Winner of the 1988 London International String Quartet Competition and
now in its twenty-fourth concert season, the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet is one
of Europe's most successful ensembles internationally recognised for its
beauty of sound, clarity of texture and integrity of interpretation
within an unusually wide and varied range of repertoire. Familiar
visitors to all the main UK festivals the Vanbrugh Quartet also
broadcasts frequently for BBC Radio 3 and performs regularly at London’s
Wigmore Hall and South Bank.
The Quartet enjoys a thriving international career with past appearances
including concerts in Berlin (Konzerthaus), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw),
Hungary (Liszt Academy), Poland (Lancut Festival), Spain (Galicia
Festival), Flanders Festival, Menuhin Festival, Gstaad plus numerous
visits to Scandinavia where recordings were made of the complete
Beethoven quartets. The quartet tours the USA on a regular basis with
performances in Carnegie Hall, New York and The Kennedy Centre in
Washington.
Based in Cork as Resident Quartet to Radio Telefis Eireann, Ireland's
national broadcasting service; the members of the Quartet are also
Artists in Residence to University College, Cork, and founders of the
internationally acclaimed West Cork Chamber Music Festival. In April
2005 the Quartet hosted European Quartet Week as part of Cork’s tenure
as European Capital of Culture.
2007 marked 21 years since the Vanbrugh Quartet took up its residency
with RTÉ in 1986 and the occasion was marked in style. In the UK the
Quartet continues its Music in the Round series, returning to the Conway
and Wigmore Halls as well undertaking a nationwide tour.
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2008 has brought further successful tours of Italy and the USA as well
as visits to festivals in Estonia (David Oistrakh Festival) and Russia
(Northern Flowers Festival).
In January 2009 the Quartet took up a new
post as lecturers in chamber music at DIT, Dublin, continuing their work
developing chamber music in Ireland.
Hyperion have released the second of two
Vanbrugh Quartet CDs of chamber music by Charles Villiers Stanford. This
was featured as Editor’s Choice in Gramophone Magazine in February 2006.
The Quartet’s recording of three of Boccherini’s cello quintets on
Hyperion was also featured as Editor’s Choice in Gramophone Magazine.
Other recent CDs include Metronome’s
second CD devoted to the music of Piers Hellawell, a Black Box release
of Ian Wilson's three quartets and a recording for Hyperion of works for
quartet and soprano by John Tavener. These recordings join a discography
of twenty-one releases which includes the complete Beethoven Quartets
and works by Haydn, Schubert, Dvorak, Janacek, Dohnanyi, E.J. Moeran,
Robert Simpson, John Tavener, John McCabe, John Kinsella, Raymond Deane
and Brian Boydell.
'this committed ensemble feels more galvanised and exciting than
ever' - The Strad |
