Brodsky Quartet

Netherlands

Groningen

SPOT/De Oosterpoort

One of Britain's most durable chamber groups, The Brodsky Quartet is also among the most innovative. It is one of the few chamber ensembles that has excelled both in traditional repertory and in cross-genre collaborations.

The quartet was founded in 1972 when Michael Thomas (violin), Ian Belton (violin), Alex Robertson (viola), and Jacqueline Thomas (cello), students in the youth program at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (all were between ages 11 and 13 at the time), formed a string quartet and named it after violinist Adolph Brodsky (1851-1929). The quartet studied with members of the Amadeus and Vermeer Quartets and won several major prizes, beginning with the Portsmouth Chamber Music Competition in 1979. The Brodsky Quartet made its London debut in 1982. Its recording career began in 1984 with an album of works by Delius and Elgar on the ASV label. The group served a residency at Cambridge University from 1985 to 1988, becoming the first string quartet to hold such a position there. In 1989, it performed the complete string quartets of Shostakovich at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall. Two years later, The Brodsky Quartet made its debut at Carnegie Hall in New York. The group has taught at the Dartington Summer School and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. As of 2019, Ian Belton and Jacqueline Thomas remained from the original lineup; they were joined by first violinist Krysia Osostowicz and violist Paul Cassidy.

The group's collaborations with rock and pop artists began in the 1990s; in 1993, it was featured on the Elvis Costello album The Juliet Letters, which charted in both the U.K. and the U.S. The Brodsky Quartet has also worked with Paul McCartney and with Björk on the "Strings" volume of her 2002 Family Tree set. In 1994, The Brodsky Quartet became the first string quartet to appear on The Tonight Show. The group's cross-genre collaborations of the 2010s have included With Love and Fury, on which they were teamed with singer/songwriter Katie Noonan, who drew on the writings of poet Judith Wright. The quartet's recordings have also included Beethoven and Shostakovich sets, as well as a good deal of contemporary music. It has recorded mostly for Chandos, Teldec, and Challenge Classics, releasing Elgar's String Quartet, Op. 83, and String Quintet, Op. 84 (with Martin Roscoe) for Chandos in 2019. The Brodsky Quartet returned on that label in 2020 with a cycle of Beethoven's late string quartets, and the following year, the group issued Homage to Bach, featuring string quartet arrangements of Bach's solo violin sonatas. In 2022, the group backed jazz vocalist Jacqui Dankworth on Rocking Horse Road, a cross-genre collection of songs. By that time, the quartet's recording catalog included more than 45 items. ~ James Manheim, Rovi

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