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The Signum Quartet is a
string quartet
The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...
based in Bremen, Germany. Founded in 1994, it has been playing in the current formation since 2016.
Concert and festival appearances
The Signum Quartet has appeared at the Wigmore Hall in London, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, at the Berliner Philharmonie, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Hamburg Laeiszhalle, the Liederhalle Stuttgart, the Philharmonie
Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
and the
Beethoven-Haus Bonn and has been invited to the
Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival
The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival is a classical music festival held each summer throughout the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany.
History
The festival was founded in 1986 by German concert pianist Justus Frantz.
In 2006, the 2 ...
, the
Rheingau
The Rheingau (; ) is a region on the northern side of the Rhine between the German towns of Wiesbaden and Lorch near Frankfurt, reaching from the Western Taunus to the Rhine. It is situated in the German state of Hesse and is part of the Rheing ...
Music Festival,
Aldeburgh Festival of Music[Signum at Aldeburgh](_blank)
weblink 22 February 2012.[Review of Signum](_blank)
retrieved 23 February 2012.
the BBC
Proms
The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...
and the Festival
Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...
.
At the invitation of the
Goethe Institute
The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...
, the quartet has undertaken extended concert tours which have hitherto seen them perform in Asia, Middle America and Africa.
Their album ‘No.3’ (released in May 2013) with quartets by Bartók, Schnittke and Berg was announced as the winner of the chamber music category of the
International Classical Music Awards
The International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) are music awards first awarded 6 April 2011. ICMA replace the Cannes Classical Awards (later called MIDEM Classical Awards) formerly awarded at MIDEM. The jury consists of music critics of magazines ...
2014.
Concerts by the four musicians have been broadcast nationally and internationally by stations of the
ARD,
Deutschlandfunk
Deutschlandfunk (DLF, ''Broadcast Germany'') is a public-broadcasting radio station in Germany, concentrating on news and current affairs. It is one of the four national radio channels produced by Deutschlandradio.
History
Broadcasting in the ...
,
DRS,
ORF
ORF or Orf may refer to:
* Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF
* Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute
* One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel
* Open reading frame, a portion of the ...
,
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and
Arte
Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture.
It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...
.
From 2009–2012 it was supported by the stART Programme of the Bayer Cultural Affairs Department (Bayer Kultur) and from 2011–2013 was named a
BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist.
Members
*
(violin; until 2015 Kerstin Dill)
* Annette Walther (violin)
* Xandi van Dijk (viola)
* Thomas Schmitz (violoncello)
Artistic development
Intensive studies with the
Alban Berg Quartet
The Alban Berg Quartett was a string quartet founded in Vienna, Austria in 1970, named after Alban Berg.
Members
Beginnings
The Berg Quartet was founded in 1970 by four young professors of the Vienna Academy of Music, and made its debut in ...
, the
Artemis Quartet
The Artemis Quartet is a German string quartet, founded in 1989 in Lübeck, and now based in Berlin. The quartet is named for the Greek goddess of hunting and the wilderness.
History
The first members of the Artemis Quartet, Wilken Ranck, Is ...
and the
Melos Quartet The Melos Quartet was a much-recorded, Stuttgart-based string quartet active from 1965 until 2005, when its first violin died. It also went by the name Melos Quartett Stuttgart, partly to distinguish itself from the equally prominent chamber group ...
as well as masterclasses and co-operations with
György Kurtág
György Kurtág (; born 19 February 1926) is a Hungarian classical composer and pianist. He was an academic teacher of piano at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1967, later also of chamber music, and taught until 1993.
Biography
György ...
,
Tabea Zimmermann
Tabea Zimmermann (born 8 October 1966) is a German violist.
Born in Lahr, she began learning to play the viola at the age of three, and commenced piano studies at age five. At the age of 13, she studied viola with Ulrich Koch at the Conservator ...
,
Walter Levin
Walter Levin (December 6, 1924 – August 4, 2017) was the founder, first violinist, and guiding spirit of the LaSalle Quartet (active 1947–1987), which was known for its championing of contemporary composers, for its recordings of the Second V ...
,
Alfred Brendel
Alfred Brendel KBE (born 5 January 1931) is an Austrian classical pianist, poet, author, composer, and lecturer who is known particularly for his performances of Mozart, Schubert, Schoenberg, and Beethoven.Stephen Plaistow"Brendel, Alfred" ''G ...
,
Jörg Widmann
Jörg Widmann (born 19 June 1973) is a German composer, conductor and clarinetist. In 2018, Widmann was the third most performed contemporary composer in the world. Formerly a clarinet and composition professor at the University of Music Freibu ...
