Malvern Concert Club: The Heath Quartet

The Heath Quartet

Oliver Heath, violin    Sara Wolstenholme, violin
Gary Pomeroy, viola    Chris Murray, cello

Haydn  Quartet in D, Op.71, No.2

Britten  Quartet No.2 in C, Op.36

Tchaikovsky  Quartet No.1 in D, Op.11

The dynamic and charismatic Heath Quartet is fast earning a reputation as one of the most exciting British chamber ensembles of the moment. In May 2013 it became the first ensemble in 15 years to win the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artists Award. Formed in 2002 at the Royal Northern College of Music, it was selected for representation by YCAT, were awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Special Ensemble Scholarship and in 2012 won the Ensemble Prize at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

The Quartet’s recording of Tippett’s string quartets received widespread acclaim and won the 2016 Gramophone Chamber Disc of the Year. A subsequent release of Tchaikovsky Quartets Nos.1 & 3  was selected as Disc of the Week by both The Sunday Times and BBC Radio 3. The Quartet’s complete Bartók cycle was released in June 2017.

Tonight, the Heath Quartet’s much-praised Tchaikovsky is preceded by the second of the quartets Haydn dedicated to the Austrian Count Anton Georg Apponyi, a series that demonstrates the composer’s evolving sophistication, making use of adventurous key changes for dramatic effects. Britten’s Quartet No.2 – not heard at the Club since 1970 – was premièred on 21 November 1945, in a concert to mark the exact 250th anniversary of the death of Henry Purcell. In homage to Purcell, Britten cast the finale in the form of a massive Chacony which lasts considerably longer than the sum of the other two movements.

Ticket price includes a £1 contribution to our heritage fund.