Brentano String Quartet delights at music festival

The Brentano String Quartet from the USA provided a musical highlight at the Dresden Music Festival. The two musicians received long applause for their performance in the Palais Großer Garten. Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 6 was followed by "Madrigal Mongolia" by Chinese-American composer Lei Liang, a contemporary work that also received a great deal of applause - something that is by no means a matter of course with new music.

After the interval, the ensemble, which was founded in New York in 1992, was able to demonstrate its full class in the String Quartet No. 3 by Johannes Brahms. Freshness, passion and a crystal-clear sound enchanted the audience, who received an encore as a thank-you for their response - a movement from a Haydn quartet. The ensemble chose its name after Antonie Brentano, one of the supposed addressees of Beethoven's famous letter to the "immortal beloved"

The motto of the current edition of the Dresden Music Festival is "Love". 58 concerts are planned until June 14. Renowned orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra will be making their musical mark. Dresden institutions such as the Sächsische Staatskapelle and the city's philharmonic orchestra will also be performing. In addition to lots of classical music, there will also be fado with the singer Mariza and pop music with Ronan Keating.