Past events

Wednesday
3
June 2026

China 2026: Concert

Ligeti Quartet present a programme combining works from their repertoire with those of composers from the South China Normal University:

Wei Cong String Quartet No. 1 (2007)
Pang Wenlan String Quartet No. 1 "Veins of Withered Wood" (2026)
Wang Siqi Wrath Lullaby for String Quartet (2026)
Xu Xinhua Fluctuations in Mood for String Quartet (2023) 

Tuesday
2
June 2026

China 2026: Masterclass

An occasion to observe the Ligeti Quartet's working process for listening, analyzing technical performance issues, and developing and evaluating notation for the string string quartet.

We'll be looking at works by teachers and students of the Xinghai Conservatory of Music, all composed in 2026
Chen Mingzhi Embrace Freedom in the Strom No.2
Lei Xiaopei Gitch Quartet
Xue Youqi Holzmaskentanz
Zeng Junxi JI JI

Thursday
21
May 2026

Steve Reich: Different Trains

Schubert Fantasie in F minor for piano four hands, D. 940
Joseph Havlat & Jâms Coleman (piano)

 

This late-night concert brings together two works written 160 years apart, tracing very different kinds of journeys. From an inward voyage in Schubert to a starkly documented passage through twentieth-century history in Reich.

Sunday
10
May 2026

Nuc in The Hague

Anna Meredith has achieved incredible success straddling multiple musical worlds, never compromising her raw, individual style. This concert features the Ligeti Quartet’s new album Nuc, providing a survey of Meredith’s career to date, heard through her original works for string quartet. New arrangements of Meredith’s music by the Quartet's violist Richard Jones also feature, including from her award-winning electronic and dance albums.

Cover art by Eleanor Meredith and Martin McGrath

Thursday
27
November 2025

Sunrise Missions

Kaija Saariaho’s Terra Memoria reflects on memory and change, evoking landscapes both personal and physical, while Wadada Leo Smith’s String Quartet No. 5 (In the Diaspora: Earthquakes and Sunrise Missions) conjures the forces of upheaval and renewal. In Warblework, Cassandra Miller transforms the intricate songs of North American thrushes into layered, weaving lines that blur the boundaries between human and avian voices. John Luther Adams’ The Wind in High Places turns string instruments into an aeolian harp, evoking vast, windswept landscapes.

Saturday
8
February 2025

Kings Place: Terry Riley

Terry Riley’s contribution to the string quartet canon is celebrated with a performance of his seminal work, Cadenza on the Night Plain, and a premiere of a new arrangement of Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band (the B-side of Riley’s much-loved 1969 album A Rainbow in Curved Air). Alongside this, their interpretation of 70 Chords by Terry by one of Riley’s fellow travellers, Pauline Oliveros, whose approach to listening and improvisation revealed radical new ways of communal music-making.

Monday
18
November 2024

hcmf// Justė Janulytė

Ligeti Quartet present a re-imagining of Justė Janulytė’s 2018 work for four string quartets, titled for a word game of geometric figures. In the original, the groups are placed around the audience, forming a square, whilst the music moves in circular patterns. In this new version, Ligeti Quartet will perform amplified with three pre-recorded layers played back in quadraphonic speaker formation.
Wednesday
23
October 2024

Bloomsbury Festival

A master of the traditional Korean Piri, SEAYOOL’s contemporary classical work Suite for Jeju beautifully expresses the poignant narrative and beautiful scenery of of Jeju Island, reinterpreting the diction of traditional instruments while masterfully merging piri and string quartet. SEAYOOL will be joined in this special performance by the Ligeti ​Quartet to mark this UK premiere.
Saturday
19
October 2024

The Memory Project

This programme explores the kaleidoscopic idea of memory, in collaboration with composers based in the UK and Colombia. This wide-ranging programme explores themes from the history of Colombia, through the changed cultural landscape of Kazimierz – the old Jewish district of Kraków, to sonifications of the epigenetic memory of trees.

Friday
16
August 2024

Nuc in Edinburgh

Anna Meredith has achieved incredible success straddling multiple musical worlds, never compromising her raw, individual style. This concert features the Ligeti Quartet’s new album Nuc, providing a survey of Meredith’s career to date, heard through her original works for string quartet. New arrangements of Meredith’s music by the Quartet's violist Richard Jones also feature, including from her award-winning electronic and dance albums.

Cover art by Eleanor Meredith and Martin McGrath