Prestigious Diotima string quartet to perform in Formentera, 17 July

The Formentera Council, by way of the island's Office of Culture, has organised an extremely special free event for this 17 July at 9 pm in the Municipal Hall of Culture (Cinema): a performance by the string quartet Diotima.

Earlier this morning, Formentera's councilor of Culture Sònia Cardona and Hugh Levick, a North American composer and long-time Formentera resident, presented details on the event, which is included as part of this year's programme for the Festes de Sant Jaume celebrations.

The Diotima quartet has given performances in the premier festivals and concert halls of Europe and toured Japan, the United States, Mexico, and different countries of South America as well as China and Korea.

In Formentera, the quartet will interpret two pieces composed by Hugh Levick: “Morning Evening Love Bears All” (2004) – whose title forms the acronym for the name of Levick's wife (Melba Levick, photographer) – and “Empire, Inc.”, from 2011.

Cardona noted that “Formentera has characteristically welcomed personalities like Levick, a fact which, in this case, also means that we have now the chance to be treated a one of a kind concert.” Additionally, she thanked the artist Erró for his help overseeing travel and housing arrangements for the quartet's members.

Cardona went on, “The fact that the quartet will be interpreting two of Levick's own compositions makes it even more special. First because they are pieces that were conceived and created here on Formentera, and second because of the quality of the quartet playing them.”

For his part, Hugh Levick noted that “Diotima is one of the greatest quartets today in the world, with the side-note that its members are also much younger than the musicians of the other great world-renowned quartets. Diotima's musicians are all between 35 and 40 years old.”

Levick explained, “Around the world, Diotima gives somewhere in the area of one hundred concerts a year. The fact that they have been the recording musicians on my most recent albums – and the fact that my own material appears as part of their concert repertoire – is an honour.”