Echéa Quartet: The Musicians’ Company #MiddayMusic

The Echéa Quartet joined the Musicians' Company Young Artists' Programme after winning a Musicians' Company concert award in 2020. Here they perform Haydn's Op. 33 quartet and the third movement of Schubert's 'Death and the Maiden' quartet No. 12, D810. The Echéas say: "The repertoire we have chosen for this Midday Music series is central to any string quartet player's diet. In this Op. 33 quartet, Haydn was developing compositional skills that would come to define the genre for the next 200 years or so. The intimacy and joy that these middle movements evoke are a point of departure and escape from the current devastation of this year. The second piece we are presenting in our repertoire is the third movement of Schubert's famed 'Death and the Maiden' String Quartet No. 12, D810. This emotionally tumultuous Scherzo movement, encasing a lyrical Trio section, is representative of human vulnerability and hope, which is hugely resonant given our current pandemic climate." Prizewinners of the International Anton Rubinstein Chamber Music Competition (2018) and winners of the 'Tremplin' at the Philharmonie de Paris's String Quartet Biennale,the Echéa Quartet was formed in 2017 at the Royal Academy of Music, London. They are currently Chamber Music Fellows at the Royal College of Music, and artists for the Concordia and City Music Foundations (2019/20). The quartet are recipients of the Royal Philharmonic Society's Albert and Eugenie Frost Chamber Music Prize (2019/20). The Echéa Quartet study with John Myerscough, Simon Rowland-Jones and Mathieu Herzong. In 2019, they performed Mendelssohn's Octet with the Selini Quartet at the Musikverein (Vienna) and collaborated with Marin Alsop at the World Economic Forum (Switzerland). The quartet were featured on BBC Radio 3's 'In Tune', and more recently on CBC National Radio (Canada) as part of their six-week tour of the west coast of North America. They have appeared at international festivals such as Ferrandou Musique (France), Festival de los Siete Lagos (Argentina), West Cork Chamber Music (Ireland) and at the Philharmonie de Paris's String Quartet Biennial (Paris). The quartet also attended a residency at the Banff Centre in 2019. Due to the Covid19 pandemic, the quartet were unable to attend IMS Prussia Cove, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. They will however be fellows for the Advanced String Quartet Program at Aspen Summer Music Festival, 2021. The Echéa Quartet's continued dedication to new music is central to their work. They have commissioned works by UK-based composers, including Louise Drewett, Freya Waley-Cohen and Robert Laidlow. More widely, the quartet have worked closely with Harrison Birtwistle, Andrew Norman and Henning Kraggerud. With thanks to the Harrison-Frank Trust through City Music Foundation, the ensemble has generously been given a quartet of W.E. Hill and Sons instruments and bows to perform on (2019). -------------------------------------------------- About our Maisie Lewis and Concordia Young Artists' Fund - http://www.wcom.org.uk/awards/maisie-lewis-young-artists-fund-and-concordia-foundation-artists-fund Echéa Quartet's Website - http://echeaquartet.com Echéa Quartet's Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/echeaquartet Echéa Quartet's Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/echeaquartet Echéa Quartet's Twitter: http://twitter.com/echeaquartet -------------------------------------------------- Join our weekly #MiddayMusic e-news at http://eepurl.com/dv0ccr #MiddayMusic is supported by generous donations from members of the public, along with funds from the Musicians' Company’s Prince’s Prize which received a generous endowment in 2015 from The Eranda Rothschild Foundation and Rothschilds Bank, in memory of Leopold de Rothschild, a Liveryman of the Musicians’ Company for over 50 years. Donate to support The Musicians' Company Young Artists - http://www.justgiving.com/musicianscompanyfund