The opening of the five-part complete cycle of Shostakovich’s string quartets with our residency ensemble, the Jerusalem Quartet: A deep dive into what is probably the Soviet composer’s most sincere and personal group of works.
Thu. 18.9.2025
19:30, Volksbank-Haus
Jerusalem Quartet: Shostakovich I
- Chamber Music
- Past Event
- € 38

Contributors
- Jerusalem Quartet
- Alexander Pavlovsky violin
- Sergei Bresler violin
- Ori Kam viola
- Kyril Zlotnikov cello
Programme
String Quartet No. 1 in C Major, op. 49
String Quartet No. 5 in B-flat Major, op. 92
String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, op. 122
String Quartet No. 12 in D-flat Major, op. 133
The concert at a glance
What can I expect?
What does it sound like?
Listener Journeys
Enhance your concert experience by choosing one of three perspectives immediately at the venue and making it your own personal journey! Select from three different approaches based on Plato’s concept of the three powers of the soul:
Thinking– with the Wolfgang app & inspirations
Those who choose the reflective path will receive musicological insights via the Wolfgang app during the performance. Shostakovich's music will be examined both analytically and poetically. In-depth background texts will enrich the listening experience for connoisseurs and newcomers alike, helping them to understand and contextualise the quartets’ universe.
Install the Wolfgang App on your phone prior to the concert – more information at the concert box office.
Feeling– concert & mindfulness
The journey of feeling begins 45 minutes before the concert starts: participants wear sound-absorbing headphones and experience a period of silence and mindfulness to open their senses and consciously engage with the concert. Mindful moments are also offered during the interval and after the concert to allow participants to experience the emotional power of the quartets more deeply and perceive the music as the language of the heart.
Please register with your name to participate in this journey. The meeting point is our box office at the Volksbankhaus at 6.45 p.m. on the day of the concert.
Wanting – reflection & dialogue
After the concert, this journey focuses on one’s capacity for action. Inspired by Shostakovich’s practice of dedicating his works to individuals, participants write down their reflections on dedications as a source of inspiration for their own lives. These thoughts are then reflected upon and shared with the artistic director, Steven Walter, so that the music can build bridges to action, values and community.
In cooperation with
Description
For decades, the Israeli Jerusalem Quartet has been inspiring with its Shostakovich interpretations – now it is embarking on a complete performance: all fifteen quartets at Beethovenfest Bonn and at the Cologne Philharmonie. It opens with the lyrical and cheerful First Quartet from 1938. After the Fifth, which Shostakovich only dared to publish after Stalin’s death, the ensemble proceeds to two fractured late works from 1966 and 1968. Shostakovich wrote his Eleventh Quartet in memory of a departed musician friend; it is torn and enigmatic in its fragmented setting. In the Quartet No. 12, Shostakovich disregards Soviet cultural-political barriers, writing a bold, atonal, complex twelve-tone work.
Enhance your concert experience: choose one of three Listener Journeys. Find out more above!
















