Tenth London International String Quartet Competition 2006

Quartet Profiles

Asasello Quartet

Resident in Germany

• Ensemble founded: April 2000
• Current formation: January 2003
• Average age: 26

The four musicians met at the Musikhochschule Basel, Switzerland during their chamber music studies under Walter Levin and Hatto Beyerle. In 2000 they founded the Asasello Quartet and were awarded a prize at the 7th International String Quartet Competition in Bubenreuth, Germany. They then won first prize at the Migros Kulturprozent Competition in Zurich in 2003, and second prize in the 2004 German Music Academies competition in Frankfurt. At the Hochschule für Musik Köln, the Asasello Quartet studies with the Alban Berg Quartet and David Smeyers. The name ‘Asasello’ is taken from the novel The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, in which good and evil not only coexist, but chaotically interpenetrate: everything is in flux, everything can be changed.

Bronte Quartet

Resident in the UK

• Ensemble founded: September 2000
• Current formation: September 2000
• Average age: 29

The Bronte String Quartet have been working together full-time since September 2001. Winners of 2nd prize in the Eighth International String Quartet Competition in Cremona, they also won the 2003 Royal Overseas League Ensemble Prize and Miller Trophy. Other prizes include the principal award for the 2003 Tunnell Trust and the Siemens Prize for the best performance of a Viennese Classical work at the Internationale Sommer Akademie in Austria in 2002. For the Cheltenham Festival they commissioned a work by Dobrinka Tabakova, have given premieres of works by Cecilia McDowall and Kathryn Butler and have taken masterclasses for composition students at the Royal College of Music, Trinity College of Music and Exeter University. They were members of Live Music Now! for three years and regularly give workshops and concerts in schools and community centres.

Carducci String Quartet

Resident in the UK

• Ensemble founded: 1995
• Current formation: 2005
• Average age: 27

In 1997 the Carducci Quartet was awarded the Gold Award at the Castagnetto-Carducci Festival in Italy and adopted the name “Carducci” with the blessing of the Mayor. The quartet were winners of the 2004 Kuhmo International Chamber Music Competition, Finland, and winners of the special prize for “Communication & Culture” at the 2005 Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition. The musicians have studied with members of many leading quartets including the Amadeus, Alberni, Takacs, Vanbrugh, Chilingirian and most recently the Cleveland Quartet in Paris as part of the ProQuartet young professional training programme in France. They were invited to perform and work as assistants on the Junior European String Teachers Association Course in Brussels and for the last three years they have been artists in residence at the Beaumont Festival in France. The Carducci chose to play Beethoven Op 59 No 2 in E minor, 'Razumovsky' in the Semi-Final and Shostakovich Quartet No 9 in Eb major, Op 117 in the Final.

Enso String Quartet

Resident in the USA

• Ensemble founded: January 1999
• Current formation: September 2004
• Average age: 30

The Enso String Quartet draws together four young musicians from around the world. Its members hold degrees from The Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, Royal Northern College of Music and the University of Canterbury (New Zealand). The members of the ensemble met while pursuing graduate degrees at Yale University, where they later worked with the Tokyo String Quartet. Other prominent musicians with whom the group has worked include members of the Cleveland, Alban Berg, and Takacs Quartets, Joseph Silverstein and composer Joan Tower. The ensemble’s name, enso¯, is derived from the Japanese zen painting of the circle which represents many things; perfection and imperfection, the moment of chaos that is creation, the emptiness of the void, the endless circle of life, and the fullness of the spirit. The Enso chose to play Beethoven Op 59 No 1 in F major, 'Razumovsky' in the Semi-Final.

