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The Carducci String Quartet wins an RPS Music Award

We are truly delighted to share that the Carducci Quartet has been announced as the winner of the Chamber Music and Song category at the 2016 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards for Shostakovich15!

The project saw us perform all 15 of Shostakovich’s String Quartets throughout 2015, across the globe. With an accompanying CD release for Signum Classics, Shostakovich15 was also highlighted in The Guardian’s “Best of 2015 Classical Music”. 

The Royal Philharmonic Society [RPS] Music Awards, presented in association with BBC Radio 3, are the highest recognition for live classical music and musical excellence in the United Kingdom. Awards in 13 categories are chosen by eminent independent juries from the music profession.

Shostakovich reflections!

A few months have passed since the end of out Shostakovich15 project and we have had a chance to reflect on the incredible journey we have been on.
The experience of living so intensely with the fifteen quartets was, at times, overwhelming and we were privileged to share it with so many friends and supporters.
The marathon day at the Sam Wanamaker theatre was an obvious highlight and we recently found out that we got through over 400 handmade candles that day!
Another highlight has to be taking the cycle to Colombia for the first time ever and introducing Shostakovich's quartets to a whole new audience.
So a big thank you to everyone who came on the journey with us and we look forward to seeing what 2016 will bring!

 

From Cork to New York!

Towards the end of the year, we’ve enjoyed giving numerous concerts, both across the UK and abroad, including our final two intensive Shostakovich cycles, at the Cork School of Music and at the beautiful Phillips Collection in Washington DC. While in the US, we also performed in New York and travelled to Montreal, where we gave a concert in the glorious Bourgie Hall. At the end of 2015, we will look back at our epic Shostakovich 15 project with great satisfaction and we thank everyone for their fantastic support throughout the year.
We will be rounding off the year with a performance for Cheltenham Music Society (including the Shostakovich Piano Quintet with Julius Drake). We hope to see you there!
(Photo by Eoin!)

Aldeburgh and Cardiff!

We’ve had an amazing and incredibly busy few weeks. Our Shostakovich cycles in Aldeburgh and Cardiff (on consecutive weekends!) were a great success and we were very moved by the amazing audience reaction to both. We have now completed five intensive cycles this year and look forward to the next instalments in Cork and Washington DC!

Shostakovich in Colombia!

We had a fanstastic trip to Colombia in August, where we performed the first ever Colombian Shostakovich cycle! There were performances in the Teatro Mayor and the Luis Angel Arango Library (pictured) in Bogota and we travelled to Neiva, where we performed the complete cycle and also had the opportunity to work with some wonderful young Colombian music students.

 

The students were mostly from the 'Batuta' school (a bit like the 'El Sistema' of Venezuela) and from the Huila Youth Philarmonic, a great young group instructed by talented conductor Diego Barbosa-Vasquez.

 

                                    

 

 

And here is their thank you video!! 

 

***** star reviews for complete Shostakovich cycles!

We're delighted that the complete Shostakovich cycles at the Globe in London, and as part of the Cheltenham Festival have gone so well. The audience support has been amazing throughout. In fact Erica Jeal at the Guardian wrote, 'Between the later quartets it was as if the audience was cheering them around the last laps of a marathon.'! 
Thanks so much to all who came and supported us. Reviews have been great! Here's a selection of quotes and you can read full reviews here.

The Guardian *****
 'truly extraordinary stamina in a musical marathon', 'astonishing intensity', 'once in a lifetime event'.

BachTrack *****
'Utterly absorbing', 'High octane, turbo-charged playing', 'The Allegro non troppo was fabulously aggressive, full of iron pizzicatos and flying bow-hair.'

Birmingham Post *****
'truly awesome', 'skill which makes light of the huge technical demands', 'a triumph'

Seen and Heard International
'Dazzling aplomb and accuracy', 'magnificent tribute', 'electrifying'.