On Nov. 5, as one of several events celebrating the opening of the Library's European Reading Room, about 170 people gathered in the Southeast Pavilion of the Jefferson Building to hear a young quartet from the Flanders region of Belgium playing pieces by Shostakovich and Brahms.
The Rubio String Quartet performed a spirited program the evening before it was scheduled to play in New York's Carnegie Hall. Two short opening pieces on the program were by George Gershwin and the contemporary Flemish composer Willem Kersters.
The quartet takes its name from David Rubio, an English maker of fine violins, other stringed instruments and harpsichords. After the alto player in the quartet had acquired a Rubio, he persuaded the others to do so, and they then assumed the Rubio name. The Rubio Quartet came to Washington through the efforts of Margrit B. Krewson, the Library's German/Dutch area specialist, and Bart Hendrickx, the attaché of the Flemish Community.
