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The
Dante Quartet
'The most interesting
and musically accomplished new string quartet to have emerged in
Britain over the last few years.' Judith
Weir, composer
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Judith Busbridge, viola,
Giles Francis, Violin, Krysia Osostowicz, violin,
Bernard Gregor-Smith,
cello
Dante Quartet main
website: www.dantequartet.org
The Dante
Quartet is one of the finest string quartets in Britain. The quartet
is renowned for the emotional intensity of its performances, its rich
palette of tone colours and its imaginative programming. Founded in 1995
on friendships made at the International Musicians’ Seminar in
Cornwall, under the artistic influence of the celebrated Hungarian
violinist Sandor Vegh, the Dante Quartet chose its name to reflect the
idea of a great and challenging journey.
Recording
projects have included the quartets of Edmund Rubbra,
shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in 2001, and a disc of
romantic Russian works by Lyapunov and Gretchaninov, which
received outstanding reviews from BBC Music Magazine,
Gramophone and others. Two new Dante recordings will appear
this year: a disc of Janacek’s string quartets for Meridian
Records, and a collection of English works for string quartet
and tenor with rising star Andrew Kennedy. Future recording
plans include the quartets of Faure, Franck and Kodaly.
The
Dante Quartet has recently has recently been awarded a
five-year residency at Kings College, Cambridge, involving
concerts, master classes and some joint projects with
the renowned King’s College Choir. The quartet is also an
Associate Ensemble at the Guildhall School of Music and
Drama, and has taught at Dartington and Cadenza summer
schools and in Spain. In addition, the Dante Quartet enjoys
working with children and gives specially devised programmes
for school audiences who might otherwise never hear a live
classical concert.
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With
a busy schedule of concerts throughout the UK and Europe, the
Dante Quartet has appeared overthe past two years at the Wigmore
Hall, Aldeburgh Festival, Bath International Festival,
Spitalfields Festival, Presteigne Festival, Hampstead and
Highgate Festival, Deal, Swaledale and Dartington Festivals,
Conway Hall, LSO St Luke’s and St George’s Bristol with
tours of France, Scotland, the North and West Country. In
2004 the quartet inaugurated its own chamber music festival at
Launceston in North Cornwall, which proved highly successful and
is now repeated annually. The quartet performs frequently on BBC
Radio 3, broadcasting live from venues such as Cheltenham,
Birmingham Symphony Hall and Cardiff. International
appearances include residencies at the Kuhmo International
Chamber Music Festival in Finland, and concerts in France,
Spain, Holland and Swizerland and Poland.
Future engagements for the Dante Quartet include concerts in
Madrid, London Wigmore Hall and the City of London Festival
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KRYSIA
OSOSTOWICZ, VIOLIN
studied at the Yehudi Menhuin School and Cambridge University before
completing her violin studies in Salzburg with the distinguished
violinist and quartet leader, Sandor Vegh.
She
has given concerto and recital performances across Europe and made a
series of award-winning recordings. Before founding the Dante Quartet
in 1995, she played with the pioneering piano quartet Domus, which
toured with its own portable concert hall – a large white geodesic
dome – and went on to win a worldwide audience and two Gramophone
awards in ten years.
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She
has made over 20 CDs of solo, duo and ensemble repertoire, including the
sonatas of Brahms, Faure and Bartok for Hyperion.
More
recently she has recorded the complete chamber music of Edmund Rubbra
for Dutton as well as his Violin Concerto with the Ulster Orchestra for
Naxos. Krysia is also principal violinist of Endymion Ensemble, and
teaches at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She lives in London
with her husband Simon and children Jacob (10, French Horn) and Alinka
(7, Violin), who are both keen helpers at East Penrest Farm.
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JUDITH
BUSBRIDGE, VIOLA graduated
from Birmingham University and completed her viola studies in Salzburg
with Thomas Riebl. While there she was appointed principal viola in
Sandor Vegh’s Camerata Academica.
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Judith is currently principal viola in both the London Mozart Players
and in John Eliot Gardiner’s Monteverdi Orchestra. As concerto soloist
she has performed widely, including appearances at Vienna’s
Musikverein and the Queen Elizabeth Hall. As chamber musician she has
collaborated with many distinguished artists including Ernst Kovacic,
Radu Lupu, the late Paul Tortelier and the Hagen Quartet. She is a
founder member of the Dante Quartet and also plays with the piano
quartet “Touchwood” and the Kegelstatt Trio. She lives in London
with her husband Bernard and their daughter Caitlin.
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GILES
FRANCIS, VIOLIN studied
music at Cambridge University, and violin with David Takeno at the
Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He completed his violin studies in
Amsterdam with Istvan Pakanyi, and later studied viola with Vladimir
Mendelssohn at the Rotterdam Conservatory.
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As
well as playing in the Dante Quartet, Giles has played with the English
Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the LSO and the
Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, where he lives with his family
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BERNARD GREGOR-SMITH, CELLO
studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music with David Cameron. Bernard
was a co-founder of the world-renowned Lindsay Quartet, with whom he
played for forty years. The recipient of five honorary degrees, he has
made fifty-five quartet recordings with the Lindsays and several duo
recordings with his pianist wife, Yolande Wrigley. Bernard joined the
Dante Quartet in 2005 and in addition, plays with the Primrose Piano
Quartet, performs in a piano trio with his wife and violinist Susanne
Stanzeleit, and teaches in London, Sheffield University and at the Royal
Northern College of Music in Manchester.
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