Valo String Quartet

Launched at the beginning of the 2022-23 season, the Valo Quartet was created out of a mutual desire to delve more profoundly into the string quartet repertoire. A shared spirit of spontaneity became the perfect starting point to develop a sense of enduring growth, the guiding light (Valo – ‘light’ in Finnish) being the union of meaningful exploration of the score and trust in the individual player’s musical instincts. The members, originally from Poland, the UK and Finland, come together and often collaborate at festivals and series across Europe. Recent highlights have included Festival Resonances, Belgium, Trasimeno Music Festival, Italy and series such as Seriös Helsinki, Finland. In the 2024-25 season the Quartet are delighted to make their debut performances at the Lammermuir Festival, Scotland, Musiq3 Festival, Belgium, Kaustinen Chamber Music Festival, Finland and in prestigious venues such as The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Gateshead.

Maria Włoszczowska

Polish violinist Maria Włoszczowska is recognised for her versatile musicianship, performing as soloist, director/concertmaster, and chamber musician. She appears regularly at Wigmore Hall and international festivals, made her solo debut at the BBC Proms in August 2022 with the Royal Northern Sinfonia (RNS) and Dinis Sousa, and recently play/directed the Chamber Orchestra of Europe at Mozartwoche Salzburg. Initially appointed leader of the RNS in 2021, Maria becomes Artistic Partner with the orchestra in the 2024/25 season in a position that was created especially for her.

Tim Crawford

Based in Switzerland and Denmark, violinist Tim Crawford performs with Ensemble Zeitgeist, The Teyber Trio, a string trio formed with Timothy Ridout and Tim Posner, and often leads Denmark’s chamber collective, The Esbjerg Ensemble. In demand as a chamber musician across Europe, Tim regularly appears at international festivals in the UK, Switzerland and Austria.

Lilli Maijala

Based in Amsterdam, violist Lilli Maijala’s diverse chamber music activities take her around the world. She is also a professor of viola at the Zurich University of the Arts and regularly appears as soloist with orchestras in her home country of Finland.

Amy Norrington

Cellist Amy Norrington enjoys a varied career as soloist, chamber musician, teacher and Artistic Director of the International Chamber Music Festival Resonances where she brings together musicians of the highest calibre.

Program:

Webern Langsamer Satz

Leinonen, "Soisin"

Debussy, String Quartet in G, op. 10

-Intermission-

Brahms, String Quartet No. 1 in c minor, Op. 51

Allegro

Romanze. Poco adagio

Allegretto molto moderato e comodo

Allegro

Anton Webern – Langsamer Satz

Before Webern became the master of crystalline miniatures, he wrote this lush, late-Romantic adagio in 1905, steeped in the influence of Mahler and his teacher Schoenberg. Written during a hiking trip with his fiancée, it sings with long-breathed lyricism and warm harmonies—a deeply personal love letter in music.

Jukka Tiensuu Leinonen – Soisin

In *Soisin* (“I Wish”), Finnish composer Jouko Leinonen crafts a sound world of shimmering textures and delicate gestures. The music unfolds like a quiet meditation, its fragments coalescing into an intimate, almost whispered narrative.

Claude Debussy – String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10

Debussy’s only string quartet, composed in 1893, broke with tradition through its sensual harmonies, rhythmic freedom, and exotic color. Cyclic themes weave the four movements together, from the opening’s restless energy to the finale’s glowing light—a landmark in the evolution of chamber music.

Johannes Brahms – String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51

Brahms wrestled with the legacy of Beethoven for decades before unveiling his first string quartet in 1873. The result is a work of deep intensity and structural mastery, combining passionate turbulence with moments of lyrical repose. It is both an homage to the past and a testament to Brahms’s hard-won voice.