Sunday 20 October 3pm

St Brendan’s Church

The Solas Quartet is a Cork-based group led by Irish Chamber Orchestra leader Katherine Hunka. For their fourth NSQF tour they bring another programme full of variety and originality. Haydn’s celebrated G major quartet Op.76 No.1 is one the greats, its playful opening movement followed by a gorgeous chorale, a witty scherzo and a virtuosic finale. Dave Fennessy’s musical career has progressed from school rock band, through guitar and composition studies in Dublin and Glasgow, and on to winning numerous international accolades for his music. The Danish Quartet’s album of arrangements of Danish folk tunes Wood Works has attracted a huge following and the Solas Quartet brings you two of the best of them. Smetana’s autobiographical masterpiece From My Life is always a highlight of any programme; through its four movements, this extaordinary quartet truly conveys a sense of the span of a lifetime.

Sunday 17 November 3pm

St Brendan’s Church

Monumental, intimate, dreamy, earthy, triumphant, despairing… Schubert’s extraordinary string quintet is all of these things and more. It was the last completed work of the terminally ill 31-year-old composer and is recognized as one of the greatest works in Western music. Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1876 string sextet is, by contrast, a seldom played rarity, but it is full of charm and invention, exploiting the rich sonority of the six instruments to the full and featuring a lyrical and expressive slow movement.