TheBelcea Quartet is astring quartet, formed in 1994, under the leadership of violinistCorina Belcea.
The quartet was formed while its members were studying at theRoyal College of Music in London. Whilst there, they were coached by theChilingirian Quartet. They subsequently studied with theAlban Berg Quartet[1] at Cologne.
The quartet was one of the first groups to participate in theBBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme, from 1999 to 2001. They made theirCarnegie Hall debut in 2000 as part of the 'Distinctive Debuts' series.[2] Their first performance at theEdinburgh International Festival was in August 2001.[3] The Belcea Quartet were quartet in-residence atWigmore Hall in London from 2001 to 2006. During their Wigmore residency, the quartet participated in the first performances ofThe Canticle of the Rose byJoseph Phibbs.[4]
In the 2010/11 season, the Belcea Quartet gave the world premiere ofMark Anthony Turnage's new work for string quartet Twisted Blues with Twisted Ballad atWigmore Hall,Cologne Philharmonie,Amsterdam Concertgebouw and theVienna Konzerthaus. In May 2011, they curated their own 'Beethoven & Schubert: Final Years’ project with concerts in Aldeburgh, the Gulbenkian Grand Auditorium and Philharmonie Luxembourg, collaborating withImogen Cooper,Ian Bostridge,Mark Padmore, Julius Drake and Valentin Erben. Towards the end of 2011, the Belcea Quartet embarked on an ambitious survey of the complete string quartets by Beethoven with cycles of concerts planned in the UK, Germany, Austria, Sweden and the USA.
The Belcea Quartet won theGramophone Award for best debut recording in 2001. Their discography forEMI includes Fauré's La Bonne Chanson with Ian Bostridge; Schubert's Trout Quintet with Thomas Adès and Corin Long; a double disc of Britten's string quartets, which won a MIDEM Cannes Award; Mozart's "Dissonance" and "Hoffmeister" quartets; and the complete Bartók quartets, for which the Quartet was awarded the title Chamber Music Ensemble of the Year by Germany's Echo Klassik Awards and nominated for a 2008 Gramophone Award. Their release of a double disc of the late Schubert Quartets and the String Quintet with Valentin Erben forEMI, was nominated for a Gramophone Award.
The Belcea Quartet are Quartet in ResidenceGuildhall School of Music and Drama, London, and, from the beginning of the 2010/11 season, Ensemble in Residence at theVienna Konzerthaus.
Partial list of recordings:
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