Heath Quartet

The Telegraph calls the “delicate perfection” of their sound “a marvel,” with “an exquisite tenderness,” and The Washington Post praises their “winsome blend of impetuosity and discipline.”

The dynamic and charismatic Heath Quartet is one of the most exciting British chamber ensembles of the moment, steadily building a reputation for their upbeat and integrated sound. Their recording of Sir Michael Tippett’s string quartets (Wigmore Live) received widespread acclaim and won the 2016 Gramophone Chamber Disk of the Year. A subsequent, critically acclaimed release on Harmonia Mundi of Tchaikovsky’s Quartets Nos. 1 and 3 was selected as Disk of the Week by both The Sunday Times and BBC Radio 3. The Quartet’s complete Bartók cycle (recorded live at the Wigmore Hall) was released by Harmonia Mundi (June 2017). The Heath Quartet became the first ensemble in fifteen years to win the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artists Award (1913). Formed in 2002 at the Royal Northern College of Music they were selected for representation by YCAT, awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Special Ensemble Scholarship, and in 2012 won the Ensemble Prize at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern where they are now regular invitees.

The 2018/2019 season ahead includes appearances at Strathmore Mansion (Bethesda, MD) and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society to perform a rich program featuring works by Tippett and Britten, plus the US premiere of String Quartet by Scottish composer Helen Grime, a program of Haydn, Britten and Beethoven with the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, returning by popular demand to Toronto’s Mooredale Concerts and Mozart Dissonance Quartet, Britten’s String Quartet No.1 and Beethoven’s Razumovsky, Op. 59, No. 3 in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. The Heath’s overseas engagements cover numerous venues throughout Great Britain, including Wigmore Hall (September 23) with a program of Bach’s The Art of Fugue; Gubaidulina’s Reflections on the Theme B-A-C-H; Britten Quartet No. 2 and Beethoven’s Quartet, Op.132.

During the 2017/2018 season they returned to North America for appearances at the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford, Coleman Chamber Music Association in Pasadena, the Chicago Chamber Music Society, the Middlebury Center for the Arts and Great Performers at Lincoln Center and Treetops Chamber Music Society in Stamford, CT.

Other North American appearances have included their New York debut presented by Carnegie Hall, a month-long residency at Middlebury College, and appearances at the Phillips Collection and the Brattleboro Music Center.

Notable performances of previous seasons: the BBC Proms, concerts at the Beethovenfest Bonn, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Konzerthaus Berlin, Musée d’Orsay and Louvre Auditorium in Pari, Kissingen Winterzauber and Schwetzinger Festivals as well as deSingel Arts Centre in Antwerp, Vara Konserthus in Sweden, Esterházy Palace and the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna.

In the UK they have also performed at the Barbican, Bridgewater Hall, Sage Gateshead, Perth Concert Hall and Queen’s Hall Edinburgh. Champions of contemporary music, the Quartet has worked with several leading composers including Hans Abrahamsen, Louis Andriessen, Brett Dean, Anthony Gilbert, Sofia Gubaidulina, Steven Mackey, and John Musto.

The Heath Quartet regularly enjoys working with talented collaborators including Anna Caterina Antonacci, James Baillieu, Ian Bostridge, Adrian Brendel, Michael Collins, Colin Currie, Stephen Hough, Richard Lester, Aleksandar Madzar, Anthony Marwood, Hannes Minnaar, Mark Padmore, Lawrence Power, Carolyn Sampson, in addition to   venturing into the world of jazz with a “Wigmore Lates” concert together with saxophonist Trish Clowes and pianist Gwilym Simcock.

With a deep commitment to education, the Heath Quartet members are Professors of Chamber Music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, individually holding instrumental teaching posts on the faculty. Education and outreach work are very important parts of our quartet’s life as they want their work to reach as wide an audience as possible. In particular, the potential of chamber music as a catalyst for further creative work is extremely exciting. They are often invited into schools to lead workshops and give presentation concerts to pupils of all age groups. The Heath Quartet regularly collaborates with Wigmore Learning in its flagship project “Chamber Challenge,” where primary school children are given the task of composing new pieces which they perform alongside the quartet. The children take on the initiative of self-direction, leading/following, and improvisation. The project culminates with performances of the music at Wigmore Hall.