Sacconi Quartet
Encyclopedia
The Sacconi Quartet is a UK based classical music
string quartet
founded in 2001 by four graduates of the Royal College of Music
, London
, UK. The Quartet has achieved widespread recognition, having given recitals in leading British concert halls and at music festivals in Britain and across Europe. They have also won several major prizes in string quartet
and chamber music competitions. The Quartet is named for 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.
in 2001, the Sacconi Quartet has established a secure and substantial reputation. The Quartet is recognised for its unanimous and compelling ensemble, performing with style and commitment and consistently communicating with a fresh and imaginative approach. Its four founder members demonstrate a shared passion for string quartet repertoire, infectiously reaching out to audiences with their energy and enthusiasm. Over the past decade they have enjoyed a highly successful international career, performing regularly throughout Europe, at London’s major venues, in recordings and radio broadcasts. The Sacconi is Quartet in Association at the Royal College of Music and Quartet in Residence at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre
.
The Sacconi Quartet is renowned for its vigorous and individual approach to music-making. In 2008, the Quartet held the inaugural Sacconi Chamber Music Festival in Folkestone, Kent. Now in its fifth year, the festival is an established event in the cultural calendar and is expanding year on year with challenging programming and exciting collaborations. The Sacconi Quartet has performed at all the major London venues including Wigmore Hall
, Kings Place
, Cadogan Hall
, Queen Elizabeth Hall
, Purcell Room
and Conway Hall. They have travelled extensively throughout the rest of the UK and Europe to venues including Bridgewater Hall
in Manchester, Musikverein in Vienna, Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, L'Auditori
in Barcelona and Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid as well as many venues in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Finland, Norway and the Czech Republic. In 2008 the Sacconi made their debut at the Liceo de Cámara Madrid, and in 2009 at the Concerts du Midi, Brussels and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany. The Quartet also made their first visit to the Middle East in 2009, where they were invited by the British Council to give concerts and workshops in Jordan’s capital city, Amman.
Highlights of the coming season include a tour to Germany in the autumn and their 10th birthday celebratory concert at Kings Place
in January 2012. Having curated a week of concerts there in 2009, the Sacconi will complete their second major project at Kings Place in September, performing the great Piano Quintets over two years with pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips. Recently, they made their Cheltenham Festival
debut, performing the première of pianist Gwilym Simcock
’s new Piano Quintet. They also returned to the Wigmore Hall to perform Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro with the Southbank Sinfonia
, a performance repeated at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Canterbury Cathedral with Vladimir Ashkenazy
. BBC Radio 3
broadcast one of the Sacconi’s concerts from the Music in May Festival in St Ives and their new Czech disc has been featured on BBC Radio 3
and Classic FM
.
, Robin Holloway
, Paul Patterson
, Timothy Salter, John Metcalf
and Alun Hoddinot, and recently they performed as the solo string quartet on Paul McCartney’s new song Come Home.
The Sacconi Quartet has been mentored by eminent musicians, including Gabor Takács-Nagy
, Christopher Rowland
and Levon Chilingirian
, and has been joined on stage by Ian Brown, Raphael Wallfisch
, Vladimir Ashkenazy
, Martin Roscoe
, David Campbell, Lawrence Power
, Robert Cohen, Guy Johnston
, Alasdair Beatson, Tom Poster, Matthew Rose
and actor Timothy West
.
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
founded in 2001 by four graduates of the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, UK. The Quartet has achieved widespread recognition, having given recitals in leading British concert halls and at music festivals in Britain and across Europe. They have also won several major prizes in string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
and chamber music competitions. The Quartet is named for 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.
Members
The quartet retains its founding members, who are:- Ben HancoxBen HancoxBen Hancox is an English violinist, who is most famous for co-founding the Sacconi String Quartet in 2001.-Pre-Sacconi life:Hancox started playing the violin at the age of four. In his late teens he studied with Serguei Fatkouline in Madrid and Bonn, before being accepted into the Royal College of...
, violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello.... - Hannah Dawson, violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- Robin Ashwell, violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
- Cara Berridge, 'celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
About
Since its formation at the Royal College of MusicRoyal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
in 2001, the Sacconi Quartet has established a secure and substantial reputation. The Quartet is recognised for its unanimous and compelling ensemble, performing with style and commitment and consistently communicating with a fresh and imaginative approach. Its four founder members demonstrate a shared passion for string quartet repertoire, infectiously reaching out to audiences with their energy and enthusiasm. Over the past decade they have enjoyed a highly successful international career, performing regularly throughout Europe, at London’s major venues, in recordings and radio broadcasts. The Sacconi is Quartet in Association at the Royal College of Music and Quartet in Residence at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre
Bristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...
.
The Sacconi Quartet is renowned for its vigorous and individual approach to music-making. In 2008, the Quartet held the inaugural Sacconi Chamber Music Festival in Folkestone, Kent. Now in its fifth year, the festival is an established event in the cultural calendar and is expanding year on year with challenging programming and exciting collaborations. The Sacconi Quartet has performed at all the major London venues including Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
, Kings Place
Kings Place
Kings Place is a building in London’s Kings Cross area, providing music and visual arts venues combined with seven floors of office space, a home for The Guardian newspaper since December 2008 and the headquarters of Network Rail...
