Pirosmani Quartet

Mairéad Hickey leads musicians from Brazil, Ukraine and the USA in chamber music by Schumann, Jane O'Leary and Schubert.

Acclaimed Cork violinist Mairéad Hickey brings together colleagues from Brazil, Ukraine and the USA for a third tour by the Pirosmani Quartet.

They open with the second of the three vividly expressive string quartets that Schumann wrote in a frenzy of creativity in the early summer of 1842. The previous September, his wife Clara - apart from Liszt, the most famous pianist of their time - had given birth to their first child, and perhaps that is the inspiration behind the disarming lullaby themes of the first two movements and the mischievous scampering of the scherzo and finale.

Galway-based composer Jane O’Leary is writing a new quartet for the Pirosmani Quartet to present on this tour.

Schubert’s vast G major quartet D.887 is a work of symphonic scale and emotional extremity. Like much of Schubert’s music in the last years of his short life it revolves around conflict between grief and joy, darkness and light, restless angst and sublime lyricism, often expressed through abrupt switching from major to minor or by the juxtaposition of music of near brutality with moments of great tenderness. This wonderful work is one of the greats, highly recommended!

Pirosmani Quartet

Mairéad Hickey, violin William Hagen, violin
Natanael Ferreira, viola Oleksey Shadrin, cello

Schumann - String Quartet in F major Op.41 No.2 [1842] Jane O’Leary - new work [2026] † Schubert - String Quartet in G major D.887 [2026] 

† First performances