Triumph Over Adversity

The T’ang Quartet launches its 33rd season with a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

The program features transcendent works by Robert Schumann and Ludwig van Beethoven—two titans of the Romantic era who transformed profound personal struggles into immortal art.

The evening opens with Robert Schumann’s String Quartet in A minor, Op. 41, No. 1. Composed during a rare interval of light amidst his lifelong battle with mental illness, this quartet is a marvel of lyrical clarity and structural elegance. Dedicated to his friend Felix Mendelssohn, it is the brilliant result of Schumann's deep immersion in the quartets of Haydn and Mozart, yet it speaks with a voice that is unmistakably his own.

From the inner world of Schumann, we journey to the sublime soundscape of Beethoven’s late genius with his String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132. Leaving behind the heroic defiance of his middle-period works, Beethoven here crafts an intimate and deeply spiritual narrative. It is a work of breathtaking grief and otherworldly peace, reflecting a hard-won acceptance of the silence that had enveloped him.

Join the T’ang Quartet for an evening that explores the power of music to find beauty in adversity and solace in the deepest of human experiences.

PROGRAMME

Robert Schumann - String quartet in A minor, Op. 41 No. 1 (27 mins)

- interval -

Ludwig van Beethoven - String quartet in A minor, Op. 132 No. 15 (45 mins)

with guests Martin Peh (viola) and Hang-Oh Cho (cello)