• Alissa Margulis, violin
• Gareth Lubbe, viola
• Thorleif Thedéen, cello
• Andreas Frölich, piano

The period in the mid-18s was one of the most fruitful and successful in his entire life. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). It was a time of settled circumstances, life in Vienna, numerous commissions, public concerts and private performances, and numerous publications. From February 1784 to December 1786, Mozart wrote as many as twelve piano concertos, which are among the very top of the repertoire of the time. His quartets dedicated to Haydn will prompt the older composer to praise Mozart to his father: "Before God and as an honest man I tell you that your son is the greatest composer I know, either personally or by name. He has taste, and what is more, the deepest knowledge of composition." Among the published scores of those years, in addition to concertos, string quartets and symphonies, are a piano trio and two piano quartets, as part of a commission from the publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister, in which Mozart adds the viola (which he himself played) to the trio. After the performance Of the first piano quartet in G minor, K. 478, after criticism that Mozart's music was too difficult for amateur performance, Hoffmeister withdrew the commission. This was a common assessment of Mozart during his lifetime, as a powerfully talented composer who wrote music that was too difficult. The commission was later taken over by the Artaria company, for which Mozart completed the Second Piano Quartet K. 493 in E flat major, and composed a number of other works. Despite their unclear beginnings, Mozart's piano quartets are today among his most performed chamber works, and Schumann, Brahms, Dvořák and Fauré later composed for the same ensemble, following Mozart's example. In the First Piano Quartet, Mozart chooses the unusual tonality of G minor, reserved in his oeuvre for the most dramatic musical thoughts, such as those in Symphonies No. 25 from 1773 or No. 40 from 1788, works of intense and turbulent emotion arising from the ideas of Sturm und Drang. The first movement begins with a strong gesture that transitions into a gentler theme in B flat major, a parallel major. Mozart's music is constantly changing harmonically, and the development section is anchored by G minor. In the charming Andante, B flat major reappears through long lyrical phrases, while the violin and viola lines lead back to the main key. The final Rondo shows a clear influence from Joseph Haydn, with a recurring refrain. The movement, in bright G flat major, is free from the dramatic expression of the first movement. In this quartet, Mozart combines technical virtuosity with extraordinary emotional power and harmonious contrasts.

Joaquín Turina (1882–1949) occupies a significant place in the development of Spanish national music in the classical repertoire. He was, along with Manuel de Falla and Isaac Albéniz, one of the leading composers who successfully combined the Spanish folkloric tradition with European classical forms.. Educated at the Royal Conservatory of Madrid, he initially followed the beaten path of European music, influenced by French and German models. He even traveled to Paris to study with Vincent d'Indy and his teacher, César Franck. One evening in a Parisian café, Turin and another young Spaniard, Manuel de Falla, were reprimanded by the leading Spanish composer, Isaac Albéniz, for not drawing enough from the folk music of their country.

Since then, Turina has insisted on incorporating Spanish rhythms, dances, and melodic figures into his compositions, while maintaining the framework of inherited European musical forms. In the first movement Piano Quartet in A minor, instead of a fast sonata form, presents an emotional and gently swaying evocation of a night in Turin's native Seville. The second movement has a dance-like character, with the pizzicato of the strings evoking the sound of castanets. The third movement is a broad rhapsody of Spanish melodies, in which material from the first movement reappears, giving the whole work a completeness.

Argentine composer and bandoneon virtuoso Astor Piazzolla (1921–1992) revolutionized tango, and his style, called Nuevo Tango, fused traditional Argentine tango with elements of classical music and jazz, introducing complex harmonies, counterpoint, and improvisation, and taking tango to the concert stage. His composition Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires), is a cycle of compositions originally conceived and performed separately, and only later combined by Piazzolla into a single cycle and occasionally performed as such. Composed for Piazzolla's quintet, consisting of violin, piano, electric guitar, double bass and bandoneón (Argentine accordion), the pieces depict the seasons of the Argentine capital, as indicated by the adjective "porteño" referring to those born in Buenos Aires, and are played in the order of Otoño (Autumn), Invierno (Winter), Primavera (Spring), Verano (Summer), that is, in the opposite order of the seasons in the Northern Hemisphere. The first, Verano Porteño, was composed in 1965, an energetic composition that evokes the typically windy weather of that season, as music for the drama Melenita de oro by AR Muñoz. In 1969, Piazzolla composed the remaining pieces. Summer is heavy and humid, while Autumn is refreshing, filled with jazz elements. Winter is dramatic and shocking with cold weather penetrating from Antarctica, while the last bars of the composition carry a hint of warmth and the awakening of a new spring. The composition exists in many arrangements for different bands.

