Dante Quartet

Winner of the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Chamber Music in 2007 and the Chamber Music section of the BBC Music Magazine Awards in April 2009, the Dante Quartet (Krysia Osostowicz violin, Giles Francis violin, Judith Busbridge viola, Bernard Gregor-Smith cello) is known for its imaginative programming and the emotional intensity of its performances. The group was founded in 1995 at the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove, Cornwall, and chose the name of Dante to reflect the idea of a great and challenging journey.

The Dante Quartet plays at major concert halls, music societies and festivals throughout the UK, and in the past two years has appeared at the Aldeburgh, Bath, Cheltenham, Spitalfields, Hay, Brighton, Presteigne and City of London Festivals as well as at Wigmore Hall and King's Place in London. The quartet broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and has also performed in France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, Poland and Finland. In August 2009 the Quartet was featured at the Paunat Festival in France.

In the summer of 2008 the Dante Quartet made its Hyperion recording début with a disc of Franck and Fauré quartets. This has attracted unanimous critical acclaim, has received the Diapason d'Or award in France and been shortlisted in the 2009 BBC Music Magazine Awards. Previous recordings include Janáček's string quartets (Meridian), song cycles by Gurney and Vaughan Williams with tenor Andrew Kennedy and Edmund Rubbra's complete quartets, shortlisted for the 2001 Gramophone awards.

The Dante Quartet enjoys a special association with King's College, Cambridge, including master-classes, collaborations with the renowned King's College Choir and quartet concerts including poetry readings. The quartet has taught at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, at Dartington and Cadenza Summer Schools and in Spain, and worked in association with the pioneering Cavatina Chamber Music Trust. Concert engagements are often combined with open rehearsals or workshops for young people, and the Dante Quartet also offers special programmes to children in schools who might never otherwise hear live classical music. 2008 was a busy year for the quartet's Divine Comedy Project, an invitation to composers to write music inspired by Dante's epic trilogy. Premières of works by Roxanna Panufnik, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Dmitri Smirnov and Elena and Alissa Firsova took place in Cambridge, Cheltenham and Liverpool, paired with quartets by Haydn and Beethoven.

In 2004 the quartet launched the Dante Summer Music Festival in Cornwall, offering an eclectic mix of quartet concerts, folk music, shared meals and walks, open workshops for children in beautiful barns and ancient churches in the Tamar Valley. The festival attracts an enthusiastic audience of local residents and visitors from other parts of England. Next year's Festival runs from 27-31 May 2010.

Visit Dante Quartet's official website.