The young Goldmund Quartet is constantly on the lookout for new challenges. They named their ensemble after Goldmund, one of the two main characters in Hermann Hesse’s novel Narcissus and Goldmund. Goldmund’s artistic spirit, his youthful restlessness, his search for an ideal, his sensuality: these are all character traits that the four members of the quartet would like to embody in their music-making. The Süddeutsche Zeitung counts them among “the most distinguished musicians of the young German generation”. In 2020 the ensemble will receive the renowned Music Prize of the Jürgen Ponto Foundation in honour of its promising evolution. Thus the Goldmund Quartet is the perfect musical partner for German-Japanese pianist Mona Asuka, who gave a sensational début performance in 2008 at the Festival when she was only seventeen years old. Since then she has been pursuing a remarkable international career. With the chamber music arrangement of Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto, the musicians will be featuring one of the Titan’s most well-known works, upon which Vinzenz Lachner’s version throws new light. And who can bring out such fascinating, unexpected aspects with true verve and joy of music-making better than the young, fresh Goldmund Quartet and pianist Mona Asuka?