Concert 23 november 2025 20:00
De Waalse Kerk, Amsterdam
Meet the string quartets of the future in the brand new String Quartet Series at the Waalse Kerk, in collaboration with the Dutch String Quartet Academy. Young ensembles full of energy breathe new life into the great classics and embark on adventure with surprising, contemporary works. Order a drink, sit back, and let yourself be carried away in our centuries-old church in the heart of Amsterdam. The Adam Quartet participated in the post-academic quartet NSKA 2022-2025 program, come listen to their closing presentation concert!
Concert 23 november 2025 14:00
Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen
After their very successful performance in the previous season, we are happy to program the Skazka string quartet again.
The Skazka String Quartet is a new face in the Dutch concert landscape. They are already known from the Grachtenfestival, Podium Klassiek, performances in the Spiegelzaal, and with us at the CruquiusConcerts. They received the String Quartet Scholarship 2024 from the Kersjes Fund. The quartet is the Russian word for fairytale and that is exactly what the quartet aims to achieve: telling stories.
Violinist Lena ter Schegget completed her master's degree in 2020 as a student of Chris Duindam at the Utrecht Conservatory. She previously studied with Gerhard Schulz in Vienna and Sebastian Hamann in Freiburg.
Violinist Dmitri Ivanov studied successively with Ilona Sie Dhian Ho, Christiaan Bor, and Benzion Shamir, with whom he completed his bachelor's degree at the Rotterdam Conservatory. He continued his studies at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with Peter Brunt and Philippe Graffin.
Violist Sam Tsai studied at the Tainan National University of the Arts ( Taiwan ) and at the Amsterdam Conservatory.
Cellist Emma Besselaar studied in Amsterdam with Quirine Viersen and continued her studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London with Louise Hopkins. After graduating, she was appointed Guildhall Artist Fellow for two consecutive years.
The quartet plays Leos Janácek's string quartet no. 1, the 'Kreutzer Sonata,' which he wrote after reading Tolstoy's novella of the same name: a story about love and jealousy, in which all emotions come to a climax during a performance of Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata. The music tells the story through Janácek's characteristic style, with repeating motifs, strong rhythmic elements, and a wealth of special techniques. In addition, the quartet plays various Russian composers who have in common that they are based on variations of a Russian theme. They close the concert with Beethoven's string quartet op. 59 no. in F.
Concert 22 november 2025 20:00
Edesche Concertzaal
Inspired by the resilient marigold flower, the Marigold Piano Quartet brings color, warmth, and intensity to every performance. The ensemble was founded in 2022 in Amsterdam and consists of Ruña 't Hart (violin), Connie Pharoah (viola), Kalle de Bie (cello), and guest pianist Seán Morgan-Rooney. Despite their young existence, the quartet has made an impression on stages such as the Concertgebouw and TivoliVredenburg. With sincere expression, the ensemble explores repertoire from all stylistic periods. During this concert, the four musicians shed light on two touching piano quartets by Fauré and Schumann.
Concert 21 november 2025 20:15
De Doelen, Rotterdam
Soprano Elisabeth Hetherington and the ADAM Quartet explore the intersections between voice and string instruments. Hetherington's expressive delivery and versatility seamlessly complement the detailed and inventive playing of the ADAM Quartet. With a program that stretches the boundaries between vocal and instrumental music, they show how voice and strings strengthen, challenge, and elevate each other to another level.
Elisabeth Hetherington
The Canadian-Dutch soprano Elisabeth Hetherington was awarded the Dutch Music Prize in 2024 at De Doelen and stands out with her expressive interpretations of early, modern, and contemporary repertoire. Her background in modern dance fuels her multidisciplinary approach, seamlessly combining singing and movement in innovative productions. She is praised for her virtuosity, expressiveness, and visual performance. On January 17, 2026, she will also be heard in Andriessen's De Materie with Asko|Schönberg, and on May 9, 2026, she will perform with the Orchestra of the 18th Century.
