Death and the Maidens

How do composers imagine death? In Schubert’s String Quartet in D minor Death and the Maiden – based on his eponymous song – the young girl at first recoils in fear from the “grim reaper”. Yet what follows are calm, measured passages that paint a strikingly unexpected vision of dying. The “maidens” Caroline Shaw and Joanna Marsh also reflect on the end of life in their works. Their differing perspectives on death are complemented by Anton Arensky’s Variations on a theme by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and brought to a close by Thomas Adès’s musical remembrance of the pastoral landscapes of Britain.

Concert with interval
Approx. 1 hour 45 minutes

Musicians
Violin: Daniel Dodds, Eoin Ducrot, Joanne Green, Miriam Helms Ålien, Paulina Tomczuk, Gwendolyn Masin
Viola: Martin Moriarty, Julia Wawrowska
Cello: Nil Kocamangil, Alfredo Ferre Martínez, Samuel Niederhauser, Chiara Samatanga
Double Bass: Lina Humbel


GAIA Musicfestival 2026
TO LIFE! And the Stories Between its Beginning and End

https://www.gaia-festival.com/das-festival-2026/programm
info@gaia-festival.com