Continuo Connect — Concert // Consone Quartet: Haydn, Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn Quartets

Agata Daraskaite violin
Magdalena Loth-Hill violin
Elitsa Bogdanova viola
George Ross cello

Programme:
Haydn — String Quartet in D major, Op. 64 no. 5 “The Lark”
Fanny Mendelssohn — String Quartet in E flat major
Felix Mendelssohn — String Quartet in E minor, Op. 44 No. 2

The first period instrument string quartet to be selected as BBC New Generation Artists, the Consone Quartet are fast making a name for themselves with their honest and expressive interpretations of classical and romantic repertoire.

Their debut recording explored music by Haydn and Mendelssohn and was described by The Strad as an album “that instantly leaps out of the stereo at you as something special.” This season they launch a new partnership with Linn Records, opening with the complete string quartets of Felix Mendelssohn.

Formed at the Royal College of Music in London, the Consone Quartet launched their professional career in 2015, shortly after which they were awarded two prizes at the 2015 York Early Music International Young Artists Competition, including the EUBO Development Trust Prize and a place on the EEEmerging Scheme in France. They went on to win the 2016 Royal Over-Seas League Ensemble Prize, and in 2022 were awarded a prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust (BBT) fellowship.

The quartet has been enthusiastically received at London’s Wigmore Hall, King’s Place, St John’s Smith Square and St Martin-in-the-Fields, and at the Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Brighton, and Buxton Festivals, amongst others. The English Haydn Festival and the Brighton and York Early Music Festivals have been loyal supporters over the past few years and regularly host the group.

Further afield, Consone have been invited to perform at the Heidelberg String Quartet Festival, Philharmonie de Paris and Auditorium de Lyon, at the Concertgebouw Brugge, AMUZ and de Bijloke in Belgium, Concerts d'été à St Germain in Switzerland and at other venues across Italy, Austria, Bulgaria and Slovenia. Following a tour to South America in 2018 they made a highly anticipated North American debut in February 2023.

The Consone Quartet enjoys a rich portfolio of collaborative partnerships, most recently including Justin Taylor, Steven Devine, Alexander Gadjiev, Anneke Scott, Mary Bevan and Colin Lawson. Music education remains a core interest to the group, having worked with students at the Royal College of Music in London, Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, as Hans Keller fellows for 2020-2022.

This year's projects include the premiere of a new work by Gavin Bryars for string sextet, debuts at the Heidelberger Streichquartettfest and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany, tours to Belgium, Canada and Poland, and the release of their first disc for Linn Records.