The Endellion String Quartet

 

The Endellion String Quartet is renowned as one of the finest quartets in the world. Over the years, its schedule has included regular tours of North and South America, Australasia, the Far East, the Middle East and South Africa, as well as every West European country. All over the world, the Endellion String Quartet ‘sets the audience ablaze’ (Daily Telegraph) and ‘captivates concertgoers with a remarkable rapport’, its members ‘playing to each other with a sense almost of discovery, communicating to the audience on a level of unusual intimacy’ (Guardian). In Britain, the Endellion String Quartet has appeared at nearly all the major concert series and festivals, including the Proms, and has broadcast many times on BBC radio and television, as well as featuring as the subject of Radio 3’s ‘Artist of the Week’ and ‘Artists in Focus’. Its presence in London has been marked by concert cycles at both the Southbank Centre and Wigmore Hall, where its members have been Artistic Directors of several ‘Quartet Plus’ series. They have also worked with guest artists, including members of the former Amadeus Quartet, as well as Sir Thomas Allen, Joshua Bell, Michael Collins, Steven Isserlis, Mitsuko Uchida and Tabea Zimmermann. In 1996, the Quartet won the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Best Chamber Ensemble.

 

Zemlinsky Quartet

 

Since it was founded in 1994, the Zemlinsky Quartet has become a much-lauded exemplar of the Czech string quartet tradition. In 2010 the quartet won the 1st Grand Prize in the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition. It has also enjoyed a string of top prizes in the Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Prague Spring International Music Competition and the London International String Quartet Competition. The quartet has moreover been the recipient of the Alexander Zemlinsky Advancement Award.

 

Website: www.zemlinskyquartet.cz

 

 

 

Ying Quartet

 

Website: www.ying4.com

 

 

 

Fretwork

 

Few other ensembles can match the range of Fretwork’s repertory, spanning as it does the first printed music of 1501 in Venice, to music commissioned by the group this year. Their recordings of arrangements of J. S. Bach have won particular praise, but they have recently issued a disc containing music by Grieg, Debussy, Shostakovitch, Warlock & Britten. This extraordinary breadth of music has taken them all over the world in the 25 years since their debut, and their recordings of the classic English viol repertory – Purcell, Gibbons, Lawes & Byrd – have become the benchmark by which others are judged. Their 2009 recording of the Purcell Fantazias won the Gramophone Award for Baroque Chamber Music.

The consistently high standards they have achieved have brought music old and new to audiences hitherto unfamiliar with the inspiring sound-world of the viol.

 

 

 

 

 

Ariel Quartet

 

Website: www.arielquartet.com