A hands-down Washington Performing Arts audience favorite, the Danish String Quartet members are rightly hailed both for their sterling technique and their adventurous approach to programming. Of a 2018 Washington Performing Arts performance, the Washington Post wrote, “They play with a cohesion, finesse, and precision second to none. Having built a solid reputation in the standard quartet repertory, recently they’ve turned their attention to Nordic folk music. The enthusiastic and vocal audience that packed the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue seemed glad they have.”

For this Terrace Theater performance, the DSQ present a very different yet no less intriguing program, juxtaposing two classic works by Schubert—the beloved “Rosamunde” quartet and a quartet arrangement of the lied “Gretchen Am Spinnrade” (“Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel”)—with a new work co-commissioned by Washington Performing Arts from the esteemed contemporary Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir. Of the previous quartet we co-commissioned from Ms. Thorvaldsdottir, Enigma, the New York Times wrote, “[Enigma] resembles dispatches emerging from the white noise of another world. It’s a masterly entrance to the genre, and a deceptively vast soundscape conjured with just four acoustic instruments.”

SCHUBERT - String Quartet No. 13 in A minor, D.804, “Rosamunde”
SCHUBERT - String Quartet No. 12 in C minor, D.703, "Quartettsatz"
ANNA THORVALDSDOTTIR - Rituals (2023, co-commissioned by Washington Performing Arts*)
SCHUBERT (arr. DSQ) – “Gretchen Am Spinnrade,” D.118

* Commissioned by the Danish String Quartet with the support of Carnegie Hall, Cal Performances, Vancouver Recital Society,
UC Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures, Washington Performing Arts, Flagey & Muziekgebouw aan’t IJ.

This performance is an external rental presented in coordination with the Kennedy Center Campus Rentals Office and is not produced by the Kennedy Center.

This performance is made possible through the generous support of Philip R. West and Barbara Yellen.

Washington Performing Arts’s classical music performances this season are made possible in part through the generous support of Betsy and Robert Feinberg.

Her Excellency Christina Markus Lassen, Ambassador of Denmark, is the honorary patron of this engagement.

This is one of twenty 2022/23 season performances included in Washington Performing Arts’s The World in Our City initiative, which promotes cross-cultural understanding and cultural diplomacy via the presentation of international visiting artists, globally inspired local programming, and the award-winning Embassy Adoption Program, a partnership with D.C. Public Schools.

Special thanks to the following lead supporters of Washington Performing Arts’s mission-driven work: Jacqueline Badger Mars and Mars, Incorporated; D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities; the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs Program and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; and the Dallas Morse Coors Foundation for the Performing Arts.

Accessibility:
Washington Performing Arts is committed to ensuring visitors of all abilities can experience the performances and programs we present. We partner with our venues to ensure accommodations are available. For specific questions about accessibility at our Kennedy Center events, please visit https://www.kennedy-center.org/visit/accessibility or contact us at patronservices@washingtonperformingarts.org.

COVID-19 Health and Safety:
As Washington Performing Arts does not own nor operate its own venue, Washington Performing Arts audiences are subject to the current vaccination and face mask policy of the venue on the date of the event. Please see venue specifics here.

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