Gerbrich Meijer & Felix Quartet

photo: Manon van der Zwaal

The Hidden Jewels Concert in the atmospheric Maltese House on Utrecht’s Nieuwegracht brings together a young Dutch clarinetist and a string quartet. Gerbrich Meijer and the Felix Quartet, which was founded during the corona period, will perform Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet together. The Felix Quartet will also play works by Béla Kovács and Florence Price.

Gerbrich Meijer has convincingly announced herself to the top of Dutch clarinetists. With her interdisciplinary One Woman Show she convincingly won the Audience Award at Dutch Classical Talent 2024 this year. She also made a name for herself internationally by winning the Special Prize at the Carl Nielsen International Competition 2022. Now she shines in Mozart’s most important contribution to the clarinet repertoire in addition to the Clarinet Concerto.

You could call Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet KV 581 from 1789 a preliminary study for his beloved clarinet concerto that was written two years later. Yet this first major work that he wrote for his friend and brilliant clarinetist Anton Stadler is a jewel in itself. Especially because of the ensemble playing. Although the clarinet functions as primus inter pares , the work is pure chamber music of the highest order, according to the German-American musicologist Alfred Einstein.