The 2022 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition launches on Tuesday, April 5 with its preliminary rounds in London. Between then and April 10, some of the world's most impressive young ensembles will be performing in front of an impressive jury until one is awarded first prize, and the guarantee of a glowing future.

Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall. To see details of concerts for the week starting April 2, please scroll down.

James Jolly went to Wigmore Hall to talk to the Hall's Director John Gilhooly and Hélène Clément, the viola-player of the Doric Quartet, to learn about the competition and how the jury reaches its verdict. We hear excerpts from the Alpha Classics recordings by the 2018 winners, the Esmé Quartet (in music by Beethoven and Bridge – see below for the full album in lossless audio on Apple Music) and the 2015 winners, the Van Kuijk Quartet (in music by Schubert).

You can listen to the Podcast above. To hear other Gramophone podcasts, or to subscribe for free to new editions, search for 'Gramophone' in your Podcast App of choice, or visit Gramophone's page on Apple Music podcasts.

Wigmore Hall concerts this week

Saturday April 2, 7.30pm
Fatma Said sop   
James Baillieu pf

'Folksongs ... and other stories' including songs by Mozart, Mahler Ravel, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Gershwin       

Sunday April 3, 11.30am
Jennifer Pike vn
Martin Roscoe pf                 

L Boulanger D'un matin de printemps       
Schumann Three Romances, Op 22        
Brahms Intermezzo in A, Op 118 No 2 – Intermezzo 
Grieg Violin Sonata No 2 in G, Op 13            

BBC Cardiff Singer Recital
Sunday April 3, 3.00pm
Andrei Kymach bar            
Llŷr Williams pf 

Songs by Lysenko, Zherbin, Bobykevych, Stetsenko, Meitus, Fomenko, Lopatynsky and Mussorgsky (Songs and Dances of Death )       

Sunday 3 April, 7.30pm
Chineke! Chamber Ensemble          

Still Folk Suite No 1           
Rheinberger Nonet, Op 139             
Deborah Cheetham Ngarrgooroon (UK première)            
Coleridge-Taylor Nonet in F minor, Op 2    

Monday April 4, 1pm LIVE STREAMED
Alexander Gadjiev pf         

Schumann Fantasie in C, Op 17      
Prokofiev Piano Sonata No 7 in B flat, Op 83                        

Monday 4 April, 7pm
Igor Levit pf 

Shostakovich 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op 87                                             

Tuesday April 5, 10am
Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition - Preliminary Round at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Quatuor Tchalik 
Affinity Quartet  
Pelia Quartet       
Risus Quartet      
Leonkoro Quartet               

Works to be performed:
Mozart String Quartets – D minor, K421; B flat, K458, 'The Hunt'; E flat, K428; A, K464                      
Bartók String Quartets Nos 3 & 4 
Ligeti String Quartet No 1 'Métamorphoses nocturnes'         
Free (no ticket required)

Tuesday April 5, 7.30pm
Ian Bostridge ten            
Angela Hewitt pf          

Schubert Winterreise             

Wednesday April 6, 10.00am
Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition - Preliminary Round at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Ulysses Quartet  
Adelphi Quartet 
Callisto Quartet  
Vivace Quartet    
Malion Quartet   

Works to be performed:
Mozart String Quartets – B flat K589, 'Prussian’ & G, K387, 'Spring'
Janáček String Quartet Nos 1, ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ & 2, 'Intimate Letters'     
Bartók String Quartets Nos 2 & 5    
Free (no ticket required)

Wednesday April 6, 2.30pm
Competition Talk: Sally Beamish with the Carducci String Quartet on Nine Fragments at Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Sally Beamish composer 
Carducci Quartet                 

Beamish Nine Fragments    
Free (no ticket required)                          

Wednesday April 6, 7.30pm
Igor Levit pf         
Stevenson Passacaglia on DSCH    

Thursday April 7, 10am LIVE STREAMED
Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition - Preliminary Round at Wigmore Hall
Risus Quartet      
Leonkoro Quartet               
Quatuor Tchalik 
Affinity Quartet  |
Pelia Quartet       

Beamish Nine Fragments    
Haydn String Quartets - D, Op 71 No 2; F, Op 50 No 5, 'The Dream'; G, Op 64 No 4; B flat, Op 33 No.4; B flat, Op 64 No 3               
Free (ticket required)       

Thursday April 7, 7.30pm
Piers Lane pf       

Beethoven Piano Sonatas Nos 8 in C mino Op 1 'Pathétique' &  31 in A flat, Op 110
Chopin Waltzes (selection)

Friday April 8, 10am LIVE STREAMED
2022 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition - Preliminary Round at Wigmore Hall
Vivace Quartet    
Malion Quartet   
Ulysses Quartet  
Callisto Quartet  
Adelphi Quartet 

Beamish Nine Fragments      
Haydn String Quartets – C, Op 74 No 1; G, Op 64 No 4; B minor, Op 33 No 1; C, Op 74 No 1; B minor, Op 33 No 1  
Free (ticket required)       

Friday April 8, 7.30pm
Modigliani Quartet             

Schubert String Quartets – C, D46; D, D94; A minor, D804, 'Rosamunde'          

Saturday April 9, 2pm, 5pm & 7.30pm LIVE STREAMED
Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition - Semi-Finals

Saturday April 9, 5pm
Dover Quartet                       
Film Screening: Strings Attached - On the Road with the Dover Quartet

Sunday April 10, 11.30am
Sacconi Quartet

Haydn String Quartet in D minor, Op 76 No 2, 'Fifths'
Beethoven String Quartet in C sharp minor, Op 131

Sunday, April 10, 6pm LIVE STREAMED
Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition - Final & Prize-giving