String Quartet of the Carpe Artem collective

The Carpe Artem cycle of boutique chamber concerts organised by the Amadeus Chamber Music Society was created in Maribor in 2012 to fill a gap in the existing chamber music scene. It aims to increase the accessibility of chamber music, grow its audience and boost interest in contemporary chamber compositions. The cycle is joined each year by the Carpe Artem String Quartet, whose members are internationally acclaimed instrumentalists. This time, Kana Matsui will join them as a violinist instead of regular quartet member Veronika Vilar Brecelj.
The string quartet – for two and a half centuries the backbone of chamber music – has retained its vital power and influence over composers, musicians and listeners to the present day. The intimate yet complex sound of strings, woven into a harmonious unity, creates a unique musical experience for performers and music lovers alike. The most perfect and noble form of chamber music making, it did not fully establish itself as a genre in this country until the last century. The specific development of music in Slovenia, where the vocal and choral tradition was always firmly in the foreground, reflecting existing creative abilities and performance possibilities, could not be hurried. The first chamber compositions did not begin to appear until towards the end of the nineteenth century.
Among the first significant contributions to the Slovene chamber repertoire was the String Quartet  (1922) by Viktor Parma, otherwise known as the father of Slovene opera. Although this was the composer’s only excursion into the field of traditional multi-movement works and sonata form, it is seen as one of his most important and substantial achievements.
Tomaž Svete is another composer with a particular dedication to the art of opera, although this in no way limits the breadth of his vision: chamber ensembles are, in fact, his preferred platform for experiments with instrumental techniques and musical syntax. This is also the case with his single-movement composition I cantici dei angeli  (2004), which traverses diverse soundscapes from ethereal translucence to tense drama.
Numerous new compositions reflecting a broad range of aesthetic perspectives prove that the sound of sixteen strings is still extremely relevant. The upcoming concert includes the premiere performance of String Quartet No. 3  by Dominik Jakšič, a member of the latest generation of Slovene composers.
The largely Slovene programme is rounded off by another composer with Slovene roots: the brilliant Lieder composer Hugo Wolf, whose Italian Serenade,  a work of colourful tonality and light-hearted ebullience, has become a popular part of the chamber repertoire.