The Cowbridge Music Festival: 11th-20th September 2026
***Artist Spotlight: Consone Quartet***
We are thrilled to welcome the Consone Quartet for their Cowbridge Music Festival debut on Saturday 12th September.
The Consone Quartet has quickly established itself as one of Britain’s most exciting period-instrument ensembles. Formed at the Royal College of Music in 2012, they became the first period-instrument string quartet ever to be selected as BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists. The quartet has since performed across the UK, Europe and North America, earning considerable praise for the freshness and expressive immediacy of their interpretations.
Saturday 12th September, 7pm The programme for the first concert opens with a selection of Dvořák’s lyrical Cypresses, followed by Mozart’s sparkling “Hunt” Quartet. The players are then joined by Festival Artistic Director Rosalind Ventris on viola and distinguished cellist Richard Lester, as they expand into a sextet for Dvořák’s magnificent String Sextet in A major. Richly melodic and inspired by Czech folk music, it moves between exuberant dances and passages of heartfelt yearning.
Saturday 12th September, 9.30pm Later that evening, the quartet joins award-winning mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston for an intimate late-night programme inspired by nature, solitude and the coming of night. Purcell’s songs and instrumental fantasias sit alongside music by Britten and Vaughan Williams, as well as Oliver Leith’s contemporary reimagining of seventeenth-century music by Matthew Locke.
Together, these two performances reveal the Consone Quartet’s remarkable range, from the brilliance of Mozart and sweeping Romanticism of Dvořák to the stillness and intimacy of English song. BBC Radio 3 will be recording both concerts for future broadcast, but you can enjoy them live in Holy Cross: do join us!
All our best, The CMF Team
Book your tickets at https://cowbridgemusicfestival.co.uk/concerts-2026/