String Quartet wins major international competition

Tuesday, 2 December 2008

Lake District Summer Music's MBF Ensemble Associate, The Heath Quartet, have just won 1st Prize at the Tromp International Music Competition in Eindhoven, Holland. The quartet has been Lake District Summer Music's MBF Ensemble Associate for the past three years, performing several times within the International Festival alongside studying with internationally-respected artists on the residential summer school.

Renna Kellaway, LDSM's Artistic Director, says: "We are absolutely delighted that the Heath Quartet have won this prestigious competition. The Ensemble Associate scheme was created, with support from the Musicians Benevolent Fund, to enable us to provide additional performance and training opportunities for emerging professionals. It was a natural extension of our work since 1985 with talented young musicians. The talent and potential of The Heath Quartet was obvious from their very first visit to LDSM's International Summer School in 2006. It has been wonderful to observe the group mature musically. This victory is entirely deserved and with it will come many performance opportunities, especially vital to their future career as well as the considerable financial support of the prize. It is good to know that with the MBF Ensemble Associate scheme that LDSM has been able to help them on their way."

The quartet were formed at the Royal Northern College of Music in 2002, under the guidance of the late Christopher Rowland, LDSM's Summer School Director. They were recently selected for representation by the Young Concert Artists Trust.

As well as 1^st prize, the quartet walked away with 20,000 euros, the Audience Prize, the Youth Jury Prize and the Willem Vos Prize for the best performance of a work by a Dutch composer. As part of their prize the Quartet immediately embarked on a prize-winning tour of the Netherlands with recitals at major concert halls including the Concertgebouw.

For more information please contact: Andrew Lucas, Senior Executive Officer,

Lake District Summer Music on 07968 536368 or email andrew@ldsm.org.uk.

Notes for Editors:

HEATH QUARTET
Oliver Heath violin
Rebecca Eves violin
Gary Pomeroy viola
Christopher Murray cello

The Heath Quartet was formed in 2002 at the Royal Northern College of Music, under the guidance of the late Dr. Christopher Rowland. Over the last year they have studied with Alasdair Tait at the Reina Sofia in Madrid and at the opening of the 08/09 season were appointed Junior Fellows at the RNCM.

During their studies at the RNCM the Quartet won all the major ensemble prizes including The Nossek and Terence Weil Memorial Competitions and on graduating in 2005 received the prestigious Sir John Barbirolli Memorial Prize. In 2005 they won the Philharmonia Orchestra/Martin Musical Scholarship Fund Ensemble Award which led to their Purcell Room debut and in 2006 were made a laureate of the Geneva International String Quartet Competition. Other teachers have included Gabor Takacs-Nagy at the International Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove, and members of the Alban Berg, Smetana, Endellion, Lindsay and La Salle Quartets.

Over the last year the Quartet has given recitals throughout the UK, under the auspices of the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme, the Making Music Concert Promoters Society and the Tunnell Trust. They continue to perform for The Park Lane Group Young Artist Series and have recently completed three years as the MBF Young Artists in Residence at Lake District Summer Music. They also enjoy a close relationship with the Britten-Pears School having twice attended the International String Quartet Academy, and this year take part in the artist-in-residence programme. Future engagements include recitals at Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, the Sage Gateshead (broadcast by BBC Radio 3), Jacqueline du Pré Hall in Oxford and the North Aldborough and Swaledale Festivals.

The Heath Quartet is actively enthusiastic about performing music of today, and has collaborated with several leading composers including Louis Andriessen, Anthony Gilbert and particularly with Hans Abrahamsen, culminating in a live broadcast with the composer on BBC Radio 3 from The Royal Albert Hall as a part of the BBC Proms. They took part in the European premiere of Steve Mackie's 'Gaggle and Flock' for string octet, and received unanimous critical acclaim for their performance of Ligeti's Quartet No.2 and Thomas Ades' Arcadiana for The Park Lane Group at the Purcell Room. The Quartet has enjoyed collaborating with Ashley Wass, Alasdair Tait and Timothy Orpen, the Parisii Quartet, and leading UK contemporary collective Psappha.

Oliver Heath studied at the RNCM with Yossi Zivoni and Rebecca Eves studied at the RNCM and RAM with Benedict Holland, Dr. Christopher Rowland and Richard Deakin. South African Gary Pomeroy studied with Mark Knight at the RNCM and Christopher Murray studied at the RNCM with Hannah Roberts and Gregor Horsch.

www.heathquartet.com

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