After 25 years of joint music-making, 20 internationally acclaimed records, being six-time nominees and twice winners of the ‘Fryderyk’ award, and concerts given on all continents, the Royal String Quartet from Poland is a world-renowned ensemble. Witnessing their exuberance, artistic ingenuity, penchant for exploration, and openness to new challenges, it is hard to believe they have been performing together for so many years. 

In the quartet’s interpretations critics find a multitude of “vivid textures and colours, supported by the insightful knowledge of the musical construction” (BBC Music Magazine). Their interpretations are “confident and energetic, characterized by a vast array of dynamics and timbres, with carefully planned, surprising twists” (Gramophone).

The concert on Friday 16 January opens with Mozart’s early String Quartet No. 13 in D minor (K173), popularly known as one of the six ‘Viennese Quartets’ written in 1773 when the composer was just 17 years old and probably in the hope of getting work at the Court in Vienna.

The audience will then hear Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz’s String Quartet No. 4, which is the best known of her seven string quartets. It was written in 1951, following a commission from the Polish Composers’ Union, and it could be said that the piece owes its success to a strong folksong flavour that makes the work so accessible.

After the interval we have Brahms’s incomparable String Quartet No. 2 in A minor (Op. 51 No. 2) - one of this composer’s mature works, written in 1873. Brahms had already composed over 20 string quartets which never saw the light of day (he confessed to a friend that he had burnt all of that “stuff”) before he finally presented his two quartets of Op. 51 to the public. It is a darkly passionate sound world, offering up russet and amber melancholy alongside virile, life-affirming gypsy music, proud and defiant in the face of darkness.

Leamington Music’s Artistic Director, Helen Beecroft, says: “We are so delighted to welcome the Royal String Quartet back to Leamington. We are working in partnership with the Polish Community Centre in Leamington and the Polish Cultural Institute, London to shine a spotlight on Polish music and musicians and the wonderful Polish connections we have right here in our town.”

There are fourteen concerts in Leamington Music’s 2025/26 Winter Season, running September to March. With music from across the centuries - composed during the Renaissance and right up to the present day - there is something for all in this exciting new series. The 2026 Leamington Music Festival (1-4 May) is now on sale too.

Tickets for Leamington Music concerts are available from leamingtonmusic.org or by calling 0333 666 3366 (01926 334418 for Royal Spa Centre concerts).