ADAM Quartet
The ADAM Quartet is a young and energetic string quartet that explores the classical repertoire with a fresh perspective. They combine traditional works with contemporary compositions and regularly collaborate with artists from other genres. The quartet has performed on major Dutch and international stages and festivals, and has been following the postgraduate program at the Dutch String Quartet Academy since 2022.
Program:
Dean String Quartet No.2
Schönberg String Quartet No.2
Shaw Other song & Cant voi l'aube
Montgomery Break away (string quartet only)
Masterclass 21 november 2025 09:00 - 23 november 2025
From November 21 to 23, 2025, the NSKA welcomes three prominent musicians for a special masterclass: Gerhard Schulz (Alban Berg Quartet), Marc Danel (Quatuor Danel), and Stefan Metz (Orlando Quartet).
Gerhard Schulz was born in Linz and studied violin with Franz Samohyl at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, with Sándor Végh at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, and with Shmuel Ashkenasi in the United States. He was a founding member of the Salzburg String Trio and the Schulz Ensemble, and served as the first violinist of the Düsseldorf String Quartet.
Since 1980, he has been a professor of violin at the Musikuniversität in Vienna, and since 1993, a guest professor of chamber music at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne. For over 30 years, he was a member of the world-renowned Alban Berg Quartet, with which he performed at all major music centers worldwide. After the quartet disbanded in 2008, he founded the Waldstein Ensemble (piano quartet). In 2009, he made his conducting debut with the Copenhagen Philharmonic and has since devoted himself passionately to his students.
Marc Danel has been the artistic director and head teacher of the NSKA since 2011, succeeding founder Stefan Metz. He has coached Dutch quartets such as Ragazze, Dudok, Ardemus, and Animato, as well as foreign ensembles like Quatuor Varèse and Quatuor Agate.
Born in 1969, Marc Danel studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne. He is the first violinist of the Quatuor Danel, which received its training from the Amadeus Quartet, Valentin Berlinsky (Borodin Quartet), and Fyodor Drushinin (Beethoven Quartet). The quartet is considered the successor to the legendary Russian Beethoven Quartet and the Belgian Pro Arte Quartet.
Stefan Metz studied cello in Bucharest and furthered his studies with Paul Tortelier. A masterclass by the Amadeus Quartet brought him to the Netherlands, where he began his international career. He founded the Orlando Quartet and the Orlando Festival, and shared the stage with artists such as Heinz Holliger, Nobuko Imai, Gidon Kremer, Menahem Pressler, the Borodin Quartet, and members of the Amadeus Quartet. He conducted masterclasses worldwide and served as a jury member at prestigious competitions in Bordeaux, Florence, London, Moscow, and Prague.
Stefan Metz was instrumental in the founding of NSKA and served as artistic director and head teacher from 2001 to 2011. To this day, he remains closely involved as a dedicated teacher and esteemed advisor.
Concert 20 november 2025 20:00
Grote Kerk Epe
Soprano Elisabeth Hetherington and the ADAM Quartet explore the intersections between voice and string instruments. Hetherington's expressive delivery and versatility seamlessly complement the detailed and inventive playing of the ADAM Quartet. With a program that stretches the boundaries between vocal and instrumental music, they demonstrate how voice and strings enhance, challenge, and elevate each other to another level.
Lecture 17 november 2025 16:30
ONLINE
Anne Hyland is Senior Lecturer in Music Analysis at the University of Manchester. She holds degrees from University College Dublin (BA hons, BMus and MMus) and from the University of Cambridge, where she completed her PhD in 2012 under the supervision of Prof. Nicholas Marston at King's College.
Anne is a musicologist and music analyst, specializing in music from the first half of the nineteenth century, with a particular focus on chamber music and its contexts. Her research mainly focuses on the instrumental music of Franz Schubert, which she studies from analytical, historiographical, and philosophical perspectives, as well as from the perspective of editorial practices of Schubert's time.
