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REVIEWS
"If you want string quartet
playing where total refinement goes hand in hand with an electric charge
that can shock and singe, you head for the Belcea’s – a group
only three years old, but already stars.”
Geoff Brown, The Times
London
Corina Belcea, Laura Samuel, Krzysztof Chorzelski, Alasdair Tait
The Belcea Quartet has rapidly gained an enviable reputation as one of the leading quartets of the younger generation. Since first being Resident Quartet in London’s Wigmore Hall in Fall 2001, this Quartet has taken the international chamber music circuit by storm, consistently receiving impressive critical acclaim. Their EMI Debut series CD won the 2001 Gramophone Award for best debut recording, and they have now embarked on an exclusive five year recording contract with EMI Classics. Their first release, of Schubert Quartets in Fall 2002, was strongly endorsed with further wonderful reviews, and a second release in 2003/04 season follows.
Their 2003/04 season is charged with collaborations with major guest artists, residencies, a world premiere, a Bartok cycle, their North American debut tour, and continued return engagements to the major concert halls of Europe. They perform with Thomas Ades at the 2003 Schleswig Holstein Festival, the Wigmore Hall and in Spain. They open the 2003/04 main season with Aleksander Madzar in Zurich’s Tonhalle, and again in Wigmore Hall. The Berg Quartet’s, Thomas Kakuska, will perform with them in Geneva, also in EMI’s recording studios, and the quartet return to Vienna’s Konzerthaus with Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake, with whom they later record.
The 2003/04 season sees the quartet as Resident artists at the Aldeburgh and Cheltenham Festivals, and also at the Auditorio Nacional de Musica in Madrid. They premiere a newly commissioned string quartet by the young Welsh composer, Huw Watkins, and perform their first Bartok cycle in collaboration with the Norwegian Vertavo Quartet at the Aldeburgh Festival. Beyond 2003/04 future plans include another new work by Gordon Kerry for voice and quartet with baritone Simon Keenlyside, and a return tour to Japan. They also perform in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Brussels’ Societé Philharmonique de Bruxelles and Milan’s Conservatorio Verdi amongst numerous other European cities.
Other new works commissioned for the Belcea Quartet include Two Movements for String Quartet by Simon Holt, which received its world première at the Cheltenham Festival in July 2001 as well as works by William Mival and Tatyana Komarova’s "Ungemalte Bilder”, which they premiered at the Lucerne Festival.
The Quartet´s first CD for EMI of Debussy, Ravel and Dutilleux works, was released in Autumn of 2000. During performance and recording preparation they collaborated with Henri Dutilleux himself. Not only did this recording win a Gramophone Award but it was also awarded a Diapason d’Or Award. Future recording plans for include collaborations with Ian Bostridge, Thomas Adès, Thomas Kakuska and Leif Ove Andsnes.
Since winning 1st prize at both the Osaka and Bordeaux International String Quartet Competitions in 1999, the Belcea Quartet were selected to represent Great Britain in the European Concert Halls Organisation "Rising Stars" series for the 1999/2000 season. As part of this series, the Quartet made their debuts in New York, Vienna, Cologne, Amsterdam, Athens, Paris, Brussels and London. The Quartet was one of the guest artists for the BBC Radio 3 "New Generations" scheme from 1999 to 2001.
Established in 1994 at the Royal College of Music, the Belcea Quartet were coached by the Chilingirian Quartet, Simon Rowland-Jones, and the Amadeus Quartet. When their schedule permits they enjoy continuing to study at the highest possible level and work regularly with the Alban Berg Quartet. The Belcea Quartet are supported by the Royal College of Music’s New Generation Scheme and by Zurich Financial Services Ltd. In May 2001, the Belcea Quartet received the Chamber Music Award of the Royal Philharmonic Society.