Rosamunde String Quartet opens Coastal Concerts season

The 2025-26 Coastal Concerts season opened Oct. 25 with a spectacular performance by the renowned Rosamunde String Quartet, which captivated an enthusiastic audience at Bethel United Methodist Church hall in Lewes.

Featuring major works by Beethoven, Walker and Mendelssohn, the program was lauded by attendees and city officials alike for bringing a caliber of music rarely seen outside major metropolitan areas.

Lewes Mayor Amy Marasco said, “Coastal Concerts brought world-class musicians to our community last Saturday. The string quartet brought beautiful and haunting music. How fortunate we are to have these classical concerts! Looking forward to the season.”

Frequent concert patron Jonathan Bartels said, “The concert brought a Carnegie Hall-quality performance to Lewes, as Coastal Concerts does in all their concerts. Rosamunde String Quartet played with intensity and vigor, particularly in Mendelssohn’s ‘String Quartet No. 6.’”

An elite ensemble, the quartet comprises four musicians who hold positions in some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras: Noah Bendix-Balgley, first concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic; Shanshan Yao of the Kammerakademie Potsdam and principal violinist in the New York Philharmonic; Teng Li, principal viola of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and Nathan Vickery, cellist in the New York Philharmonic.

The afternoon began with a pre-concert Performance Insights lecture by Lani Spahr, an international award-winning audio restoration engineer and former Coastal Concerts board member. His half-hour lecture, which included audio and visual aids, is a signature offering that provides context and insights to enhance the audience’s appreciation of the works being performed.

The concert officially began with the bright and lyrical “String Quartet in D Major, Op. 18 No. 3” by Ludwig van Beethoven. This was followed by a powerful performance of “String Quartet No. 1, ‘Lyric,’” by George Walker, an icon among Black American classical composers. Walker, a prodigy who entered Oberlin College at age 15, said he was inspired to write the piece following the passing of his grandmother.

The performance concluded with the deeply moving “String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80” by Felix Mendelssohn. Written while the composer was mourning the death of his beloved sister, Fanny, the work proved to be his final major composition before his own death later that year at age 38. The emotional and dramatic execution of the piece earned the quartet a spontaneous standing ovation from the audience.

The Coastal Concerts season will continue with a performance by Invoke string quartet, known for merging the music genres of classical, folk, bluegrass and Americana, at 2 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 10, at Bethel UMC hall in Lewes.

Tickets and additional information for the upcoming season are available on the Coastal Concerts website at coastalconcerts.org.