Felix and Fanny

The Carducci Quartet explore the intense connection between the Mendelssohn siblings through their music, intertwined with spoken word adapted from Myla Lichtman-Fields’s play, Felix and Fanny.

Struggling with conflicting impulses of authorship versus social expectations, Fanny Mendelssohn spent the majority of her lifetime restricted to private performances and watching her brother take credit for music she’d written. Tonight, the quartet place Fanny’s music firmly centre stage, as letters between the siblings, adapted into a two-person play by Myla Lichtman-Fields, interweave movements of her expressive String Quartet and a selection from her ground-breaking Das Jahr.

Alongside music by Felix, Fanny’s musical diary reveals a raw emotional intensity. There’s no better ensemble to uncover Fanny’s quest for recognition than the Carducci Quartet. Last time they played Milton Court, deep diving into Shostakovich’s world, they played ‘with total commitment, forcing you to think afresh about the music and its context’ (Guardian).