Formosa Quartet

Resident in the USA

• Ensemble founded: December 2002
• Current formation: December 2002
• Average age: 28

The Formosa Quartet was formed in 2002 when four outstanding young musicians came together for a concert tour of Taiwan, the land of their shared heritage. With recent concerts at Juilliard, the Ravinia Festival, and the Chicago Cultural Center, the Formosa Quartet continues to receive enthusiastic acclaim for the excitement, skill, and creativity of its performances. With degrees from Juilliard, the New England Conservatory, Curtis, and Harvard, they have performed in the foremost venues around the United States, as well as in Asia, Europe, and South America. As chamber musicians, they have appeared regularly at the Mariboro, Caramoor, and Ravinia festivals, and at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. They have been on the chamber music faculty at Interlochen, Indiana University - South Bend, Taos School of Music, and Northwestern University. The Formosa chose to play Beethoven Op 59 No 1 in F major, 'Razumovsky' in the Semi-Final and Debussy Quartet Op 10 in the Final.

Lloyd Carr-Harris String Quartet

Resident in Canada

• Ensemble founded: September 2002
• Current formation: September 2004
• Average age: 24

Grand Prize Winner of the 2005 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Winner of the 2004 Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation, the LCH String Quartet has quickly established its place among the most respected young quartets in Canada. Formed in 2002 by Professor Andre Roy, its members have all received scholarships from the Lloyd Carr-Harris Foundation for the continuation of their studies at McGill University. In the summer of 2005 the Quartet gave numerous performances at the Orford Arts Centre and participated in the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival. As a result of their prize at the Fischoff Competition, they will perform in several cities throughout the mid-western states of the U.S.A. They have also been invited to perform in the Emilia Romagna Festival in Italy in July 2006.

Nador Quartet

Resident in Hungary

• Ensemble founded: September 2004
• Current formation: September 2004
• Average age: 29

The Nador Quartet was founded in autumn 2004 by four young musicians, two of whom are still students at the Franz Liszt Music Academy of Budapest, and who will graduate this year. Since the quartet was founded, it has given a number of concerts throughout Hungary. In July 2005 the quartet attended Gabor Takacs-Nagy’s masterclasses at the Tiber Varga Music Academy in Sion, Switzerland, and they have also studied with the Bartok and Kodaly Quartets. Their first CD was recorded in the Grand Hall of the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest in 2005, and they gave a live concert for the Hungarian National Radio in autumn 2005. The Nador Quartet’s aim is to enhance the status of Hungarian string quartet compositions in the classical music scene in Hungary.

Navarra Quartet

Resident in the UK

• Ensemble founded: September 2002
• Current formation: September 2003
• Average age: 22

The Navarra String Quartet was formed in September 2002 at the Royal Northern College of Music. They study with the Director of Chamber Music, Dr Chris Rowland and have attended master classes with Graham Oppenheimer, Thomas Riebl, Are Sandbakken, Alan George, Gabor Takacs-Nagy, the Sorrel Quartet and the Endellion Quartet. In 2004 they won the John Barbirolli/Laurence Turner Memorial Prize for String Quartet, The Leonard Hirsch String Quartet Award and the Granada Prize for Chamber Music at the RNCM, as well as the intercollegiate competition for string quartet at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In April 2005 they were awarded the RNCM’s Professional Performance Diploma with distinction, and in September, they participated in the Haydn Festival in Lincoln, where they played amongst quartets such as the Quatuor Mosaiques and the London Haydn String Quartet. The Navarra chose to play Beethoven No 15 in A minor, Op 132 in the Semi-Final.

Pavao String Quartet

Resident in the UK

• Ensemble founded: September 1998
• Current formation: February 2004
• Average age: 26

Formed in 1998 at the Royal Academy of Music, the Quartet was awarded the Sir John Barbirolli Memorial Prize (twice) and the John B. McEwen Prize before graduating with First Class Honours. In 2002, the Academy awarded them the Leverhulme Chamber Music Fellowship, which they held for two years. In 2003, they made their Purcell Room debut which received a favourable review in ‘The Strad’ magazine. The Pavãos have performed with the Alberni Quartet on many occasions, including performances of Mendelssohn’s ‘Octet’ on a set of Stradivarius instruments loaned by the Royal Academy. This versatile ensemble is not only highly-regarded in classical concert venues across the UK, but has enjoyed collaborations with rock, pop and jazz artists and even a contemporary dance company.

