Terem Quartet - 2000th Concert

TEREM-QUARTET

A “Terem” is an old traditional Russian wooden house with a tower, which brings together totally different kinds of people and different musical trends.

Through its playing, the Terem-Quartet is able to win over any international audience and having travelled throughout the world, they still remain Russian musicians who express deeply the heart of their nation.

Breaking down nearly every conceivable genre barrier, this ensemble has changed our perception of not just what a quartet can be, but what music can be in the 21st-century global village.

Over the 20 years of their existence, the Terem Quartet has often acted as an ‘envoy’ of St. Petersburg and Russian culture. The Russian press calls the ensemble ‘St. Petersburg’s calling card’, bracketing the Quartet together with the Hermitage, the Mariinsky Theatre and the Russian Museum (Business Panorama, November 2001).

PRESS
"The Quartet's immaculate musicianship shines like an illuminated manuscript..."

INDEPENDENT
November 11, 1994

"The Russian Terem Quartet from St. Petersburg mixes balalaika folk, classical music, pop shock, and the late Romantic pathos."

DER SPIEGEL
№ 39, 1993



"Talking about the four curious individuals who call themselves the Terem Quartet, a classical ensemble, but careless in a nonconformist way. The traditional heritage of their Conservatory is always felt in the quartet, but their repertoire is a medley of a definitely eccentric nature."

LA REPPUBLICA
June 22, 1993


"Mozart, Chopin and Bizet as you've never heard them before - classical music become theatre."

THE SCOTSMAN
August 15, 1998

“Critic and press reviews of the Terem Quartet cannot explain anything. You should SEE with your own eyes, see the artists humoring around onstage, punning each other by mimicking and gesture, - and that sparingly, subtly, without pressing. You should HEAR the Terem playing classics, joking with it, slicking the texture of music: now each of them does his own part, as it is normal in an ensemble, and then all the four sound as one strange instrument. It's a kind of fabulous theatre that dodges any standard description".

CHAS, Latvia
February 2, 1999

"Love, hatred, irony, more philosophical feelings, all of these are mixed in Russian music, it's very spiritual".


THE INDEPENDENT,
November 11, 1994

“The Russian Museum, the Hermitage, the Terem-Quartet. Spot the odd one out? There isn’t one!”

BUSINESS PANORAMA
No. 47 (161), 2001

“The Quartet’s virtuosity is almost superhuman. Their breath-taking teamwork, dynamics, verve and command of their instruments make you feel as if you have the honor to be present at the creation of the world.”

MEPPELER COURANT
July 10, 2000

“Unveiling all the potential of their instruments, using their innate musical instincts, these Musicians perform in such a way that the heavens seem to open up before you”

LEIDSCH DAGBLAD
May 11, 2002

“No one would think it an exaggeration if the Terem ‘brand’ were to emerge alongside the Hermitage, the Russian Museum and the Mariinsky Theatre, the traditional symbols of Petersburg in the West”.

KOMMERSANT
November 28 No. 218, 2001

“Time and again, Terem manages to touch some fundamental, innermost layers of the collective unconscious, resonating in tune with the music. And for as long as this mystical connection with the public lasts, Terem is guaranteed enduring success”.

THE MOSCOW NEWS
January 17, 2002

“Petersburg Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing”

VEDOMOSTI
May 19, 2006


“Terem-Quartet is probably the only ensemble which has managed to revitalize such dying concepts as ‘popular classics’ and‘re-interpretation’.”

VECHERNYA MOSKVA
May 30, 2006

"For Ireland, a visit from a group such as this is comparable to the astronomical event of the century."

NASHA GAZETA (The first Russian newspaper in Ireland),
No. 31 (158), August 2006

“They have a distinct sound and manner of performing. Their energy and vigor are typical of an English rock band, but in no way characteristic of a folk instrument ensemble. What’s more, the musicians have a trump card which makes you forget even about the ‘popular classics’, and about their professionalism, and about Peter Gabriel who is mad about Terem-Quartet: all four of them are irresistibly charismatic. Their music is in their eyes, their smiles, their shouts or even in their grimaces. It’s extraordinary, but we too have people who see music not only in the score.”

VECHERNYA MOSKVA
May 30, 2006

“Andrey Konstantinov, Alexey Barshchev, Andrey Smirnov and Michail Dzyudze are absolute geniuses, each on his own musical instrument, and their skills, musical sensitivity and contagious joy touches everyone”

Jonas Ingimundarson, Artistic director of Salurinn
February 16, 2007