In his expressive Second String Quartet, Arnold Schönberg dealt with a serious marital crisis. A soprano part with texts by Stefan George, interpreted by Anna Prohaska, lends the work additional intensity. Schoenberg's younger colleague Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his painful String Quartet No. 8 under the impression of bombed-out Dresden as a beacon against war and fascism. The concert by the Varian Fry Quartet will open with Mozart. The latter became acquainted with Bach's piano fugues in the home of a baroque fan. Fascinated by their austere beauty, he arranged some of them for string quartet.