FOUR RATIONAL PEOPLE - 1 Aug 2026

Goethe once said that a string quartet is like “a conversation between FOUR RATIONAL PEOPLE,” and for the members of the Emerson String Quartet, that conversation is coming to a bittersweet ending as they embark on their final season of a fifty-year history that includes 9 GRAMMY Awards and thousands of concerts.  Interweaving vivid memories of the Emerson Quartet’s past with delicate observations of life on the road in the weeks and days before disbanding, FOUR RATIONAL PEOPLE explores the group’s difficult decision to walk away from the things that they cherish most in life: the music they play and the friends they hold dear. At once a frank examination of the tyranny of aging and a cri de cœur to pass the torch to a new generation of artists, FOUR RATIONAL PEOPLE culminates with one final Emerson Quartet performance for the ages, leaving all to ponder what happens to us after the final curtain.  Philip Setzer is a member of the Emerson String Quartet and is also the Artistic Director of the Manchester Music Festival. A talk back with Mr. Setzer will follow the screening.