Kyan Quartet

The Kyan Quartet are very excited to present a programme featuring works by Mozart and Hensel. Although written approximately 50 years apart, both works demonstrate beautiful approaches to expression and musical character. Composed in 1783, Mozart’s Quartet in D minor was the second of a set of six string quartets that he eventually dedicated to Joseph Haydn, who was a major influence on Mozart’s development as a quartet composer. Fanny Hensel, an equally strong musical voice and an exceptional pianist, composed her quartet in 1834, during a time when the expectations placed on women meant that she did not have the same professional opportunities as her brother. Nevertheless, Hensel continued to develop her own musical voice rather than simply following the conventional styles expected of her. Unlike Mozart’s quartet, Hensel’s was not published during her lifetime. It remained largely unknown for many years and was eventually published in 1988, long after her death in 1847. The Kyan Quartet are eager to bring these two composers together: works written under very different circumstances, yet both filled with such drama, expression, and character.

Programme:
Mozart Quartet No. 15 in d minor, Op. 10, “Haydn”, No. 2, K. 421
I. Allegro moderato
II. Andante
III. Menuetto. Allegro
IV. Allegro ma non troppo – Più allegro

Fanny Hensel Quartet in E-flat major, H.277
I. Adagio ma non troppo
II. Allegretto
III. Romanze
IV. Allegro molto vivace

Performers and biographies:
Kyan Quartet

The award-winning Kyan Quartet brings together four exceptional musicians from the United Kingdom, the United States, China, and France. Established in 2020, the quartet enjoys a busy and vibrant career, having performed across Europe and Asia in venues including Wigmore Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Beethoven-Haus Chamber Music Hall, Shanghai Opera House, and Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra Hall.

As first prize winners of this year’s DYNAMIKfest Salzburg Chamber Music Competition, the Kyans are looking forward to touring across Europe and the USA in 2026. They are also prizewinners of the 2024 Royal Over-Seas League Competition in London. Recent highlights include three performances at the Barbican Centre as part of the Carducci Quartet’s Shostakovich cycle project, guitar quintets at Conway Hall with Ahmed Dickinson, and a tour across Scotland as Tunnell Trust award holders. The quartet are grateful to be supported by Le Dimore del Quartetto and City Music Foundation.

The Kyan Quartet pride themselves on championing new music. They have given Wigmore premieres of commissioned pieces by Florence Anna Maunders and Zhenyan Li, and performed Symphony for String Quartet and Forest by Jacob Fitzgerald at the 2022 Timber Festival, featuring 200 school children singing alongside the quartet. The Kyans collaborated with Cem Güven to record his 2023 quartet Atmospheric Manipulations, and will feature on Ben Nobuto’s upcoming debut album.