Viano Quartet

The Viano Quartet is a chamber ensemble that commands attention. Since winning the prestigious Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2019, the quartet has established a reputation as one of the most exciting and dynamic young groups on the classical music scene today. The Viano Quartet makes their Duke Arts debut this season, bringing together a vibrant range of works for chamber quartet, both established and new additions to the repertoire.

The first piece in Piazzolla's Suite del Ángel opens the program: an elegant tango, packed full of unusual jazz-infused harmonies. Just as Piazzolla was renowned for pushing the envelope stylistically, Bartók's String Quartet No. 3 incorporates an array of colorful effects and pioneering extended instrumental techniques, such as strumming, pizzicato and playing with the bow close to the bridge or with the wood rather than the hair of the bow. A new quartet by the versatile young Canadian composer Kevin Lau is at the center of this program, before the Viano Quartet finishes with Beethoven's String Quartet No. 13 and its dramatic original final movement, the Große Fuge.