Dante Quartet
Winner of the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award for best chamber ensemble in 2007, the Dante Quartet is known for its imaginative programming and the emotional intensity of its performances. The group was founded in 1995 at the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove, Cornwall, and chose the name of Dante to reflect the idea of a great and challenging journey.
The Dante Quartet plays at major concert halls, music societies and festivals throughout the UK, and in the past two years has appeared at the Aldeburgh, Bath, Cheltenham and City of London Festivals as well as Wigmore Hall and Kings Place in London. The Quartet broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and has also performed in France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Poland and Finland. In April 2010 the Quartet played at Chateau Mcely in the Czech Republic, gave several concerts at the Peter de Grote Festival in Groningen, in the Netherlands and was featured at the 2010 Kings Place Festival.
In 2008 the Dante Quartet's Hyperion recording of Franck and Fauré's string quartets attracted unanimous praise and was honoured with a BBC Music Magazine Award in the UK and a Diapason d'Or in France. The Quartet's next recording for Hyperion, of Debussy and Ravel's string quartets, also attracted enthusiastic reviews. A new CD of the string quartets of Sibelius and Smetana was released in 2011.
Since 2007 the Dante Quartet has been quartet-in-residence at King's College, Cambridge, where they give master-classes, collaborate with the renowned King's College Choir and create unusual concert programmes interlacing music with readings from literature. The Quartet has taught at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, at Dartington and Cadenza Summer Schools and in Spain, and worked in association with the pioneering Cavatina Chamber Music Trust. Concert engagements are often combined with open rehearsals and special concerts for schoolchildren.
The Quartet has commissioned and premiered a number of new works under the title of the Divine Comedy Project by Roxanna Panufnik, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Dmitri Smirnov and Elena and Alissa Firsova, all inspired in some way by Dante's Divine Comedy.
Dante Quartet is available for concerts, tours and events throughout the UK and Europe.
Reviews
'The fluctuations of darkness and light, the juxtapositions of animation and still reflection, are communicated here with palpable heart. The players understand the rarefied atmosphere that Sibelius's music can inhabit, its bleak landscapes and its chill but also its warming romantic gestures, its robust determination, its tenderness and its fugitive thoughts.
Sibelius and Smetana Quartets - The Daily Telegraph 2011
'They find all manner of shading and delicacy in the Debussy; their Ravel is a miracle of feather-light tone and seamless phrasing.
Debussy and Ravel Quartets/Ravel Violin Sonata - Financial Times 2010
'The Dante Quartet imparts with two masterpieces, written by Franck and Fauré at the ends of their lives, a poignant fervour that these pieces have not enjoyed for a long time.
Franck and Fauré Quartets - Diapason, France October 2008
Dante Quartet sample track
Janacek- String Quartet No1
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