Her monograph Schubert's String Quartets: The Teleology of Lyric Form was published in April 2023 in the Music in Context series by Cambridge University Press and was awarded the Anthony Pople Mid-Career Researcher Award by the Society for Music Analysis. Her first article, 'Rhetorical Closure in the First Movement of Schubert's Quartet in C Major, D46: a Dialogue with Deformation' (2009), won the Music Analysis 25th Anniversary Award.
Concert 16 november 2025 15:00
TivoliVredenburg - Club Nine
The Brazilian saxophonist Lucas Santana (1993) presents a fascinating sound palette in which jazz and classical music meet. On his new album Bosquesos do Brasil, he explores his musical roots in a surprising garment.
Santana's collaboration with the ADAM Quartet originated during his studies in Amsterdam, where he broke the boundaries between jazz and classical departments. The meeting of these musical worlds resulted in a unique sound in which Brazilian rhythms, classical structures, and jazz improvisations merge.
In addition to his saxophone and clarinet, the multi-instrumentalist also brings his flute, with which he weaves refined melodies through a rich texture of strings and subtle rhythms.
Concert 15 november 2025 20:00
De Goede Rede, Almere
Final concert of our Artist in Residence 2025 with mezzo-soprano Bella Adamova. The movement of the planets and celestial bodies in the cosmos was believed to create celestial music. An inspiration for artists and composers. Also for the Belinfante Quartet with their arrangement of Songs by Alma Mahler for strings and mezzo-soprano, a world premiere!
Especially for this finale, the Belinfante Quartet has given substance to their goal of creating their own arrangement. And they succeeded! To perform their arrangement, they have collaborated with 'rising star' mezzo-soprano Bella Adamova. She is also a Mahler specialist and a wonderful chamber musician.
In addition to the songs of Alma Mahler, Gustav Mahler's Kindertotenlieder are also on the program. Something completely different.
Program:
Alma Mahler: Songs - arr. Belinfante Quartet for strings+mezzo-soprano - premiere
Benjamin Britten: Third String Quartet
Rhiannon Randle: Baile
Gustav Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
Concert 15 november 2025 20:00
De Verbeelding, Zeewolde
The Viride Quartet enjoys performing a diverse repertoire and particularly cherishes a fondness for often unknown Dutch classical music. By regularly performing masterpieces by composers such as Willem Pijper, the quartet contributes to the preservation and dissemination of the rich musical traditions of the Netherlands.
Since its founding in 2017, the Viride Quartet has established itself as a string quartet known for their infectious energy on stage. The four members met as teenagers at the School for Young Talent in The Hague, where a close friendship developed that formed the basis for their ensemble. The Quartet has been awarded various prizes, winning awards shortly after its founding at the Prinses Christina Concours and receiving the prestigious €15,000 string quartet scholarship from 'Het Kersjes Fonds' in 2019. In the 2023-2024 season, they received the season audience award from Theater de Leest for their performance in the series 'Kanjers in the Leest' and received an additional support award during their participation in the Jeunesses Musicales International Chamber Music Campus.
The Viride Quartet has been featured on national television and radio and has performed in prestigious venues such as the Royal Concertgebouw and the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ in Amsterdam, TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht, and De Doelen in Rotterdam. The quartet has also collaborated with other renowned musicians and ensembles such as Cuarteto Quiroga, Marmen Quartet, Jerusalem Quartet, baritone Benjamin Appl, and pianist Anna Fedorova. In 2021, they premiered the piece 'TranscenDance' by composer Kate Moore at the Unheard Music Festival, which received glowing reviews in various national newspapers.
