Overview
The prize-winning Navarra String Quartet’s four members are: Benjamin Marquise Gilmore and Bartosz Woroch (violins), Sascha Bota (viola), and Brian O’Kane (cello). The group has built an international reputation as one of the most dynamic and poetic string quartets of today. Selected for representation by YCAT (2006–10), they have been awarded the MIDEM Classique Young Artist Award, a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, a Musica Viva tour, and appeared at major venues and festivals worldwide including Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, Berlin Konzerthaus, Sydney Opera House, and the BBC Proms.
Their programme for the weekend explores two contrasting themes: the string quartets that Mozart wrote in dedication to Haydn (four of the six are included), alongside works inspired by the music of composers’ homelands – Dvořák, Tchaikovsky and Szymanowski feature, including Dvořák’s complete cycle of Cypresses across two of the concerts.
Rooms are available for occupancy from 3.00pm on Friday 1st April.
Concert 1
Friday 1st April 2022, 5.30pm
Talk at 5.00pm
Dvořák, Cypresses, B.152 (selection), arr. for string quartet from Cypresses song cycle, B.11
Enescu, Aubade in C for violin, viola and cello
Mozart, String Quartet No.19 in C, K.465, Dissonant
Concert 2
Saturday 2nd April 2022, 11.00am
Talk at 10.30am
Mozart, String Quartet No.14 in G, K.387, Spring
Tchaikovsky, Quartet Movement in B flat
Haydn, String Quartet in F, Op.50 No.5
Concert 3
Saturday 2nd April 2022, 5.30pm
Talk at 5.00pm
Mozart, String Quartet No.15 in D minor, K.421
Dvořák, Cypresses, B.152 (selection), arr. for string quartet from Cypresses song cycle, B.11
Szymanowski, String Quartet No.1 in C, Op.37
Concert 4
Sunday 3rd April 2022, 11.00am
Talk at 10.30am
Mozart, String Quartet No.16 in E flat, K.428
Dvořák, String Quartet No.13 in G, Op.106
The final concert ends at c. 12.40pm.
Prices
Rooms for two sharing, per person:
Double or twin room: £880
Garden or Castle Room: £1,070
Single occupancy:
Single-bedded: £880
Double for sole use: £990
Included
Four concerts and pre-concert talks, accommodation for two nights, breakfasts, two afternoon teas, two dinners, interval drinks, programme, tips for hotel staff.
Extra nights
Please contact us for a quote to book nights immediately before or at the end of the weekend.
Group size
Maximum 68 resident participants. Tickets to individual concerts (without accommodation or meals) are limited to a further 20 seats per concert. (Total capacity: 83 people per concert.)
Concerts only
A limited amount of tickets to individual concerts are available to purchase for £25 (mornings) and £30 (evenings) directly from The Castle Hotel. Please visit their website to book these or call their Events team on 01823 273 671.
Accommodation
The Castle Hotel, Taunton is renowned for its excellent service, for comforts traditional and modern, and for its superb catering. It has been owned and run by the Chapman family for over 60 years. Chamber music events have been held here since 1977, and Martin Randall Travel took over the running of them in 2003.
The hotel’s bedrooms are individually and charmingly decorated. Doubles and twins are mainly of a good size, and the largest – the Garden Rooms – overlook the garden. There is no single-occupancy supplement for the rooms with single beds. The majority of rooms have a bath with a shower fitment.
The hotel has a lift, though some bedrooms are then accessed via stairs. The Music Room is on a mezzanine level, up a flight of stairs from the lobby.
Taunton lies on the doorstep of Exmoor and the Quantocks, areas with some of the loveliest countryside in England.
'Richard Wigmore is a rare combination: immensely knowledgable, enthusiastic, loves the subject but his talks are accessible, comprehensible, helpful and informative.'
'Lovely hotel, comfortable and traditional.'
'Just to say thank you for a well organised & executed weekend – much enjoyed.'