Event

The Space Between

Performance by Daedalus Quartet

March 20, 2025 (Thursday) — 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Public Trust
4017 Walnut Street, Philadelphia

This concert, featuring Min-Young Kim and Matilda Kaul on violin, Jessica Thompson on viola, and Thomas Kraines on cello, concludes the Daedalus Quartet’s two year retrospective of Béla Bártok’s complete string quartets with his final work in the genre, his Sixth Quartet. Some of the major themes explored in this work are Bartok's grief over his mother's recent death, as well as his bitterness and despair over Europe's descent during WWII into militarism and facism, which led to his emigrating from Hungary to New York.

The program will also feature work by Philadelphia composers George Walker and Anna Weesner. Walker was one of the first African-American students at the Curtis Institute and a Pulitzer Prize winner, yet during his lifetime his career was not as successful as his talent suggested. Walker's “Lyric for Strings," originally titled “Lament,” is an intensely emotional piece dedicated to the composer's grandmother, who died in 1946 while the piece was being written. Weesner is a composition faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania and a frequent collaborator with the Daedalus Quartet. Weesner's piece “The Space Between” contrasts the sound of the crowd with the lonely voice of the individual.

Learn more about Public Trust here

Program
George Walker (1922-2018)
“Lyric” from String Quartet No. 1 (1946)

Anna Weesner (b.1965)
“The Space Between” (2012, revised 2025)

Béla Bártok (1881-1945)
String Quartet No. 6 (1939)
      I. Mesto – Più mosso, pesante – vivace
      II. Mesto – Marcia
      III. Mesto – Burletta – moderato
      IV. Mesto

ABOUT DAEDALUS QUARTET

The Daedalus Quartet has performed to much acclaim throughout the United States and Canada, as well as across Europe. For nearly 20 years, they have served as an ensemble in residence with the Music Department at Penn. During this time, they have premiered new compositions, brought a fresh perspective to performances of standard repertoire, and explored interdisciplinary settings for some of the greatest string quartet literature ever written. For more information about the group, please visit their website: daedalusquartet.com.