcadia Quartet, presented at the 2009 Hamburg International Chamber Music Competition, where it earned them First Prize and the Brahms Special Prize, and was also included on their debut album released the same year. Performing the same score on the Romanian Athenaeum stage 15 years later evokes "a sense of nostalgia for the past."

This Brahms-focused journey, offered by the refined and highly experienced Cluj-based string quartet, is undoubtedly a highlight of the chamber music season. Their openness to fully identify with and sincerely convey any score they approach goes beyond impeccable professionalism. The concert is part of the Euroradio Premium Season 2025-2026.