'Woman power' to the fore in Harrogate International Sunday Series concert

The Esmé Quartet, consisting of violinists Wonhee Bae and Yuna Ha, violist Jiwon Kim and cellist Ye-eun Heo, are appearing on Sunday, March 15, at the 2020 Harrogate International Sunday Series, being staged at the town’s Old Swan Hotel.

Formed four years ago whilst studying at Europe’s largest academy for music, the Cologne University of music, the quartet instantly clicked. “We felt straight away we had very good chemistry and we all shared a great passion to play the ‘string quartet literature’. This was how it all started and how the Esmé Quartet was created.”

And post studies, the four young women want to become a role model for other groups, especially those with all female musicians, who themselves aspire to become professional performers.

“It’s our goal to communicate, touch and inspire people across the world with the music we love. Ideally, we would like to establish a place of learning for people who love chamber music, and share with them techniques of how to put together an excellent group.

“We also have a lot of new exciting projects coming up. Our debut CD album, To be Loved, with music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Frank Bridge, and Unsuk Chin, was released last month.

“We also plan to record another album in May, with repertoire by Schumann and Mendelssohn, which will be released at the end of the year.”

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The quartet – which has already won a number of awards in their short history – including first prize at the 2018 prestigious Wigmore Hall String Quartet International competition – will be performing three pieces, which have completely different styles and characteristics, at the Harrogate International Sunday Series.

“The first piece is ‘Metamorphoses Nocturnes’ by Ligeti, where one can feel the beauty of his exploration into new dimensions of harmony and sound.

“The second piece (String Quartet No 6 in F Minor) is the last string quartet written by composer Felix Mendelssohn. One can truly feel the sadness of the loss of his sister, Fanny, who died a few months before him.”

For their finale, the four have chosen Beethoven’s String Quartet No 15 in A Minor. They said: “This grand masterpiece has five movements and each of them has very different moods.”

And, as it lasts nearly 50 minutes, performers and the audience need good concentration and huge energy!

“We are looking forward to sharing the stunning beauty of the third movement chorale with our audience.

"It is a great affirmation of life and joy and we plan to use our four-woman power to accomplish this.”

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