Winners of First Prize in the 2010 Royal Over Seas League Competition and Second Prize in the 5th Trondheim International String Quartet Competition in Norway, the Finzi Quartet met whilst studying at the Royal Northern College of Music under the guidance of the late Dr Christopher Rowland. Selected by the Tillett Trust, the Park Lane Group, and recently by the Kirckman Concerts Society, the Quartet delighted critics and audiences alike at its debut appearances at Wigmore Hall, the Purcell Room and the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 2009/10.
Among the highlights of 2010 were appearances on BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune' and on Viennese Radio as winners of the Austrian ‘Wiener Klassik Prize’ for their interpretation of quartets by Joseph Haydn, as well as many highly successful festival appearances, a second Aldeburgh Residency and a recording of Sir John Tavener’s ‘Towards Silence’ for Signum Records. 2010 also saw the The Swiss Global Artistic Foundation award the Finzi Quartet the use of 'The Evangelists' for two years, the world’s only played matched set of string quartet instruments, dated 1863, by French master maker Jean Baptiste Vuillaume.
Future projects include performances of Schoenberg’s Second String Quartet and Virgil Thomson’s Stabat Mater in collaboration with soprano Sarah Gabriel, and Schubert’s C major Quintet with cellists Christoph Richter and Gary Hoffman. The Finzi Quartet also enjoys a continuing collaboration with Northern Irish composer Deirdre Gribbin through its recital series at St Annes and St Agnes Lutheran Church in the City of London. This season it presents major works of the string quartet repertoire and forgotten gems of 20th Century British composers alongside Gribbin’s six specially commissioned programmed encores.
Major festival engagements during 2011 include the Brighton, Salisbury and Edinburgh Festivals and, following the success of their Tunnell Trust Young Artist Tour of Scotland, the Quartet will make several return tours in 2012 with Enterprise Music Scotland. 2011 will also see the Quartet return for performances at Wigmore Hall, and make its debut in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw.
The Quartet is actively involved in education and outreach projects, working regularly with Live Music Now and the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust, performing in concerts and workshops around the UK and in London. Following its appointment as Bulldog Junior Fellows at Trinity College of Music for 2009/2010, the Quartet currently holds a Leverhulme Fellowship at the Royal Northern College of Music.
The Finzi Quartet is fortunate to have worked with many inspirational musicians including, Hatto Beyerle, Valentin Erben, Andras Keller, Johannes Meissl, Heime Muller, Gabor Takacs-Nagy, Christoph Richter, and Thomas Riebl. Having been awarded a full scholarship from the Albeniz Foundation, the Quartet spent two years in the chamber music class of Günter Pichler at the Instituto Internacional de Musica de Camera de Madrid.
Having a strong desire to promote the music of British composers, the Quartet feels proud that its use of Gerald Finzi’s name is supported by the Finzi Trust. This association has lead to the commissioning of arrangements for string quartet of Finzi’s Romance and Prelude. The Finzi Quartet is immensely grateful to the Richard Carne Trust and the Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust for their continuing support.