Photo by Peter Searle
As reported last Autumn, after 6½ months without concerts the FSQ finally resumed activity on 2nd Oct, at Benslow Music, Hitchin. But we only managed a handful of dates before the pandemic silenced us for a further 6½ months – a strange symmetry there…… Even then, a hotel weekend in Aldeburgh with writer/broadcaster Richard Wigmore – scheduled for 14/15 May – had to be re-arranged, when the opening up of hospitality was announced for May 17! But we have since made good that engagement, along with others in Powderham Castle (South Devon), Music in the Village (Walthamstow), and at the Candid Arts Trust, Islington – this a remarkable event, in aid of the Susanne Beer Cello Corner Foundation, in which previous FSQ cellist Heather Tuach enabled young pupils of the late Susanne Beer herself to perform with the quartet.
So we are back up and running, at last – albeit with a somewhat different look: in January 2020 (even before the first lockdown) we had to bid farewell to our outstanding 2nd violinist Marcus Barcham Stevens – finally lost to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, after tirelessly trying to combine quartet playing with his new role as their principal 2nd violin. He first played with the FSQ in September 2012 and filled the position with distinction and flair – as well as composing a number of exquisite fantasias for us, to pair up with Purcell’s timeless examples. Thereafter we were very fortunate to have secured the services of Andrew Roberts for the remaining concerts until lockdown. He had been known to the Fitzwilliam players for many years – in July 2019 taking part in a performance of the Mendelssohn Octet. Despite all the subsequent months of inactivity, we were thrilled when he agreed to become a member of the quartet in May this year. Andrew comes from a highly distinguished dynasty: his father was the great pianist Bernard Roberts, and his brother Nick the cellist of the Coull Quartet. For a time they even had a trio together; but Andrew has also been a prominent member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Auriol Quartet.
We now set our sights on other engagements re-scheduled from the periods of lockdown, beginning next month at the Buxton International Festival – albeit still under carefully and strictly controlled Covid regulations: so we continue with the policy of a shorter programme without intermission, played twice to a socially distanced audience.
Amazing to be back playing again – let’s hope for a bit longer this time..... Additionally, you can always listen to our recordings - which can still be ordered directly from the Quartet by emailing fitzwilliam.quartet@ntlworld.com.
We now have to report (24 July) that the past Covid-infested few months have wrought further change: Sally Pendlebury has found that she is no longer able to commit to quartet playing. It was with great reluctance that we accepted her need to move on, yet pleased to share this testimonial to her time with us:
“I have enjoyed nearly 5 years of great concerts and three recordings which I’m proud of, but since lockdown my performing and teaching is taking me in a different direction......”
However, the good news is that the FSQ itself, whilst also moving on from this double change, can do so by welcoming back Sally’s predecessor, Heather Tuach: having spent the intervening years bringing up her son Lukas, she now feels ready to accept new challenges in the quartet. Not that she has been silent as a cellist: Heather has since joined the greatly admired Greenwich Piano Trio, and helped create The Susanne Beer Cello Corner Foundation in memory of her friend Susanne, who was former LPO principal cellist; most recently she has commissioned a set of three solo cello pieces from her former FSQ colleague Marcus Barcham Stevens, in memory of her father: https://youtu.be/PAgGAXx0sQE
So we are back up and running, at last – albeit with a somewhat different look: in January 2020 (even before the first lockdown) we had to bid farewell to our outstanding 2nd violinist Marcus Barcham Stevens – finally lost to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, after tirelessly trying to combine quartet playing with his new role as their principal 2nd violin. He first played with the FSQ in September 2012 and filled the position with distinction and flair – as well as composing a number of exquisite fantasias for us, to pair up with Purcell’s timeless examples. Thereafter we were very fortunate to have secured the services of Andrew Roberts for the remaining concerts until lockdown. He had been known to the Fitzwilliam players for many years – in July 2019 taking part in a performance of the Mendelssohn Octet. Despite all the subsequent months of inactivity, we were thrilled when he agreed to become a member of the quartet in May this year. Andrew comes from a highly distinguished dynasty: his father was the great pianist Bernard Roberts, and his brother Nick the cellist of the Coull Quartet. For a time they even had a trio together; but Andrew has also been a prominent member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Auriol Quartet.