,
Leon Fleisher
Leon Fleisher (July 23, 1928 – August 2, 2020) was an American classical pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He was one of the most renowned pianists and pedagogues in the world. Music correspondent Elijah Ho called him "one of the most re ...
i.a.
Chamber music studies at the ''Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst Stuttgart, Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, Instituto International de Música de Cámara'' of the ''Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía'' in Madrid, ''Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig'' (Tutorium).
[ /www.hmt-leipzig.de/hmt/presse/pressemeldungen/pressemeldungen-september-2013 ''Kammerkonzert zu den Mendelssohn-Festtagen 2013 mit dem Signum Quartett'' – Press announcement Website of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater »Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy« Leipzig, retrieved 14 October 2013.]
Awards and recognition
*Opus Klassik (2019)
*
International Classical Music Awards
The International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) are music awards first awarded 6 April 2011. ICMA replace the Cannes Classical Awards (later called MIDEM Classical Awards) formerly awarded at MIDEM. The jury consists of music critics of magazines ...
(2014)
*BBC New Generation Artists (2011–2013)
*stART-Programme ''Bayer Kultur'' (2009–2012)
*International Chamber Music Competition, Hamburg (2009)
*London International String Quartet Competition (2009)
*Premio Paolo Borciani, Reggio Emilia (2008)
*''Sonderpreis'' Zonta International
*
Deutscher Musikwettbewerb
The Deutscher Musikwettbewerb (German music competition; ) is a national music competition in Germany for classical soloists and chamber music ensembles held annually by the Deutscher Musikrat (German Music Council). It was first held in 1975 a ...
(2004)
*''Sonderpreis'' of the
Rheingau Musik Festival
The (RMF) is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey and Schloss Johannisberg, ...
(2000)
Recordings
*
Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
– Ins stille Land. PENTATONE PTC 5186732 (2020)
*
Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
– Aus der Ferne.
PENTATONE PTC 5186673 (2018)
*''alla czeca'':
Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...
– String Quartet in G major, op.106,
Erwin Schulhoff
Erwin Schulhoff ( cs, Ervín Šulhov; 8 June 189418 August 1942) was an Austro-Czech composer and pianist. He was one of the figures in the generation of European musicians whose successful careers were prematurely terminated by the rise of the N ...
– Five Pieces for String Quartet (1923),
Josef Suk – Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale ’St. Wenceslaus’ op. 35a, Capriccio (2015)
*''soundescapes'':
Claude Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
– String Quartet in G minor, op. 10,
Thomas Adès
Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès (born 1 March 1971) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: '' The Tempest'' (2004), ''V ...
– Arcadiana,
Maurice Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
– String Quartet in F major, Capriccio (2015)
*''No 3'':
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...
– String Quartet op. 3,
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...
– String Quartet No. 3,
Alfred Schnittke
Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (russian: Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке, link=no, Alfred Garriyevich Shnitke; 24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer of Jewish-German descent. Among the most performed and re ...
– String Quartet No. 3, Capriccio (2013)
*''Quartettsätze , Quartet Movements'' with works by H. Wolf, G. Puccini, C. Orff (premiere recording), C. Ives, W. Rihm, F. Schubert, A. Webern, Capriccio (2011)
*Horn Quintets by W.A. Mozart, W.G. Hauff, F.A. Hoffmeister, J.M. Haydn, L.van Beethoven, with Nury Guarnaschelli, horn, Capriccio (2011)
*String Quartets No. 1 and 2 by Ludwig Thuille, premiere recording, Capriccio (2010), i.a.
Guest appearances:
*Erkki-Sven Tüür – Lost Prayers, ECM (2020)
*Jörg Widmann – Viola Concerto, 24 Duos, "Jagdquartett": String Quartet No. 3, Harmonia Mundi (2018)
*''Brahms'':
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...
– Sonatas for viola and piano, op. 120, Hungarian Dances Nos 4, 5 & 16 arranged for viola and string quartet, with
Nils Mönkemeyer
Nils Mönkemeyer (born 1978) is a German violist and academic teacher. He has recorded several CDs, of viola literature and arrangements for the viola, making it a respected solo instrument. He has been awarded several international prizes.
Car ...
, viola and William Youn, piano, Sony Classical (2015)
References
External links
Signum QuartettKonzertdirektion Andrea HamplCapriccioBBC Radio 3 New Generation ArtistsBayer Kultur
{{Authority control
German string quartets
Musical groups established in 1994
BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists