Merel Quartet & Castalian String Quartet
Biography Merel Quartet & Castalian String Quartet
Merel Quartet
„An unforgettable interpretation“ writes the Neue Luzerner Zeitung (Lucerne), „The Merel Quartet’s exploration of Schubert’s inner turmoil, how they created a shadowy stillness in pianissimo, was breathtaking.“
Commended for their stylistic awareness, maturity of expression and command of form, the Merel Quartet have been captivating audiences since 2002. An exceptionally communicative quartet, the Merels have received unanimous praise: „This young ensemble’s music-making is extraordinarily precise and tonally exceedingly well-matched“ writes the Wiener Zeitung (Vienna) and the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Zürich) lauded the Merel Quartet for playing „...with utmost expressivity and a subtle sense of form, tone and rhetoric“.
The Merel Quartet has performed extensively in Europe in venues like the Wigmore Hall, Tonhalle Zürich, the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Ittingen Whitsun Concerts, Lucerne Festival, Salzburger Festspiele and Kunstfest Weimar. Known for their vivid performances, the quartet has excited audiences in Italy, France, Germany, England, Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
The quartet enjoys collaborations with artists like Ruth Ziesak, Juliane Banse, Jörg Widmann, Diemut Poppen, Natalia Gutman, Nobuko Imai, Thomas Demenga, Dénes Várjon, and Alfred Brendel. Known for their versatility, the Merels perform an extensive repertoire spanning three centuries from Bach and Purcell through to contemporary masters like Kúrtag, Saariaho and Holliger.
Frequent live radio performances on Swiss Radio SRF2 and Radio Suisse Romande as well as German Radio SWR2 have brought the Merel Quartet added recognition. The quartet’s debut album including works by Schumann, Janacek and award-winning Swiss composer David Philip Hefti was praised as the „...outstanding CD-Premier of a first-rate quartet“ (Neue Zürich Zeitung am Sonntag).
Performances of works by Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn on the Merel’s second album also received high acclaim. „Permeated with a feverish intensity, with close attention to detail and exquisitely balanced illumination of the voices“ and „..their sound, agile and transparent, with a wide range of tonal colors, is irresistible“ writes Thomas Bopp of Das Orchester. Cathy Fuller, in her show „New and Notable Releases“ on Boston Public Radio WGBH proclaimed „This is a stunning recording, brimming with life and longing and sustained by an intelligent sense of line. The quartet’s devotion to bringing across each of the two quartets as complete unfolding constructions makes the experience all the more poignant. Gorgeous.“
The Castalian String Quartet
was the recipient of the inaugural Merito String Quartet Award & Valentin Erben Prize and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Award in 2018.
Over the past year, the Quartet has given its debut North American recitals at The Philips Collection (Washington D.C.), Lincoln Center (N.Y.), Middlebury College (Vermont), Salle Bourgie (Montreal), Vancouver Recital Series and Banff International String Quartet Festival.
Other 2018/19 highlights included a return to the Aldeburgh Festival, the complete Haydn Op.76 quartets at Wigmore Hall (recorded for future release on the Wigmore Live label) and recitals at Konzerthaus Vienna, Auditorium du Louvre (Paris), Flagey (Brussels) and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
This season they will perform a Brahms and Schumann chamber music cycle at Wigmore Hall, collaborating with Stephen Hough, Cédric Tiberghien, Michael Collins, Nils Mönkemeyer, Isabel Charisius and Ursula Smith.
In 2020 the Castalian String Quartet will give its Carnegie Hall debut and participate in the Simmenauer International Beethoven Quartet series. In addition to return visits to Israel, they will perform across Europe, giving recitals in the Paris Philharmonie, Esterházy Castle (Fertöd) and the Heidelberger-Frühling, Rheingau, Mosel and Dresden Festivals.
They have performed widely throughout Europe, with highlights including the Hamburg Chamber Music Series, International Musikfest Goslar, Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker, “Quartetaffairs” in Frankfurt (broadcast by NDR), the Queille Festival and Conques Lumière du Roman in France. UK appearances include the Bath, Cheltenham, East Neuk, North Norfolk, Peasmarsh and Winchester Festivals. They have also been the resident ensemble at the Esbjerg International Chamber Music Festival in Denmark and Festival Musique d’Été à Suzette, near Avignon. Further afield, they have undertaken tours of China and Colombia.
The Quartet has collaborated with with Aleksander Madzar, Alasdair Beatson, Simon Rowland-Jones, Daniel Lebhardt and Olivier Stankiewicz, among many others.
Formed in 2011, the Castalian String Quartet studied with Oliver Wille (Kuss Quartet) at the Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media, graduating with a Masters degree. Awards include 1st Prize at the 2015 Lyon Chamber Music Competition and 3rd Prize at the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition.
The Quartet was selected by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2016 and have received further coaching from Simon Rowland-Jones, David Waterman and Isabel Charisius.