, Cadogan Hall
Cadogan Hall
Cadogan Hall is a 900-seat capacity concert hall on Sloane Terrace in Chelsea / Belgravia in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, United Kingdom...
, Queen Elizabeth Hall
Queen Elizabeth Hall
The Queen Elizabeth Hall is a music venue on the South Bank in London, United Kingdom that hosts daily classical, jazz, and avant-garde music and dance performances. The QEH forms part of Southbank Centre arts complex and stands alongside the Royal Festival Hall, which was built for the Festival...
, Purcell Room
Purcell Room
The Purcell Room is a concert and performance venue which forms part of the Southbank Centre, one of central London's leading cultural complexes. It is named after the 17th century English composer Henry Purcell and has 370 seats....
and Conway Hall. They have travelled extensively throughout the rest of the UK and Europe to venues including Bridgewater Hall
Bridgewater Hall
The Bridgewater Hall is an international concert venue in Manchester city centre, England. It cost around £42 million to build and currently hosts over 250 performances a year....
in Manchester, Musikverein in Vienna, Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, L'Auditori
L'Auditori
L'Auditori is a modern building of 42,000 square metres designed by the architect Rafael Moneo, opened on 22 March 1999, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain....
in Barcelona and Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid as well as many venues in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Finland, Norway and the Czech Republic. In 2008 the Sacconi made their debut at the Liceo de Cámara Madrid, and in 2009 at the Concerts du Midi, Brussels and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany. The Quartet also made their first visit to the Middle East in 2009, where they were invited by the British Council to give concerts and workshops in Jordan’s capital city, Amman.
Highlights of the coming season include a tour to Germany in the autumn and their 10th birthday celebratory concert at Kings Place
Kings Place
Kings Place is a building in London’s Kings Cross area, providing music and visual arts venues combined with seven floors of office space, a home for The Guardian newspaper since December 2008 and the headquarters of Network Rail...
in January 2012. Having curated a week of concerts there in 2009, the Sacconi will complete their second major project at Kings Place in September, performing the great Piano Quintets over two years with pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips. Recently, they made their Cheltenham Festival
Cheltenham Festival
The Cheltenham Festival is one of the most prestigious meetings in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, and has race prize money second only to the Grand National...
debut, performing the première of pianist Gwilym Simcock
Gwilym Simcock
Gwilym Simcock is a British pianist and composer working in both jazz and classical music, and often blurring the boundaries of the two....
’s new Piano Quintet. They also returned to the Wigmore Hall to perform Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro with the Southbank Sinfonia
Southbank Sinfonia
Southbank Sinfonia describes itself as "Britain's Newest Orchestra and one of the most exciting projects in music for decades."...
, a performance repeated at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Canterbury Cathedral with Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy is a Russian-Icelandic conductor and pianist. Since 1972 he has been a citizen of Iceland, his wife Þórunn's country of birth. Since 1978, because of his many obligations in Europe, he and his family have resided in Meggen, near Lucerne in Switzerland...
. BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
broadcast one of the Sacconi’s concerts from the Music in May Festival in St Ives and their new Czech disc has been featured on BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
and Classic FM
Classic FM
Classic FM may refer to:*Classic FM , a British classical music radio station**Classic FM TV, a British classical music television channel*ABC Classic FM, an Australian classical music radio station run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
.
Premieres and collaborations
To date the Quartet has given fifteen world premières and three British premières, including quartets by György KurtágGyörgy Kurtág
György Kurtág is a Hungarian composer of contemporary music.- Biography :György Kurtág was born in Lugoj in the Banat region, Romania.In 1946, he began his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he met his wife, Márta, and also György Ligeti, who became a close friend...
, Robin Holloway
Robin Holloway
Robin Greville Holloway is an English composer.-Early life:From 1952 to 1957, he was a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral...
, Paul Patterson
Paul Patterson
Paul Patterson is a British composer and Manson Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music.Patterson studied trombone and composition at the Royal Academy of Music. He returned there to become Head of Composition and Contemporary Music until 1997, when he became Manson Professor of...
, Timothy Salter, John Metcalf
John Metcalf
John Metcalf may refer to:* John Metcalf , British civil engineer* John Metcalf , Canadian writer and editor* John Metcalf , NASCAR series driver, see 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series...
and Alun Hoddinot, and recently they performed as the solo string quartet on Paul McCartney’s new song Come Home.
The Sacconi Quartet has been mentored by eminent musicians, including Gabor Takács-Nagy
Gábor Takács-Nagy
Gabor Takács-Nagy is a Hungarian violinist and conductor. He began violin studies at age 8. He attended the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he was a winner of the Jenő Hubay prize...
