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Matthew Denton – violin Michelle Fleming – violin Eoin Schmidt–Martin – viola Emma Denton – cello Prize winners in no less than 7 International Chamber Music Competitions, the Carducci Quartet has quickly become recognised as one of Europe's top young string quartets. Prizes include 1st prize at the 2004 Kuhmo International Chamber Music Competition in Finland, and other major awards at the Bordeaux, London, Osaka and 'Charles Hennen' competitions. Most recently they won the 2007 Concert Artists Guild International Competition in the USA. The Strad has described the Quartet as "playing with constant variety, a masterclass in unanimity of musical purpose." |
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Graduates of the top music conservatoires in Britain and Ireland, they have studied with members of the Amadeus,
Chilingirian, Takacs and Vanbrugh quartets and are the current Richard Carne Junior Fellows at Trinity College of Music.
As part of the ProQuartet professional training programme in France they have studied with Gyorgy Kurtag, Valentin
Erben of the Alban Berg Quartet and Paul Katz. Following on from their critically acclaimed 2006 Purcell Room and Wigmore Hall debuts for the Park Lane Group, the quartet have been invited to perform at numerous contemporary music festivals and societies, including The "Second Glance" Festival in London, and the Cheltenham Contemporary Music Society. They recently established their own record label 'Carducci Classics', launched with a CD of Haydn String Quartets. A further three discs featuring C20th works by G. Whettam, J. Horovitz and B. Boydell will follow by |
| the end of the year. The Carduccis have also recorded (Vivaldi and Piazzolla) with the
Katona Twins Guitar Duo for Channel Classics. Tours abroad have taken the quartet to France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Italy, where after performing numerous concerts at the Castagnetto-Carducci Festival, the quartet adopted the name “Carducci” with the blessing of the Mayor. |
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Highlights last season included a residency at Aldeburgh, the launch of their own festival in
Highnam (Gloucestershire) and performances in the Verbier, Kilkenny, Three Choirs, Exeter and Kings Lynn festivals.
Future projects include further performances at the Wigmore Hall and tours in Portugal and Japan. The quartet's educational work continues with performances for school children sponsored by |
| the Cavatina Chamber Music Trust and numerous workshops in Ireland. They also run their own music courses in France for young musicians and have a strong link with the Gloucester Academy of Music. They were recently appointed 'Quartet in Residence' at the Cork School of Music in Ireland. |
Carducci Web Site Sample Sounds |