Balanescu Quartet charmed by Long

Irish cellist Vyvienne Long has persuaded the renowned Balanescu Quartet to tour Ireland.

Admiration for Romanian violinist Alexander Balanescu’s renowned Quartet has led Vyvienne Long, one of our most idiosyncratic musicians, to invite them to Ireland on a national tour.

The Balanescu Quartet are noted for their collaborations and their confounding of expectations. Long toured with their cellist in 2010. “I was always aware of what the Balanescu Quartet was doing, because I really liked their style and everything they did and how they did it,” she says, citing their covers of German techno pioneers, Kraftwerk, as much as their original output.