“The Brodsky Quartet are the team for the new century” Gramophone

 

The Brodsky Quartet is at the forefront of the international chamber music scene. Their love and mastery of the traditional string quartet repertoire is evident from their highly acclaimed performances of composers ranging from Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and Tchaikovsky to Shostakovich, Bartok, Britten and Respighi, as well as from their extensive, award-winning discography.

 

Renowned for being one of the best quartets of our time, the Brodsky Quartet has performed at many of the world’s leading venues. Recent tours have seen the Quartet performing throughout Australia, Mexico, Spain, France and Scandinavia. In the UK they have taken part in virtually all of the major festivals and series and have had a critically acclaimed four year residency at London’s Cadogan Hall. This season sees the Quartet returning to London’s Wigmore Hall as well as performing at the Harrogate, Bury St Edmunds and Leeds International Festivals; at St George’s Bristol and Canterbury University; and in Rovereto, Appenzell and Madrid at the Palais Royal where they will perform on the Royal Stradivarius instruments, kept in vaults at the Palace itself.

 

The Quartet are widely celebrated for their pioneering work with a diverse range of performing artists, including singers Elvis Costello, Sting, Anne Sofie von Otter, Dawn Upshaw and Björk, instrumentalists Michael Collins, Joan Enric Lluna, Martin Roscoe, Alexander Baillie, Tunde Jegede, Complicite Theatre Company and Icelandic poet Sjon, while their many collaborations with distinguished composers, including John Tavener, Witold Lutoslawski, Peter Sculthorpe, Django Bates, Sally Beamish, Dave Brubeck and Peter Maxwell Davies, have given them an unrivalled opportunity to influence and inspire some of the newest work for string quartet. Their passion to embrace "all good music" has been the driving force behind their success and has kept their approach fresh and their enthusiasm high for well over 30 years.

 

They have a huge and diverse discography, having worked with many major labels, finally forming their own label, Brodsky Records, in 2005. Recent awards for recording include the Diapason D'Or and the CHOC du Monde de la Musique for their recordings of string quartets by Britten, Beethoven and Janacek, whilst for their outstanding contribution to innovation in programming the Brodsky Quartet has received a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. They have taught at many international chamber music courses and held residencies in several music institutes, including the first such post at the University of Cambridge. They currently hold the International Chair of Chamber Music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and have been awarded Honorary Doctorates at the University of Kent and University of Teesside.

 

The Quartet is named after the great Russian violinist Adolf Brodsky, dedicatee of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto and passionate chamber musician, who played an important role in musical life in 1920s Manchester and at the Royal Northern College of Music where the Quartet studied.

 

Daniel Rowland plays a violin made by Lorenzo Storioni of Cremona in 1793; Ian Belton’s violin is by Gio. Paolo Maggini c.1615 and Jacqueline Thomas plays a cello made by Thomas Perry in 1785. Paul Cassidy plays on La Delfina viola, c. 1720, courtesy of Sra. Delfina Entrecanales.