Vellinger Quartet

The Vellinger String Quartet was formed in 1991 and is now firmly established as one of the leading young European quartets. First Prize winners of the London International String Competition in 1994, they were launched on an international career which takes them regularly to Europe as well as to the USA and Japan.
The Quartet's international engagements have included concerts throughout Europe and the United States, where they have given five tours since their 1994 debut in New York. In October 1996 they made their first visit to Japan, which included a recital at Casals Hall and a performance of Martinu's Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra with the Tokyo Philharmonic.
At home, the Quartet performs regularly in the Wigmore Hall, the South Bank Centre and in the BBC's series at St. John's, Smith Square. They have toured extensively around the UK and have appeared at many festivals including Cheltenham, Bath, City of London, Edinburgh and The Proms. Committed to educational work, they have been Quartet-in-Residence at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama since 1994 and have given masterclasses and lecture/demonstrations in Stockholm and the USA at UCLA and in La Jolla. In March 1998 they took part in the Winter Residency at the Banff Centre in Canada.
The Vellinger String Quartet have a particular affinity with the classical string quartet repertoire and have earned a reputation for their interpretations of works by Haydn, Beethoven and Mendelssohn. They have taken part in the Haydn series at the Edinburgh Festival, Wigmore Hall, Philharmonic Society in Brussels and the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York. They also have a strong commitment to works of the 20th century, notably the second Viennese school and the quartets of Benjamin Britten, as well as to contemporary music (Hugh Wood, Robert Simpson etc). They performed a new quartet by the young British composer Huw Watkins, which was commissioned by the Vellinger Trust and premiered at the Cheltenham Festival in July 1999, followed by a performance at the Wigmore Hall.