Castalian String Quartet
In 2018 the Castalian String Quartet received the prestigious inaugural MERITO String Quartet Award & Valentin Erben Prize and won a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Award.
This season the Quartet give debut concerts in North America (Phillips Collection Washington D.C. and Lincoln Center New York), the Salle Bourgie in Montreal, Vancouver Recital Society, Konzerthaus Vienna, Theatre d’Orleons, Louvre in Paris, Flagey in Brussels and Lucerne. They appear regularly at Wigmore Hall in the main series and return to Snape Maltings and Saffron Hall.
Highlights over the last year have included performances of the complete Haydn Op.76 Quartets at Wigmore Hall, concerts in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Heidelberger Frühling, East Neuk, Zwischentöne Festival in Engelberg, Neuchatel Chamber Music in Switzerland and Banff International Festivals. Further afield they undertook tours of China and Colombia.
The Quartet has performed widely throughout Europe as part of the Hamburg Chamber Music Series, International Musikfest Goslar, Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker, Quartet affairs in Frankfurt (broadcast by NDR), French festivals in Queille and Conques, the Aldeburgh, East Neuk, North Norfolk and Peasmarsh Festivals. In 2017 they were resident at the Esbjerg international Chamber Music Festival in Denmark, Festival Musique d’Été à Suzette near Avignon and Snape Maltings. They have collaborated with Nils Mönkemeyer, Alasdair Beatson, Simon Rowland-Jones, Daniel Lebhardt and Olivier Stankiewicz, among many others.
Formed in 2011, the Castalian Quartet studied with Oliver Wille (Kuss Quartet) at the Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media, graduating with a Master’s degree. Awards include 3rd Prize at the 2016 Banff Quartet Competition and 1st Prize at the 2015 Lyon Chamber Music Competition. The Quartet was selected by YCAT in 2016. They have received coaching from Simon Rowland-Jones, David Waterman and Isabel Charisius.