Concert 14 november 2025 20:00
Verkadefabriek - Grote zaal
A whole generation of young composers has emerged who effortlessly break down boundaries between tonal music, classical, post-minimalism, and pop music. One of the stars is the 36-year-old Ellis Ludwig-Leone. He composes with the seductive flair of a seasoned storyteller, virtuosically guiding the listener through emotional peaks and depths. Since 2012, he has not only led his own indie rock band San Fermin, but also composed for orchestras, ensembles (yarn/wire, Sandbox Percussion), and string quartets (Jack Quartet, Attacca Quartet). Ludwig-Leone has developed a special bond with the young Dutch ADAM Quartet and harpist Lavinia Meijer.
During an exclusive composer portrait, Ellis Ludwig-Leone presents his music. The composer himself takes a seat behind the piano. In addition to the ADAM Quartet and Lavinia Meijer, the concert is supported by the American singer Eliza Bagg. The experienced Bagg is known from the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth and her solo act Lisel (which can be seen during Saturday Night on November 15).
The central focus of the Ludwig-Leone portrait is the song cycle 'False We Hope' for solo voice, string quartet, and piano. Ludwig-Leone wrote the piece specifically for Eliza Bagg. In the cycle, the composer touches on deeply human themes such as hope and loss, connection and isolation with a serene aggression. He sees the piece as a book of prayers for non-believers. The cycle includes texts and poems by Karen Russell (known for the novel 'Swamplandia!') and Carey McHugh.
In addition, various compositions featuring the harp are on the program. Lavinia Meijer is a true specialist in (post)minimalistic music and has worked closely with composers such as Philip Glass. Following a meeting between Ludwig-Leone and Meijer during a residency at the 'Banff Centre for the Arts' in 2011, a long-standing friendship and collaboration between the composer and performer emerged. The concert opens with Shadowy Figures, a one-movement harp concerto written for Lavinia Meijer, who premiered the piece with Het Gelders Orkest in 2019. Specifically for this concert, Ellis created an arrangement for harp and the ADAM Quartet. The first piece after the intermission, Night Loops, was composed in 2014 for Lavinia's album The Glass Effect and is written for solo harp, looping pedal, and electronics. Layers of restless harp figures and obsessive repetition are meant to evoke the experience of insomnia, exploring the strange twilight zone between wakefulness and dreams. In addition to this work, Lavinia performs the duet 'Past Life' for harp and viola alongside violist Minna Svedberg. During an intermission interview, Ludwig-Leone explains his work in the Verkadefabriek's conservatory.
Concert 11 november 2025 19:00
Verkadefabriek Clubzaal
Four decisive ladies hold their ground in the ADAM Quartet. A new Dutch string quartet with an international touch that illuminates and enriches the vast quartet repertoire with esprit. During November Music, as ensemble-in-residence, they will perform multiple times. They will participate in the composer portrait of Ellis Ludwig-Leone (Friday, November 14) and accompany kemenche master Soheil Shayesteh (Saturday, November 8).
But of course, the ADAM Quartet also presents their own concert recital. Central to this is their debut album 'Exquisite Corpse'. Just like the eponymous, surrealist game where separate, artistic interventions together form a completely new creation, the ADAM Quartet blends traditional repertoire and new compositions on their album. The selected works together form an abstract collage, giving the music a different meaning.
In the album 'Exquisite Corpse', all individual parts reinforce each other, creating an exciting new whole. The common thread connecting these works is Aus meines Herzens grunde by Bach. This chorale has been divided and transformed by the quartet itself into creative interludes between the parts of the Exquisite Corpse. During their recital, the quartet will perform works including those by Ellis Ludwig-Leone (Exquisite Corpse), Amarante Nat (I listen to the ocean), John Adams (Toot nipple), and Aleksandra Vrebalov (My desert my rose).
Especially for November Music, the ADAM Quartet has expanded their repertoire with Thomas Adès' masterpiece for string quartet: 'Arcadiana'. In this seven-part work, the composer refers to the mythical Arcadia. A place of eternal beauty and tranquility that seems to only exist in memory.
Keizersgracht 241
1016 EA Amsterdam
info@nska.nl
