Concerts 2009

The Carducci Quartet is recognised as one of today’s most exciting young string quartets. Based in the UK, the quartet holds residencies at Trinity College of Music in London, Cardiff University and at the Cork School of Music in Ireland. This season will see the quartet perform over 90 concerts worldwide. European tours include multiple stops in Spain, Portugal, Denmark, France and throughout the UK, including their own festival in Highnam. In 2010 the quartet will also embark on its debut tour of Australia as well as engagements in North and South America.

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 recorded the Philip Glass quartets for Naxos. Their own record label 'Carducci Classics' was launched with a CD of Haydn String Quartets. Two world premiere recordings featuring works by G. Whettam and J. Horovitz were released in 2008. The complete quartets by Irish composer Brian Boydell were released this year.

The quartet has gained an enviable reputation for their performances of contemporary works and this season, they premiere new commissions from David Matthews, Adrian Williams, Simon Rowland Jones and Huang Ruo. The quartet has embraced collaborations with other disciplines, working alongside the Henri Oguike and Random Dance companies and sarod player, Wajahat Khan.

The Carducci Quartet’s international engagements have taken them to the USA, Japan and throughout Europe, including Italy, where after performing numerous concerts at the Castagnetto-Carducci Festival in 1997 the quartet adopted the name ‘Carducci’ with the blessing of the Mayor. The 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.

The quartet are passionate about taking classical music to the next generation and run chamber music courses for young musicians in the UK, France and Ireland. Their educational work continues with performances for school children supported by their own charity, The Carducci Music Trust, and for the Cavatina Chamber Music Trust and West Cork Music. They also regularly coach on the National Youth String Quartet Weekend, run by the London String Quartet Foundation, and are stopping over in Dubai while on their way to coach at the corresponding event for the Australian Youth Orchestra.

The Carducci Quartet gratefully acknowledges the support of the Coln Trust.