The Kreutzer Quartet
Peter Sheppard Skærved and Mihailo Trandafilovski – violins
Clifton Harrison – viola
Neil Heyde – cello
On stage at London’s King’s Place for British Violin Maker’s Association Maker’s Day – playing selected new instruments in concert and talking to the audience about them…
Formed in 1988, the Kreutzer Quartet has made a vital contribution to the life of the string quartet – through working with some of the leading lights of contemporary composition, regular workshops with young composers, and an ongoing programme of championing an extended repertoire. They appear regularly at the major London venues and have made many live and studio recordings for the BBC and major networks all over Europe. They have taken their eclectic programmes to Italy, Germany, France, Holland, Serbia, Montenegro, Sardinia, the US, China, Spain, Cyprus, Poland, and Lithuania.
The quartet has performed at many of Europe’s leading festivals, including the Venice Biennale and Warsaw Autumn, and are the dedicatees of over a hundred works. Over the years they have established creative partnerships with composers from across the stylistic spectrum, including Sir Michael Tippett, George Rochberg, Gloria Coates, David Matthews, Michael Finnissy, Judith Weir, Jeremy Dale Roberts, Luca Francesconi, Poul Ruders and Haflidi Hallgrimsson.
The Kreutzers maintain a busy recording schedule, reflecting their commitment to sharing their explorations. They have recorded complete cycles of quartets by Gloria Coates, Roberto Gerhard, Michael Finnissy, Michael Tippett, and David Matthews. In their concert series at Wilton’s Music Hall there has been a long-running Beethoven thread and they are recording an ongoing series of Reicha quartets for Toccata. The quartet has a strong association with the Métier and Toccata labels, and has also recorded for Naxos, NMC, Chandos, Guild, Tzadik and New Focus Recordings.
The quartet’s work in collaboration with art galleries (particularly the Tate Modern in London and Tate St. Ives) has garnered much attention and large audiences.