ROUND TOWER CLASSICS: NOVO Quartet

How does and echo of light sound? You may find out this evening, when NOVO Quartet, one of Europe’s leading young string quartets, visits the Round Tower to interpret the current exhibition through a very special performance that connects music and light.

In connection with the exhibition Light Echoes, where art becomes a medium for complex astrophysical research, NOVO Quartet invites the audience to a unique concert experience in which light installations are woven into the music, creating an atmosphere where time and space almost dissolve. As in the exhibition’s installations, the music becomes a reflection of cosmic phenomena, where art and science unite in a sensory experience of light, sound, and time.

Programme

The quartet will begin by performing an excerpt from Henryk Górecki’s String Quartet No. 2, a work that revolves around memory, repetition, and echoes.

After a short interval, the audience will experience Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht. An intense and transformative work in which darkness is gradually broken by light, forming a musical parallel to a star’s explosion and the hope that arises in its afterglow.

In this performance, the quartet will be joined by Kirsten Wilbrandt Kjær (viola) and Oskar Friis-Hansen (cello).

About the Musicians

NOVO Quartet consists of violinists Kaya Kato Møller and Nikolai Vasili Nedergaard, violist Daniel Śledziński, and cellist Signe Ebstrup Bitsch. Since the quartet was formed in 2018, they have performed on some of the world’s leading chamber music stages, including Wigmore Hall in London and Laeiszhalle in Hamburg.

The quartet approaches chamber music with curiosity, and on stage they radiate energy, courage, and artistic seriousness.

NOVO Quartet’s achievements include top prizes at competitions in Geneva, Heidelberg, Carl Nielsen, and Trondheim. Most recently, they were selected as BBC New Generation Artists 2025–27 —an important milestone that strengthens their growing presence in the United Kingdom. From autumn 2025, they will also begin a new chapter with a multi-year residency as Ensemble in Association at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Practical Information

Both before and after the concert, guests will have the opportunity to explore the exhibition Light Echoes as well as the tower’s permanent exhibition about the world-renowned astronomer Ole Rømer and his groundbreaking discovery of the speed of light.

Refreshments will of course be available, and guests are welcome to explore the Spiral Walkway or visit the viewing platform at the top of the tower.

Please note that the spoken parts of the event will be in Danish, but the music can be enjoyed by everyone.

The concert is part of the LIGHT YEAR 2026 programme at the Round Tower—a full year dedicated to celebrating light and the 350th anniversary of Ole Rømer’s groundbreaking discovery of the speed of light.