Carducci String Quartet

Matthew Denton, violin
Michelle Fleming, violin
Eoin Schmidt-Martin, viola
Emma Denton, cello

www.carducciquartet.co.uk

Winner, 2007 CAG Competition

Already recognized as one of Europe’s top young quartets, the Carducci String Quartet’s North American career is off to an auspicious start as a winner of the 2007 Concert Artists Guild International Competition.   Hailed by The Times (London) as “stunning…clearly musicians of high intelligence,” the Quartet also captured First Prize at Finland’s Kuhmo International Chamber Music Competition and major awards at the chamber music competitions in Bordeaux, London and Osaka.

In 2007-08, the Carducci Quartet tours England, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Panama and the US, where engagements include the Chautauqua Institution.  Recent UK performance highlights include London’s Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room at the Southbank Centre, the Cheltenham Contemporary Music Society and the "Second Glance," Kilkenny, Three Choirs, Exeter and Kings Lynn Festivals. 

Comprised of two married couples – one English and one Irish – the name ‘Carducci’ was bestowed upon the quartet by the Mayor of that Italian city after he heard the ensemble in numerous concerts at the Castagnetto-Carducci Festival.  Since then, the Carducci Quartet has been in residence at the 2006 Aldeburgh Festival and recently launched its own festival in Gloucestershire, UK. 

The ensemble has established its own record label, Carducci Classics, launched with a CD of Haydn Quartets. Two discs featuring 20th century works by Graham Whettam and Joseph Horovitz have just been released, and a third disc with works by Brian Boydell is soon to follow.  The Carducci Quartet has also recorded works by Vivaldi and Piazzolla with the Katona Twins Guitar Duo for Channel Classics. 
 
The Carducci Quartet regularly performs for UK school children through the Cavatina Chamber Music Trust and West Cork Music.   Additional residencies include Ireland’s Cork School of Music, London’s Trinity College of Music, Cardiff University in Wales and a self-produced seminar for young musicians in France.

The four Carducci players have studied with members of the Amadeus, Chilingirian, Takacs and Vanbrugh quartets, and they are the current Richard Carne Junior Fellows at Trinity College of Music. As part of the ProQuartet professional training program in France, they have studied with Gyorgy Kurtag, Paul Katz and Valentin Erben of the Alban Berg Quartet.