“Chamber music is the only true form of music and the most authentic expression of a personality,” insisted Gabriel Fauré.  Taking this guiding principle to heart, the Fauré Quartett is now widely regarded as one of the leading chamber groups in the world. Newtown Friends of Music will bring the quartet to the stage of Edmond Town Hall on Sunday, February 22, at 3 pm.

The Fauré Quartett established itself as one of the world’s leading piano quartets within just a few years of its inception.  The artists are admired for their ability to discover new sound fields in chamber music and perform compositions outside the mainstream repertoire.

“They attract superlatives wherever they go,” wrote The Strad following a concert at London’s Wigmore Hall, while Süddeutsche Zeitung praised them for a performance that “brought tremendous pleasure by highlighting interpretative details that had scarcely ever been heard before.”

Members of Fauré Quartett are pianist Dirk Mommertz, violinist Erika Geldsetzer, violist Sascha Frömbling and cellist Konstantin Heidrich. They met during their studies in 1995 in Karlsruhe for the 150th anniversary of Gabriel Fauré.  In 2006, they signed a contract with Deutsche Grammophon, and have made highly regarded benchmark-recordings with works by Mozart, Brahms, Mendelssohn, and pop songs from Peter Gabriel and Steely Dan.

The quartet is visionary in their approach and highly regarded for their experiments and discoveries; be it performances with the NDR Big Band, collaborations with artists like Rufus Wainwright or Sven Helbig, appearances in clubs like the Berghain, Cocoon Club or Le Poisson Rouge in New York or TV shows in KIKA or “Rhapsody in School”, getting children excited about chamber music.  When they released their album Popsongs in 2009, there was a great deal of buzz in the press and audience.

The program on February 22 will include works by Mahler, Brahms, and of course, Fauré.

Tickets are $25 each, and can be reserved by sending a check and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Newtown Friends of Music, PO Box 295, Newtown CT 0647.

Students in grades K-12 are admitted free of charge when accompanied by a ticket-holding adult. Students with valid College ID are also welcome, free of charge.

Remaining tickets will be sold at the box office the afternoon of the concert, cash or check only. The box office will open at 1 pm February 22.

Parking is free behind Edmond Town Hall and the facility is handicapped accessible.

Attendees are invited to an informal reception following the concert.

For information regarding this and other concerts and to print out an order form, visit newtownfriendsofmusic.org. For additional information call 203-426-6470.