"Mendelssohn X Files" Reimagines String Quartet with Double Bass

This Thursday at 7:30 PM, the Tenerife Auditorium will host a unique musical event. It's a concert that reimagines how a classical string quartet can sound, according to the venue.

As part of its Chamber Series, double bassist Uxía Martínez Botana will present "Mendelssohn X Files." This program adds a double bass to the usual string quartet setup, offering a fresh take on Felix Mendelssohn's music.

Martínez Botana is leading this project and will be joined by Noémie Bialobroda on viola, and violinists Sergey Ostrovsky and Alexander Kagan. The idea is to see what new sounds and expressions emerge when the double bass takes a main role, a spot usually held by the cello. This marks a new direction in how chamber music can be played. This unusual group aims to explore new artistic ideas and challenge traditional chamber music rules.

The music chosen for the evening takes listeners through the German composer's emotional world. They will perform String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80, a piece filled with deep sadness that Mendelssohn felt after his sister passed away.

In contrast, the program will also feature the adagio from String Quartet No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 44 No. 3. This part of the concert reflects a happier time in the composer's life, when his career was successful, he was married, and his first child was born. The evening will end with pieces from Op. 81, showing Mendelssohn's sharp creative mind at different points in his life.

For Uxía Martínez Botana, this project is one of her most personal and challenging efforts as a double bassist. She has put this vision into an album, dedicated to her late brother Denis and her parents. She also thanks Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica for their collaboration, which she says inspired her to create the album and to always look for new musical paths as a musician.