Yorkshire’s leading arts showcase, Harrogate International Festival will host the farewell concerts of one of the world great chamber ensembles , The Medici Quartet on Sunday 29 and Monday 30 July.

The concerts are a fitting end to a glittering career spanning 36 years since the newly formed quartet played its first major concert at the 1971 Harrogate International Festival- and where it performed a celebratory concert in 2001 to mark its 30th anniversary with the Festival’s commission for the Quartet of Alan Bennett’s ‘Hymn’. 

The Quartet's final concerts will fittingly pay tribute to Sir Edward Elgar as part of the Festival’s Elgar in Yorkshire celebrations marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great composer.

The Quartet’s long and illustrious career has seen it perform in more than fifty countries worldwide, broadcasting and recording a wide repertoire, working with many great musicians and also with distinguished actors in semi-dramatic programmes.

Festival CEO, William Culver-Dodds commented: “I am deeply touched that the Medici will be performing its farewell concert at the Harrogate international Festival where it made its first public appearance. We have had many wonderful night in Harrogate which Festival audiences will remember with great affection. Most memorable the World Premiere of Alan Bennett's paean to his musical youth ‘Hymn’ – a great Yorkshire occasion.”