Dear friends,

We have been very quiet over the last season. This is because starting in March of 2020, we have not been playing very much. All of our work requires international travel, and that has made things very difficult. We've also had some bad timing since we were somehow always scheduled to play where things were shut down, and not where things were open.

We did manage to play a few concerts in Israel and in Spain and film some wonderful new videos at the Jerusalem Music Center. In June, in spite of everything seemingly working against us, we presented a full Beethoven Cycle in Tokyo's Suntory Hall, which was a moving and emotional event for us.

Over the summer, we renewed our collaboration with Crans Montana Classics for our quartet seminar. We had four marvelous young quartets for intense coaching and performances in the Beautiful Swiss Alps. We also will returned to Ziest Musiekdagen in the Netherlands, the Schubertiade, and the Ravel Festival before returning home.

Looking forward, we have some exciting high points coming up in 2021/22. Recognizing that there will probably be changes and many hurdles, we are cautiously optimistic about being able to tour. In September we'll return to London's Wigmore Hall after several failed attempts in 20/21. Clarinetist Sharon Kam will join us there, as well as in Ruse, Bulgaria and Fellheim in Germany. On this tour, we will also collaborate with the Novus Quartet, for a special program of two string octets by Mendelssohn and Enescu. The tour will end in Zurich, for a rescheduled concert of the "Yiddish Cabaret" with soprano Hila Baggio.

In late October, we'll return to the United States for a coast-to-coast tour. After the success of our last collaboration, and a whole tour canceled last season, we will reunite with Pinchas Zukerman and Amanda Forsythe on the second part of the tour for string sextets by Brahms and Dvorak.

To end 2021, we'll tour Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. We are so excited to return to some of our favorite places. It has felt very sad to be kept away.

As the jewish new year approaches, let us hope that in the coming season, in spite of difficulties, we will be able to meet our audiences again and celebrate the music together again.