Formed in 2001 at the Royal College of Music, the Sacconi Quartet is rapidly gaining an enviable reputation as one of the outstanding quartets of their generation. Over the last year the Quartet has won 2nd Prize at the 2006 London International String Quartet Competition, along with the Esterhazy Prize & Sydney Griller Award, and 1st Prize in the Trondheim International String Quartet Competition. They also won the Kurtag Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, 1st Prize in the Royal Over-Seas League chamber music competition and were shortlisted for a Royal Philharmonic Society award. In May 2006 the Quartet was selected for representation by Young Concert Artists Trust (YCAT), and in August was awarded an Angel Award by The Herald newspaper for outstanding performances in the Edinburgh Festival.
Last season the Quartet gave recitals at Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, the Aldeburgh and Lincoln International Chamber Music Festivals and appeared at numerous festivals and venues throughout the UK. They also made their debut at the Holland Festival to great acclaim. They have collaborated with the Chilingirian Quartet, Wihan Quartet, David Campbell, Morgan Szymanski, Tim Boulton, Lawrence Power and Raphael Wallfisch in quintet, sextet and octet concerts.
At the opening of the 2006/07 season the Quartet toured the UK as part of the IMS Prussia Cove ensemble, working with Chloë Hanslip, Ian Brown and Christoph Richter. They went on to perform three complete cycles of the Mozart string quartets and quintets with Simon Rowland-Jones. Engagements during the season include return visits to Wigmore Hall, concerts at Cadogan Hall (28 January), St. George's Bristol, the Canterbury, Bangor New Music, Bury St. Edmunds, Winchester, Gregynog and Lincoln Mozart Festivals. Abroad the Quartet has appeared at the St. Olav Festival in Trondheim, Norway and given recitals in Geneva, France and Italy.
Future plans include a series of concerts in Switzerland and recitals in Barcelona and the prestigious Liceo da Camara series in Madrid. Their recording of Finzi's song cycle By Footpath and Stile with baritone Roderick Williams was released on Naxos in June 2006.
The Sacconi Quartet hold the Leverhulme Junior Fellowship at the Royal College of Music. They pursue a keen interest in education work, collaborating with the Cavatina Chamber Music Trust, Live Music Now! and Wigmore Hall schemes, making regular visits to schools, hospitals and community venues.
The name Sacconi Quartet comes from the outstanding twentieth-century Italian violin maker and restorer Simone Sacconi, whose book The Secrets of Stradivari is considered an indispensable reference for violin makers.
EVENTS in 2007
with Sacconi Quartet
|
