Mozart: Quartet K499
Glass: Quartet No 4
Dvorak "American" Quartet
Op 96
The Carducci Quartet is recognised as one of today’s most
exciting young string quartets. Winners of the Concert
Artists Guild Competition in New York, the Kuhmo
International Chamber Music Competition and major prizes at
the Bordeaux, London and Osaka competitions, the quartet has
established an enthusiastic International following.
The Anglo-Irish Carducci quartet studied with members of the
Amadeus, Alban Berg, Chilingirian, Takacs and Vanbrugh
quartets and, as part of the ProQuartet professional
training programme in France, studied with Gyorgy Kurtag,
Walter Levin and Paul Katz. They are now in demand at
conservatoires around the UK and Ireland, holding
residencies at Trinity College of Music in London, Cardiff
University, Cork School of Music and the Gloucester Academy
of Music.
They recently established their own record label 'Carducci
Classics', launched with a CD of Haydn String Quartets. Two
world premiere recordings featuring C20th works by G.
Whettam ('recording of the month' MusicWeb International)
and J. Horovitz (‘beautifully crafted works…excellent
performances’, BBC Music Magazine) followed in 2008.
The complete quartets by Irish composer Brian Boydell will
be released shortly. The Carduccis have also recorded
(Vivaldi and Piazzolla) with the Katona Twins Guitar Duo for
Channel Classics.
The Carducci Quartet’s international engagements have taken
them to the USA, Japan, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland,
Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Poland and Italy, where after
performing numerous concerts at the Castagnetto-Carducci
Festival in 2001 the quartet adopted the name “Carducci”
with the blessing of the Mayor.
The Quartet was nominated for the 2008 Royal Philharmonic
Society Chamber Music Award and has recently collaborated
with such internationally renowned musicians as Nicholas
Daniel, Julius Drake, Graham Oppenheimer, Charles Owen,
Kazuki Sawa, Julian Bliss, Patricia Rosario and the RTE
Vanburgh Quartet. Past highlights include appearances at the
Verbier, West Cork and Wratislavia Cantans Festivals, an
Aldeburgh residency and broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, RTE
Lyric FM and BBC television.
Following on from their critically acclaimed Purcell Room
and Wigmore Hall debuts in London for the Park Lane Group,
the quartet has gained an enviable reputation for their
performances of contemporary works. This season, the quartet
will premiere new commissions from David Matthews, Adrian
Williams, Simon Rowland Jones and Huang Ruo and will perform
in the ‘New Music, New Places’ series, New York and at the
Second Glance Festival, London. The quartet has also
embraced collaborations with other disciplines, working
alongside the Henri Oguike and Random Dance companies and
with the acclaimed Sarod player Wajahat Kahn.
The quartet are passionate about taking Classical music to
the next generation and run chamber music courses for young
musicians in France and Ireland. Their educational work
continues with performances for school children sponsored by
the Cavatina Chamber Music Trust and West Cork Music and
coaching on the National Youth String Quartet Weekend, run
by the London String Quartet Foundation at Chetham’s School
of Music.
The upcoming season will include their Carnegie Hall debut,
a complete Bartok quartet cycle, a Naxos recording and
performances at the Wigmore Hall, Washington Library of
Congress and their own festival in Highnam Gloucestershire.
The Carducci Quartet gratefully acknowledges the support of
the Coln Trust.
