The International Musical Seminar Prussia Cove has been a world-renowned sanctuary of chamber music learning for fifty years. The most distinguished masters and the most outstanding young musicians visit the western tip of Cornwall every year to teach and study in retreat at the high school of chamber music in an idyllic, hospitable environment. From the beginning, Hungarian artists played an exceptional role in the establishment of IMS Prussia Cove and in carrying on its spirit: the founder was Sándor Végh, and in the following decades Loránd Fenyves, András Keller, András Schiff, Ferenc Rados, Dénes Várjon and György Kurtág were regular guests.

The 50th anniversary of IMS PrussiaCove was commemorated with a concert organized in London's Wigmore Hall, at which Steven Isserlis, Music Director of the seminar since 1997, premiered György Kurtág's cello piece written for the occasion. ...circumdederunt... commemorates Rita Wagner, the late wife of Ferenc Rados, Kurtág's old friend, who passed last year. Rita Wagner herself visited Prussia Cove many times with her husband, Isserlis recalled her like this: "It was many years ago that Rita started to be a regular at Prussia Cove seminars, listening to her husband teach, becoming close to many of the participants, radiating pleasure in the music, the place, the people.”

Link to recording of the premiere (starts at 1:20:00)