Brooklyn Rider’s Nicholas Cords

»The string quartet is super flexible. It’s like a vessel that can help contain all of our musical passions, from the traditional repertoire of the last 300 years that we all know and love to the music of today.«

In the current episode of bee.contemporary, artistic director Steven Walter has Nicholas Cords, the violist of the string quartet Brooklyn Rider, as a guest. The quartet is the ensemble in residence at the Beethovenfest 2023 and is bringing three very unusual programmes to Bonn. The two talk about how the collaboration with mandolinist Avi Avital came about, how music about the four elements is put together and what American musical culture means to the string quartet.

bee.contemporary is the podcast of Beethovenfest Bonn. Here we invite guests from musical life, culture and society to talk about current artistic projects and contemporary discourses.