BEETHOVEN & BRAHMS STRING QUARTETS

Opus13

The Guildhall Lens Studio, Portsmouth
Monday 12 October 2026, 7.30pm

Tickets:
£13 – £23

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BEETHOVEN String Quartet in D Op.18 No.3 (25’)
ADÈS Arcadiana  (20’)
BRAHMS String Quartet No.1 in C minor (35’)

Opus 13, the most recent winner of the prestigious Wigmore Hall International String Quartet competition, makes its Portsmouth debut with a programme of bold and lyrical works.

Praised by the judges for “technically superb and emotionally compelling” performances, the Quartet follows in the footsteps of a glittering roster of past winners, including the internationally renowned Leonkoro Quartet, Quartet Van Kuijk and the Takacs Quartet.

Beethoven’s first string quartet is a bright, lyrical and humorous work, undercut by a deeply affecting slow movement. Indebted to Beethoven’s later work, Brahms’s String Quartet No.1 is a bold, passionate piece, from its striking opening bars to its rapturous conclusion.

Arcadiana, the first string quartet by Thomas Adès, “one of the most accomplished and complete musicians of his generation” (The New York Times) also features, portraying an evocation of paradise with references to Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, the painter Poussin and Greek mythology.

Get a 20% discount if you book all 6 Portsmouth Chamber Music concerts. Find out more here

About the Artists

Opus13

First Prize winners at both the 2025 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition and the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, Opus13 is rapidly building a reputation on the international chamber music scene. In 2026 they were named recipients of the prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.

Named after Mendelssohn’s youthful and passionate A Minor Quartet, Op. 13 — the first piece they ever played together —the quartet was formed in Oslo in 2014 by four teenagers eager to dive into the world of string quartets. Opus13 comprises Norwegian violinists Sonoko Miriam Welde and Edvard Erdal, violist Albin Uusijärvi and cellist Daniel Thorell, both from Sweden.

In addition to performing core string quartet repertoire by composers such as Mozart, Bartók, and Schubert, Opus13 are passionate ambassadors of Nordic classical and contemporary music, frequently programming works by Grieg, Stenhammar, Tarrodi, Byström, and Fagerlund. They also enjoy genre-crossing collaborations, having performed with Norwegian folk and popular music artists including Gjermund Larsen Trio, Sissel Kyrkjebø, and Sver. Read more here.