​Sini Simonen - Violin
Daniel Roberts - Violin
Ruth Gibson - Viola
Christopher Graves - Cello

…a feisty group, with a real personality and strong interpretative ideas. Ensemble and balance were always spot-on. The Guardian, 8/1/2020

The Castalian String Quartet’s interpretations are “so full of poetry, joy and sorrow, realised to such perfection”, marvelled The Observer. Founded in 2011, the British ensemble is taking the international chamber music scene by storm and inspires with their stylistic confidence and flawless technique, which allows them every artistic freedom. The quartet’s name is derived from the Castalian Spring in the ancient city of Delphi. According to Greek mythology, the nymph Castalia transformed herself into a fountain to evade Apollo’s pursuit, thus creating a source of poetic inspiration for all who drink from her waters.

The highly awarded Castalian String Quartet studied with Oliver Wille at the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover and shortly afterwards won the First Prize at the International Chamber Music Competition in Lyon in 2015. In 2016, the Quartet were selected by the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT), and more recently were named recipients of the inaugural Merito String Quartet Award/Valentin Erben Prize and the prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship. In 2019, the ensemble was named “Young Artist of the Year” by the Royal Philharmonic Society in London and will be Hans Keller String Quartet in Residence at the University of Oxford from 2021 to 2024. In 2022, the Quartet premiered works by Charlotte Bray and Mark Simpson.

The Castalian String Quartet have made their debuts at such prestigious venues as New York's Carnegie Hall, Vienna's Konzerthaus and Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. In the 2019/20 season, they played a Brahms and Schumann cycle at London's Wigmore Hall, performing with renowned artists such as pianists Stephen Hough and Cédric Tiberghien and violist Nils Mönkemeyer. The musicians are also regular guests at festivals such as the Heidelberger Frühling, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Esbjerg International Chamber Music Festival in Denmark. To inspire a diverse audience for classical music, the Quartet take immense pleasure in performing for diverse audiences everywhere, from great concert halls to maximum security prisons and even a rainforest.

The Castalian String Quartet's discography includes recordings of Joseph Haydn's String Quartets op. 76, which the quartet recorded for the Wigmore Hall. They joined forces with the Zurich Merel Quartet for a highly acclaimed recording of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's String Octet. 2021 saw the release of the latest album Between Two Worlds on Delphi Records, combining works by Orlando di Lasso, Thomas Adès, Ludwig van Beethoven and John Dowland.

Season 2022/23

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