EIF 26: Kleio Quartet, Makoto Ozone & Sheku Kanneh-Mason

Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and pianist Makoto Ozone join the Kleio Quartet for this unusual programme.

The Kleio Quartet – BBC New Generation Artists and winners of the 2023 Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition – made an ecstatically received Festival debut in 2024. Now the ensemble joins forces with star cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and genre-defying pianist Makoto Ozone to perform two great quintets.

Franz Schubert’s String Quintet is one of the pinnacles of the chamber music repertoire. Completed just weeks before his death, it contains a world of emotions, from agitation to exuberance to serenity. Its poignant slow movement is especially beautiful.

It is paired here with Béla Bartók’s rarely performed Piano Quintet. This early masterpiece blends the luscious melodies and textures of late Romanticism with elements of Hungarian folk music – especially in the rhapsodic finale. 

Presented by Edinburgh International Festival