Quartet Gerhard: Blending Tradition and Innovation with Classical Music

Stories | June 3, 2025

Perhaps the most thrilling part of the Merita Project is its dedication to innovation in the classical music style. Rather than adhering to rigid traditional formats, Merita encourages performers to move outside the norms of usual performance and to develop concert programs that move away from historical performance practice. This philosophy is embodied in the works of the Gerhard Quartet, a string quartet that has performed together for more than 14 years. The string quartet comprising violist Miquel Jordà, cellist Jesús Miralles, second violinist Judit Bardolet, and first violinist Lluís Castán enjoys a distinctive history of childhood friendship and musical acquaintance. For the Gerhard Quartet, the Merita Project offers this special possibility: the liberty to compose and play an original concert programme, free from the kind of restrictions typically imposed by promoters.

Since Judit Bardolet had actually clarified in a podcast interview, the liberty to devise their own performance is highly cherished in this work. “We are free to create everything ourselves, from the program to the performance,” she says. This freedom to experiment has provided the quartet the opportunity to create a concert program to explore the aspect of madness in human expression, entitled “The Embrace of Folly.”

The Embrace of Folly: A Volunteered Experience

“The Embrace of Folly” is an album that explores the essence of human emotion, using music and photographs to probe the problem of light and darkness. Inspired by the visit to a medieval fortress, the group desired to create a concert which would have an aura of strength and intrigue. The theme of the project is duality of life’s light and darkness, and the group hopes to reflect this duality in music. They believe that music, as life, cannot be without its contrasting elements – sorrow and joy, light and darkness – and they wish to experiment with this concept in performance.

It is not just a concert; it is an experience. The Gerhard Quartet attempts to stray away from the normal concert arena by unifying music with visual arts. They make use of images, such as landscapes and paintings, to add further emotional meaning to the music. This aspect of engagement brings the listeners closer to the performance in a much larger and greater way, and therefore it is not a normal classical music concert.

Ideal Setting: Korzkiew Castle

The stunning Zamek Korzkiew (Castle) provides the perfect setting for this innovative project. The castle itself contributes to the historic ambiance of the performance, bringing out the darker, more introspective essence of the themes that exist within “The Embrace of Folly”. The quartet states that the castle’s unique energy is essential to the project, providing an element of place that maximizes the emotional resonance of the performance.

Partnership with the Merita Project ensemble, and, in general, with Victoria and Alina, has also been an experience to be enjoyed by the Gerhard Quartet. The artists are grateful to them for having been so spontaneously backed during all their artistic process. “It is not so common to have such an open and supportive ensemble, where everything is managed and we can deal with the art itself,” says Miquel Jordà.

A Glimpse of the Future: What to Expect for the Project

In the immediate future, the Gerhard Quartet anticipates finding out what the Merita Project has up its sleeve. They see this as an opportunity to continue to experiment with using music and performance in innovative ways, and to bring their artistic approach to others. By venturing beyond their typical concert programs, the quartet hopes to challenge classical music and bring their vision to life.

In the long term, the Gerhard Quartet plan to further work on their special project, “The Embrace of Folly”, and perform it for new audiences and new venues around Europe. They believe there is a growing interest in concerts that do something different from the rest and that the Merita Project is a fantastic vehicle for fresh ideas.