This concert is generously sponsored by The Carne Trust
The Solem Quartet has established itself as one of the most innovative and adventurous quartets of its generation.
Since winning the 2014 Royal Over-Seas League Ensemble Competition they have enjoyed a busy concert schedule, ranging from international tours to performances at venues such as London’s Wigmore and Queen Elizabeth Halls, Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and Oxford’s Holywell Music Room. Alongside this, their groundbreaking series ‘Solem Lates’ has seen the Quartet rise to prominence as leading exponents of new music, working closely with living composers in pioneering multimedia performances. In their latest ‘Solem Lates’ project they perform the live score to screenings of Yorgos Lanthimos’s 2015 film The Lobster, in collaboration with Picturehouse Cinemas.
In both their regular concerts and ‘Solem Lates’ projects, the Quartet presents daring feats of virtuosity within thoughtfully curated programmes. Building on their success in performing Bartók’s String Quartet no. 3 from memory, the 2020-2021 season will see the launch of Beethoven Bartók Now, in which they will perform all six of Bartók’s string quartets alongside Beethoven’s late quartets. The series will also feature six commissions from leading composers, bringing new life and relevance to these iconic masterpieces.
The Solem Quartet has benefited from inspirational teaching from a number of the world’s greatest chamber musicians including Gábor Takács-Nagy, Thomas Adès, Michal Kaznowski, Gerhard Schulz, Krysia Osostowicz and Richard Ireland. They have attended IMS Prussia Cove and the European Chamber Music Academy and were chosen for the 2014-15 ChamberStudio Mentorship with renowned cellist Christoph Richter. In 2016-17 they were selected as both Tunnell Trust Artists and Park Lane Group Artists.
The Quartet takes great pride in its educational work. From 2015-17 they held the Junior Fellowship in Chamber Music at the Royal Northern College of Music and since 2016 they have been Quartet in Residence at the University of Liverpool. Their immersive concerts and workshops have taken them to mainstream and special needs schools through Live Music Now and they have performed or given seminars at Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and Cardiff Universities. They are also Ensemble in Residence at Aberystwyth MusicFest.
Originally formed at the University of Manchester in 2011, the Solem Quartet takes its name from the university’s motto arduus ad solem – ‘striving towards the sun’.
Photo: Bertie Watson
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