vision string quartet

Four guys in linen shirts and sneakers play for their lives. Whether Maurice Ravel or groovy riffs: they deliver top class and have an incredible amount of fun. At the festival 2022 they were artists in residence, 2025 the present their new Bartók project with percussionist Bernhard Schimpelsberger.

The vision string quartet can’t and won’t decide. So why not do both? In their concerts, the four string players from Berlin combine classical string quartet literature with their own compositions. Their arrangements draw on pop, folk, jazz and Latin and exhaust the possibilities of the stringed instruments: There is drumming, scratching and plucking. Certain techniques like the »chop« replace the drumset, the electric bass is provided by the cello with a strong bass amplifier. Their original compositions are always different, hardly following well-trodden paths: visionary.

Having released the album »Spectrum« with original pop tracks in 2021, the quartet will present another original composition by their first violinist, Florian Willeitner, at the next Beethovenfest. Entitled »Hashtags for String Quartet«, it brings together different contemporary sound worlds and oscillates between the spherical and the groovy.

However, the main event of the concert is the joint performance of Béla Bartók’s String Quartet No. 4, a pioneering piece with hair-raisingly fast rhythms. Percussionist Bernhard Schimpelsberger brings out even more hard edges in the music with his extended drum kit. Florian Willeitner from the Vision String Quartet summarises the collaboration as follows:

»The version we are performing with Bernhard Schimpelsberger in Bonn is the result of an in-depth study of Bartók’s musical material from our chamber music perspective as a quartet, as well as Bernhard’s unique rhythmic viewpoint fuelled by a variety of cultural influences. Our version is intended to grasp the incredible complexity of this music and thus make it more accessible to the audience.«

In its residency at the Beethovenfest 2022, the vision string quartet showcased its versatility. They started with a classical evening with string quartets by Dvořák and Ravel. In the industrial venue of Dransdorf tram hall the quartet played their latest pop music from their album »Spectrum«. In two »dark concerts« the musicians played in complete darkness. They had put together the programme in collaboration with a group of blind and visually impaired people. Finally, the four guys rocked the atrium of Bonn’s Post Tower at the big music evening »Post Classic Vertical«.