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Castalian String Quartet

The Castalian String Quartet has accumulated major prizes and, in the late 2010s, made debuts in some of the world's top halls. In addition to standard repertory, the group has premiered several new works. The Castalian String Quartet was formed in 2011 and was named after the Castalian Spring in the ancient Greek city of Delphi, in turn, named for the nymph Castalia who turned herself into a fountain to avoid her pursuer Apollo; in so doing, she created a source of poetic inspiration for all who drank from the spring. The members are a multinational group comprising first violinist (and hiker) Sini Simonen, second violinist (and football fan) Daniel Roberts, violist (and yoga teacher) Ruth Gibson, and cellist (and bow-maker) Christopher Graves. The Castalian String Quartet studied in Germany at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik with Oliver Wille and also enjoyed mentorship from composer Simon Rowland-Jones, cellist David Waterman, and violist Isabel Charisius. It quickly began to accumulate honors, including a first prize at the 2015 Lyon (France) Chamber Music Competition and a third prize at the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition in Canada. The quartet earned places in major career development programs; it was chosen by the Young Classical Artists Trust in 2016 and earned a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in 2018. In 2019, the Castalian String Quartet was named the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist of the Year, and the group became the Hans Keller String Quartet in Residence at Oxford University. These credentials jump-started the quartet's international career. The Castalian String Quartet has appeared at major venues, including Carnegie Hall and the Library of Congress in the U.S., the Vienna Konzerthaus, and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany. The group has also made festival appearances in Britain and internationally, including those at the Hamburg Chamber Music Series, the International Musikfest Goslar, and the Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker. At home, the quartet made frequent appearances at London's Wigmore Hall, where it recorded the Op. 76 quartets of Haydn in 2018 for its recording debut and performed a cycle of Brahms and Schumann chamber music featuring collaborations with pianists Stephen Hough and Cédric Tiberghien, and clarinetist Michael Collins, among other major artists. In 2019, the group joined the Merel Quartet for a recording of Mendelssohn's Octet for strings in E flat major, Op. 20, on the Solo Musica label. The Castalian String Quartet toured North America during the 2021-2022 season. In 2022, the group gave world premieres of works by Charlotte Bray and Mark Simpson, and that year, it released its studio debut, the album Between Two Worlds, featuring music by Beethoven and Thomas Adès on the Delphian label.
© James Manheim /TiVo

Discography

5 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller

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