Among the fragments of The Seasons in Buenos Aires, compositions are inserted Chiquilin de Bachín, a tango-waltz that Piazzolla composed to verses by the Uruguayan-Argentine poet Horacio Ferrer. The song tells the story of a homeless boy who sells roses in front of the Bachín restaurant in Buenos Aires, which was Piazzolla's favorite place and still exists today. It tells the story of the boy returning to his home – a cardboard box – and discovering that an alley cat has stolen his shoes. But that doesn't matter because they had holes in them anyway. The song is very popular and is often covered in various instrumental versions, as well as Milonga del ángel, a composition originally written for Piazzolla's quintet in 1965, as the second in the Ángel cycle, which is characterized by a great richness of melody (as opposed to the Diablo tango cycle, in which strong, sharp rhythms and harmonies appear). Milonga is a genre that is considered the forerunner of tango, and in this composition by Piazzolla, it is filled with sweet nostalgia, from which passionate, rhythmic figures break through in the central part of the composition, slowly forming into real tango rhythms and figures, remaining extremely melodious.

Alyssa Margulis She is renowned for her expressive and emotional performances and regularly performs in the world's most important concert halls, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels and the Musikverein in Vienna. Born in Germany to a family of Russian musicians, she studied with Zakhar Bron, Augustin Dumay and Pavel Vernikov, and has won numerous international awards, including the “Pro Europa” award presented to her by Daniel Barenboim. She made her first public appearance at the age of seven, and has since performed with many leading orchestras and under the baton of world-renowned conductors.

In addition to her solo career, Margulis is active in chamber music, collaborating with artists such as Martha Argerich, Misha Maisky, and Gidon Kremer, and has performed at prestigious festivals throughout Europe, North and South America. Her discography includes more than a dozen CDs, including Grammy-nominated and Diapason d'or-awarded releases, and encompasses classical repertoire, works by Franz Liszt, Piazzolla's "The Seasons," and chamber and klezmer performances.

Gareth Lubbe, a South African violist, violinist and multiphonic singer (who creates a polyphonic effect with his voice), is internationally known for his collaborations with musicians of various genres and his versatility. From 2007 to 2014, he was principal violist of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig under the baton of Riccardo Chailly, and then took up the position of professor of viola at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany.

Lubbe performs as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, America, Africa and Asia, in top venues such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Wigmore Hall in London and Carnegie Hall in New York. He regularly participates in prestigious international festivals, where he performs and teaches, and is a member of the international faculty of the Stellenbosch Chamber Music Festival.

As a multiphonic singer, he gives concerts and lectures all over the world, and numerous composers have written works especially for him. He is also co-artistic director of the “Stelzenfestspiele bei Reuth”, where he transforms ordinary agricultural objects into musical instruments.

Swedish cellist Thorleif Thedeen is one of the most prominent instrumentalists in the Nordic countries, internationally respected as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and pedagogue. He has won first prizes in international competitions, including the Casals Competition, and teaches as a visiting professor of cello at the Royal College of Music in London and as a professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo.

In a career spanning four decades, he has performed with the world's greatest orchestras, including the Czech Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Berlin DSO, Vienna Symphony, Hallé Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic and BBC Philharmonic, under renowned conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Neeme Järvi and Osmo Vänska. He regularly performs with major Nordic orchestras and participates in festivals and orchestras around the world.

As a chamber musician, he has performed in prestigious venues such as the Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, as well as at the Prague Spring, Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein and Kuhmo festivals. His collaborators have included Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin, Itamar Golan, Leif Ove Andsnes, Martin Fröst and many others.

His recordings have received numerous awards: the Edison Prize for Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time (2018), the Cannes Classical Award for Shostakovich's cello concerto, and the Bach recording Suite for cello She was named BBC Music Magazine's Choice of the Month. Her discography includes concertos by Dvořák, Elgar, Saint-Saëns, Lalo, Kabalevsky, Lutosławski and contemporary music. She plays a beautiful Testore instrument, on loan from the Swedish Academy and the Järnåker Foundation.

German pianist Andreas Frölich He studied with Stefan Askenase, Vitaly Margulis in Freiburg and Pavel Gililov in Cologne. During his studies he won numerous prizes at prestigious competitions in Senigallia, Finale Ligure, Vienna, Milan and other places.

He has performed as a soloist in prestigious concert halls and festivals such as the Rheingau Musikfestival, Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, Salzburg, Emilia Romagna Festival and Schubertiade Roskilde. He has collaborated with many distinguished orchestras, including the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Armenian National Philharmonic, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and many others. As a chamber musician, he is a pianist with the Mendelssohn Trio Berlin and regularly performs with the Ensemble Wien.

Frölich has recorded more than 40 CDs for labels such as OEHMS CLASSICS, CPO, EMI and BMG, many of which have won awards. He is the artistic director and president of the MozArte International Piano Competition in Aachen and the artistic director of the MozArte International Music Festival.

As a pedagogue, he teaches at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, Yehudi Menuhin School and Talent Music Masters University in Brescia, and is a guest at many international summer academies and master workshops. His students have won more than 200 awards, and Frölich is often a member of the jury at international competitions. He is an official Steinway Artist.