The Emperor Project
Six quartets · six churches · one season.
Overview
Haydn’s six Op. 76 quartets — including the “Emperor” and the “Sunrise” — form the backbone of everything written for our combination. The Emperor Project plays all six, in order, across six historic churches chosen for their acoustic rather than their size.
Each concert pairs one Haydn quartet with a Renaissance work that shares its key or its character, so the evening moves between 1797 and 1570 without apology.
What’s included
Six evening concerts with spoken introductions from the players, printed programme notes that trace each quartet’s architecture, and a pre-concert open rehearsal where the audience hears a movement built from its parts.
Series subscribers receive the working scores we play from, with our bowings and fingerings, and first refusal on the following season.
Programme
Op. 76 No. 1 in G major
With Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli, Gloria.
Op. 76 No. 2 in D minor, “Fifths”
With Victoria’s O vos omnes.
Op. 76 No. 3 in C major, “Emperor”
With Allegri’s Miserere, arranged for quartet.
Op. 76 No. 4 in B-flat major, “Sunrise”
With Palestrina’s Sicut cervus.
Op. 76 No. 5 in D major
With Lassus’s Timor et tremor.
Op. 76 No. 6 in E-flat major
With a newly commissioned companion piece.