This week Jörg Widmann and Alban Gerhardt embark on a chamber music tour of Italy together with partners Carolin Widmann and Alexander Melnikov.

With a programme featuring Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps and Bartók’s Contrasts, the quartet give performances in Florence (1 March), Genova (2 March) and Ferrara (3 March).

Following the tour, Gerhardt gives further duo concerts with pianist Steven Osborne at de Singel (4 March), Wigmore Hall (5 March) and at the Wiltshire Music Centre (6 March), performing works by Debussy, Schnittke, Messiaen and Beethoven. The concert on 5 March forms part of the cellist’s residency at the Hall this season.