Earth Unwrapped: Solem Quartet - Towards Silence

Join Solem Quartet at Kings Place for an evening of music which asks us to contemplate, or perhaps mourn Earth’s current condition, whilst reminding us of its natural aural beauty.

Praised for their ‘immaculate precision and spirit’ (The Strad) and ‘cultured tone’ (Arts Desk), the Solem Quartet has established itself as one of the most innovative and adventurous quartets of its generation. A 2020 awardee of the Jerwood Arts Live Work Fund, one of 33 artists selected from more than 1200 applicants, the Solem Quartet takes its place amongst some of the UK’s brightest artistic voices.

In this programme specially curated for Earth Unwrapped, works by Hildegard von Bingen and John Metcalf focus on the relationship between humankind and the planet, whilst Cassandra Miller’s Warblework and Meredith Monk’s Stringsongs punctuate the programme with sounds of nature. The sparseness of Nick Martin’s Queer Tears only enhances its expressive sadness, while Max Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight offers solace in its rarified beauty.

Passionate about collaboration, the Quartet has worked with artists from across genres including filmmaker Jessie Rodger, cellist/singer/composer Ayanna Witter-Johnson, and clarinettist/composer Mark Simpson, with whom they appeared at the Aldeburgh Festival and live on BBC Radio 3. They have also worked closely with many of today’s leading composers, including Anna Meredith, Colin Matthews and Thomas Adès, and in 2021 gave the UK premiere of Jonny Greenwood’s Quartet Suite from There Will be Blood at the V&A Museum.