, Christopher Rowland
Christopher Rowland
Christopher John Salter Rowland was a British politician. He was rated one of the more effective of the Labour Party's 1964 intake to Parliament, but died at the age of 38.-Student life:...
and Levon Chilingirian
Levon Chilingirian
Levon Chilingirian OBE is a UK-based violinist. The founder of the Chilingirian Quartet, he is also a professor at the Royal College of Music in London and is musical director of Camerata Nordica, a Swedish chamber orchestra...
, and has been joined on stage by Ian Brown, Raphael Wallfisch
Raphael Wallfisch
Raphael Wallfisch is a British cellist.Wallfisch was born into a family of distinguished musicians, his father the pianist Peter Wallfisch and his mother the cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who is one of the last known surviving members of the Girl orchestra of Auschwitz...
, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy is a Russian-Icelandic conductor and pianist. Since 1972 he has been a citizen of Iceland, his wife Þórunn's country of birth. Since 1978, because of his many obligations in Europe, he and his family have resided in Meggen, near Lucerne in Switzerland...
, Martin Roscoe
Martin Roscoe
Martin Roscoe is an English classical pianist. He teaches piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the Department of Keyboard Studies. He performs as a concerto soloist, as a recitalist and as a chamber musician....
, David Campbell, Lawrence Power
Lawrence Power
Lawrence Power is a British viola player, born 1977, noted both for solo performances and for chamber music with the Nash Ensemble and Leopold String Trio.-Career:...
, Robert Cohen, Guy Johnston
Guy Johnston
Guy Johnston is a British cellist and the winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year award in 2000. He has subsequently enjoyed a successful international career as a soloist and chamber musician.-Professional life:...
, Alasdair Beatson, Tom Poster, Matthew Rose
Matthew Rose (bass)
Matthew Rose is an English operatic bass.-Biography:Matthew Rose studied at Seaford College and the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia...
and actor Timothy West
Timothy West
Timothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...
.
Education work
Firm believers in the importance of bringing chamber music to the next generation, the Sacconi Quartet dedicates much passion, time and energy to education work. They regularly lead workshops and give schools and family concerts as part of the Sacconi Chamber Music Festival outreach programme and the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust.Awards and recognition
- First Prize, Trondheim International String Quartet Competition, Norway, 2005.
- Kurtag Prize, Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, France, 2005.
- First Prize in the Royal Over-Seas LeagueRoyal Over-Seas LeagueThe Royal Over-Seas League is a non-profit members’ organisation with international headquarters based in its clubhouse in central London, England...
Chamber Music Competition, UK 2005. - Leverhulme Junior Fellows, Royal College of Music, UK.
- Second Prize, London International String Quartet Competition, UK, 2006.
- The Esterhazy Prize for the best performance of a Haydn quartet in the Preliminary Round, London International String Quartet Competition, UK, 2006.
- The Sidney GrillerGriller QuartetThe Griller String Quartet was a British musical ensemble particularly active from 1931 to c.1961 or 1963, when they disbanded. The quartet was in residence at the University of California at Berkeley from 1949 to 1961...
Award for the best performance of the three compulsory pieces in the Preliminary Round, London International String Quartet Competition, UK, 2006. - Shortlisted for a Royal Philharmonic SocietyRoyal Philharmonic SocietyThe Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers and performers have taken part in its concerts...
award, UK, 2006. - Selected for representation by Young Concert Artists Trust (YCAT)Young Concert Artists TrustYoung Concert Artists' Trust is a charity which identifies, supports, nurtures and promotes outstanding young classical musicians based in the United Kingdom....
, UK, 2006. - Awarded an Angel Award for outstanding performances in the Edinburgh International FestivalEdinburgh International FestivalThe Edinburgh International Festival is a festival of performing arts that takes place in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, over three weeks from around the middle of August. By invitation from the Festival Director, the International Festival brings top class performers of music , theatre, opera...
by The Herald newspaper, EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, UK, August 2006.
Recordings
The Sacconi Quartet has its own, highly successful, record label. Sacconi Records is expanding by one or two releases each year. In 2011 a disc of Czech quartets was released which has received widespread critical acclaim and was tipped as a classical chart 'Hot Shot' by Classic FM. Their debut recording of Haydn’s opus 54 quartets was praised in the press and both the Ravel and Haydn discs were featured in The Full Works programme on Classic FM. Their 2006 recording of Finzi’s song cycle By Footpath and Stile with baritone Roderick Williams for Naxos was well received in all the national broadsheets and BBC Music Magazine.- Haydn String Quartets opus 54: Sacconi Quartet on Sacconi Records (SACC101)
- Quartets by Ravel, Lalo and Turina: Sacconi Quartet on Sacconi Records (SACC102)
- Beethoven String Quartets opus 18, volume I: Sacconi Quartet on Sacconi Records (SACC103)
- Quartets by Dvorak, Smetana and Suk: Sacconi Quartet on Sacconi Records (SACC104)
- Gerald Finzi, Songs: Earth and Air and Rain/By Footpath and Stile/To A Poet: Roderick Williams (baritone), Iain Burnside (piano) and The Sacconi Quartet. The English Song Series 15. Naxos (2006).