The Barcelona International Quartet Biennial will be held from the 17th to 20th of September 2020 at L’Auditori de Barcelona and will consist of a four-day gathering of some of today’s most outstanding quartets. In addition, a professional session for chamber ensembles will be held on October 6th in L’Atlàntida de Vic in order to unite the previously selected formations with programmers and professionals in the classical music sector. The Biennial is an initiative of the Quartet Casals co-curated with L’Auditori de Barcelona and with the sponsorship of the Department of Culture and the Diputació de Barcelona. The Catalan Institute of Cultural Enterprises (ICEC), the Ramon Llull Institute (IRL – Institut Ramon Llull), and L’Atlàntida de Vic are additional collaborators.

The Casals Quartet has developed the Biennial with the idea of inviting established but also emerging groups: the quartets Diotima, Modigliani, Marmen, Cosmos, Dalia and the Casals themselves will perform live and the American Jack Quartet and the German Artemis Quartett will do so through L’Auditori digital, performing premieres by Hector Parra and Pēteris Vasks, respectively.

The programmation of the event memorializes the figure of F. J. Haydn with a cycle of morning concerts and works by composers such as L. van Beethoven, C. Debussy or D. Shostakovich, at the same time as national and international premieres. The Quatuor Diotima will perform the world premiere of Code is poetry, by Luis Codera Puzo. The Dalia Quartet will offer a first listen of the String quartet No. 8 in a Cristóbal de Morales’ theme by Josep Soler.

The Catalan musical tradition will also be celebrated with music such as that of Robert Gerhard, whose 50th birthday is being commemorated this yearand Jordi Cervelló, in addition to the aforementioned Josep Soler. The new generation of Catalan composers will be represented by one of our most international creators: the composer Raquel García-Tomás.

The event, with executive production of Seed Music, will kick off L’Auditori’s 2020-21 season and tickets – practically sold out for all sessions – are now on sale. Check out all the programming here.