Beethoven goes Balkan

It is not uncommon for the Winterthur String Quartet to play with a guest. The quintet has played with Kit Armstrong, Gabriela Montero or - as at the end of this month - Elisabeth Leonskaja. In this concert, however, the quartet invites six people. The Winterthur band Sebass has long been well-known, and at their performances they win over every audience with their captivating music and pure joy of playing. Together with the Winterthur String Quartet, two Winterthur formations come together and merge classical form with traditional folk music from the Balkans. However, the joy of music and the same home town is not all that connects the two groups. Sebastian Koelman, second trombonist with the Musikkollegium Winterthur, is a founding member of the cult band. The concert evening will be appropriately introduced by a classical quartet by Ludwig van Beethoven, which also seeks to integrate Eastern influences: String Quartet No. 7 is the first of Beethoven's so-called "Russian String Quartets".