Aeolus String Quartet

Aeolus String Quartet plays the Southern Theatre on Saturday, March 6, 2027, at 4 PM. They're coming to Columbus as part of Chamber Music Columbus's 75th season, which has spent seven and a half decades bringing chamber music artists and ensembles from around the world to central Ohio.

The program pairs a known quantity with something brand new. They'll perform Smetana's String Quartet No. 1, and alongside it, a newly commissioned work by composer Karen Ouzounian. The quartet will be joined by violinist and Columbus native Isabelle Durrenberger, so there's a local connection on stage for this one.

Aeolus is one of the leading American quartets working today, and the way they've been described tells you something about the range they bring to a single afternoon. The Strad has called their playing "high-octane excitement," while The New York Times has gone for "dusky lyricism" — two very different moods that both find a home in the same ensemble. They've built a reputation for bringing energy and refinement to every piece they touch, and that's exactly the kind of thing that makes a program like this work: the high-energy side for the Smetana and the more lyrical, attentive side for a new commission.

It's worth keeping in mind the kind of season this fits into. Chamber Music Columbus has made a point of commissioning new music as a regular part of its programming; in the 2022-2023 season alone, they commissioned seven new works, with custom fanfares to open each concert and a custom poem by its poet laureate for every performance, all at the Southern Theatre. This Ouzounian piece is the latest in that line. The concert is at the Southern Theatre, 21 E. Main Street, Columbus, OH 43215, on Saturday, March 6, 2027, at 4 PM.