Quatuor Amadeo Modigliani

Resident in France

• Ensemble founded: April 2003
• Current formation: April 2003
• Average age: 26

The Amedeo Modigliani String Quartet was set up in 2003 by four young musicians studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, and was soon awarded a highly-coveted place in the string quartet class at Paris Conservatoire Supérieur. They worked with Daria Hovora and Manfred String Quartet’s Marie Bereau and received a unanimous First Prize a year later. Trained and vigorously encouraged by Ysaye Quartet’s members, they were then admitted to the latter’s String Quartet Professional Training Department at Paris Conservatoire Supérieur. In October 2004, they created quite a stir at Eindhoven International String Quartet competition where, in their first participation in an international competition, they were awarded the First Prize, the Audience Prize, the young jury’s Prize and the Willem Vos Prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary work.

Sacconi Quartet

Resident in the UK

• Ensemble founded: September 2001
• Current formation: September 2001
• Average age: 26

First Prize winners in the Trondheim International String Quartet Competition 2005, the Sacconi Quartet is established as one of the finest young string quartets in the country, since its formation at London's Royal College of Music in 2001. Last season they made their debuts at both the Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room, and won the Kurtag Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition. The quartet was also awarded first prize in the Royal Overseas League chamber music competition, and is currently giving performances around the UK as part of both the Tillett Trust Young Artists' Platform and the Tunnell Trust schemes. The name Sacconi Quartet comes from the outstanding twentieth-century Italian violin maker and restorer Simone Sacconi, whose book The Secrets of Stradivari is considered an indispensable reference for violin makers. The Sacconi chose to play Beethoven Op 59 No 2 in E minor, 'Razumovsky' in the Semi-Final and Britten Quartet No 2 in C major, Op 36 in the Final.

TinAlley String Quartet

Resident in Australia

• Ensemble founded: September 2003
• Current formation: September 2003
• Average age: 24

The TinAlley String Quartet was formed in 2003 by four students from the University of Melbourne. The name TinAlley refers to the 'Tin Alley' river which runs through the University's Parkville campus. The Quartet is tutored principally by William Hennessy, the founding member of the Australian String Quartet and the Melba String Quartet. In 2005, the quartet studied on the Emerging Quartets and Composers Programme with the Muir Quartet and composer Joan Tower in the USA, and they have recently been accepted as 'Young Artists in Residence' at the Australian National Academy of Music from February-November 2006. The quartet won the 2005 Australian Chamber Music Competition Major Prize, the Musica Viva Tony Berg Award and the String Quartet Prize and in 2004, the University of Melbourne Chamber Music Prize.

Zemlinsky Quartet

Resident in the Czech Republic

• Ensemble founded: September 1994
• Current formation: 1999
• Average age: 27

Since its foundation in 1994, the Zemlinsky Quartet (formerly the Penguin Quartet) has continued the long-established Czech tradition of the string quartet. At the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of the Performing Arts in Prague, the ensemble was coached by members of renowned Czech string quartets such as the Talich, Prague, Kocian and Prazák Quartets. The ensemble was a semi-finalist at the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2001 and 2004 and finalist in the 2004 Concert Artists Guild International Competition (New York). In 2002 and 2003, the Zemlinsky Quartet participated in ProQuartet-CEMC’s programmes in France. Recent tutors of the quartet have been Vaclav Bernásek, (cello, Kocian Quartet) and Josef Kluson, (viola, Prazák Quartet), and the quartet also studies regularly with Walter Levin (violin, LaSalle Quartet). The Zemlinsky chose to play Beethoven No 11 in F minor, Op 95 'Serioso' in the Semi-Final and Dvorak Quartet No 14 in Ab major, Op 105 in the Final.