Selini Quartet

Nadia Kalmykova, violin (Russia)

Ljuba Kalmykova, violin (Russia)

Loredana Apetrei, Viola (Romania)

Loukia Loulaki, violoncello (Greece)

Program:

L. Janacek: String Quartet No. 1 “Kreutzer Sonata”

I Adagio - Con moto

II Con moto

III Con moto - Vivo - Andante

IV Con moto - (Adagio) - Più mosso

LvBeethoven: String Quartet Op. 59, No. 1 “Razumovsky”

III Adagio molto e mesto-attacca

IV “Théme Russe”: Allegro

"Our program consists of two works that are interconnected. In a playful manner we combined Janacek's String Quartet No. 1“ Kreutzer sonata ”, which is inspired by Tolstoi's homonymous novel. In turn Tolstoi's novel is inspired by Beethoven's Kreutzer sonata No. 9 for violin. As such we picked for our second piece Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 59, No. 1, "Razumovsky", which closes our cycle as it's dedicated and inspired by Russian culture. "

Inspired by Greek mythology, the Selini Quartet owes its name to the goddess Selini, the moon goddess. The semicircular shape of the string quartet reminds us of the shape of the quarter moon, and each member of our quartet symbolizes one of the four phases of the moon.

Coming from Russia, Romania and Greece, the four musicians met in Vienna, where they founded the Selini Quartet in 2017.

Thanks to their faithfulness to the original, combined with their powerful sound and their diverse emotions, they have since performed all over Europe and have won prestigious awards. All of this has now led to the Selini Quartet being selected to represent the Austrian music scene worldwide as part of the "NASOM-New Austrian Sound Of Music" program for the 2020-2022 seasons.

They were invited to appearances in some of the most important Viennese concert halls such as the Musikverein, the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Schuberthaus, the Beethoven Museum, the Beethovenhaus Baden, the MuTh, the ORF RadioKulturhaus, the Pölz Halle in Amstetten, as well as the Burgtheater and the Hofburg. Abroad they could be heard in countries such as Germany, Greece, France, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, Great Britain, Croatia, Romania and Belgium.

They performed at the "Istanbul Music Festival", "Styrian Chamber Music Festival" in Graz, at the "Kalkalpen Chamber Music Festival" in Großraming, at the "Aegina International Music Festival" in Greece, at the "Harmos Festival" in Portugal, at the "Capraia Music Festival" in Italy , at the "Prague Clarinet Days", at the "Classix Festival" in Romania, at the "Art Novi Festival" in Croatia, at the "Festspillene Helgeland" in Norway and in many other places.

The Selini Quartet is the winner of the "Szymanowski International Music Competition" 2018 (Poland) and won the 2nd prize and the "Artis Quartet Prize" of the ISA competition (Austria).

In summer 2019 the quartet was invited to teach at the "Toppen International Summer Academy" (Norway). You have also been selected to participate in the Chamber Music Residency program of the Festival d'Aix en Provence (France). They are also invited to many renowned projects, including ECMA (European Chamber Music Academy), Le Dimore del Quartetto, Musethica and the Quatuor Diotima's Academy.

Under the direction of Johannes Meissl (Artis Quartet) they have been working on deepening their understanding of music since they were founded.

They were also inspired by other wonderful musicians such as Hatto Beyerle (Alban Berg Quartet), Evgenia Epstein (Aviv Quartet), Peter Schuhmayer (Artis Quartet), Patrick Juedt, David Alberman (Arditti Quartet), Andras Keller (Keller Quartet), Pavel Vernikov , Leonard Roczek (Minetti Quartet), Diotima Quartet, Vida Vujic and others.

Future projects include appearances in concert halls such as the Wiener Musikverein, "Pfarrsaal" Zell am See, "Stadtsaal" Zwettl and at festivals such as "Grafenegg Festival" 2021 and "Waldenfelser Musiksommer".

The Selini Quartet is grateful for the support of the "Goh Family Collection".

Photo: Dámian Posse