Consone Quartet
Thursday 28 May, 7pm
St Thomas Church, Lymington
The first period instrument string quartet to be selected as BBC New Generation Artists, the Consone Quartet are known for their honest and expressive interpretations of repertoire, notably from the classical and romantic eras.
Programme
Clara Schumann 3 Romances Op. 22 (arr. Amy Tress)
Mozart Dissonance Quartet
Robert Schumann Piano Quintet
With Sam Haywood, piano
Consone Quartet
The first period instrument string quartet to be selected as BBC New Generation Artists, the Consone Quartet are known for their honest and expressive interpretations of repertoire, notably from the classical and romantic eras.
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, 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 fellowship. Since 2021 the quartet has been awarded a number of grants from Continuo Foundation which have enabled the group to take creative programmes to locations across the UK.
The quartet has been enthusiastically received at London’s major venues, as well as further afield in Poland, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Slovenia and across North America. Festival invitations include Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Dartington, Two Moors, Buxton, MA Festival in Bruges, Heidelberger Streichquartettfest, Schwetzingen Festival and
Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany, and Styriarte Graz in Austria. Performing highlights of their 25/26 season include a North American tour with Kristian Bezuidenhout, featuring appearances at the Library of Congress in DC and Salle Bourgie in Montreal; a new collaboration with the Chiaroscuro Quartet (Barbican Centre and NCEM, York); a tour with Helen Charlston (Oxford International Song Festival, Brighton Early Music Festival); and a return to Italy with Alexander Gadjiev.
In 2023, the Consone Quartet premiered The Bridges of Königsberg, a string sextet by Gavin Bryars, commissioned by friends of the Quartet, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust, and BBC Radio 3, broadcast from St Martin-in-the-Fields. Their recent collaboration with Oliver Leith continues a developing commitment to contemporary music: July 2025 marked the English and Scottish premieres of his seven-movement quartet On a horse, on a hill, faraway, through fog and bonfire, which they will also perform at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, in May 2026.
Education work 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. 2025 sees the quartet working with students at New England Conservatory in Boston and continuing their community work in South Yorkshire as “visiting quartet” for Sheffield’s Music in the Round, supported by the Frost Trust.
The Consone’s 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.” In Spring 2023 they released the first of three recordings with Linn Records, centring around Felix Mendelssohn. The album, featuring both the ‘1823’ and Op. 44 No. 3 quartets, has been described as ‘top-notch’ (Allmusic) and ‘exquisite’ (Pizzicato).
The project continues this season with a disc featuring two further quartets by the composer, alongside his sister Fanny Mendelssohn’s string quartet in Eb major, released in November 2025.
Consone are Artists-in-Residence at Paxton House (2023-2025) and at Saxon Shore Early Music Kenardington (2024-2027).
