The Elias String Quartet is celebrated for its deep musical understanding and bold performances. Their ability to convey profound musical meaning, especially across entire quartet cycles, has made them a fixture in the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals. They recently toured with a complete Beethoven quartet cycle which they have also recorded. As the finale of the Manchester Chamber Concerts Society’s 25/26, the Elias quartet present an all-Beethoven programme, celebrating the composer’s genius at writing breathtaking, dramatic works for the string quartet. The programme opens with Quartet No.12 in E flat major, one of the last pieces the composer completed before his death, followed by the second of his middle period Opus 59 quartets. Commissioned by Count Razumovsky, these are considered to have been a revolution in music written for the quartet – so completely original that in one stroke they redefined the entire paradigm of the quartet genre.