We now set our sights on other engagements re-scheduled from the periods of lockdown, beginning next month at the Buxton International Festival – albeit still under carefully and strictly controlled Covid regulations: so we continue with the policy of a shorter programme without intermission, played twice to a socially distanced audience.
Amazing to be back playing again – let’s hope for a bit longer this time..... Additionally, you can always listen to our recordings - which can still be ordered directly from the Quartet by emailing fitzwilliam.quartet@ntlworld.com.
We now have to report (24 July) that the past Covid-infested few months have wrought further change: Sally Pendlebury has found that she is no longer able to commit to quartet playing. It was with great reluctance that we accepted her need to move on, yet pleased to share this testimonial to her time with us:
“I have enjoyed nearly 5 years of great concerts and three recordings which I’m proud of, but since lockdown my performing and teaching is taking me in a different direction......”
However, the good news is that the FSQ itself, whilst also moving on from this double change, can do so by welcoming back Sally’s predecessor, Heather Tuach: having spent the intervening years bringing up her son Lukas, she now feels ready to accept new challenges in the quartet. Not that she has been silent as a cellist: Heather has since joined the greatly admired Greenwich Piano Trio, and helped create The Susanne Beer Cello Corner Foundation in memory of her friend Susanne, who was former LPO principal cellist; most recently she has commissioned a set of three solo cello pieces from her former FSQ colleague Marcus Barcham Stevens, in memory of her father: https://youtu.be/PAgGAXx0sQE
recent ReleaseS
Schubert A minor and D minor String Quartets - a Divine Art CD released on Valentine's Day 2020
Fitzwilliam String Quartet at 50!
The founding members of the FSQ first sat down together in the Gaskoin Room at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, in October 1968 – as undergraduates during their inaugural term. Their first concert appearance took place in Churchill College the following March, ahead of their public debut at the Sheffield Arts Festival in June – making the Fitzwilliam now one of the longest established string quartets in the world, and possibly unique in having reached the milestone with an original player still on board! By way of marking the half-century it was felt that, rather than make a splash at a big London or New York venue, it seemed more appropriate to give something back to those British musical organisations who have supported the quartet over so many years: thereby travelling the length and breadth of the country, re-visiting as many favourite venues in 16 months as could be accommodated; also teaming up with past quintet guests; championing composers who have written for the Fitzwilliam; and broadening horizons via the FSQ’s long-time Shostakovich association, presenting his music with readings by Peter Florence, or live painting by Maryleen Schiltkamp and Dora Williams. An extensive diary of 50th anniversary events was left incomplete by the Covid pandemic in March 2020, having overflowed from the 2018/19 season.
There have also been new CD recordings issued: of quartets by Schubert on gut strings (Death & the Maiden and the A minor – with the C minor and G major put down early in 2020, and now scheduled for release in November 2021) – as well as a re-visiting (after 43 years!) of the three quartets (Nos.13, 14, 15) which Dmitri Shostakovich himself sent to them towards the end of his life. The FSQ also helped celebrate other significant anniversaries, not least leader Lucy Russell’s own 30 years in the group; but also their eponymous Cambridge college, Jeffrey Skidmore’s Ex Cathedra, Leamington Music Festival, Fishguard Festival, Martin Randall Travel, Opera North’s Howard Assembly Room, and Gloucester Music Society.
There have also been new CD recordings issued: of quartets by Schubert on gut strings (Death & the Maiden and the A minor – with the C minor and G major put down early in 2020, and now scheduled for release in November 2021) – as well as a re-visiting (after 43 years!) of the three quartets (Nos.13, 14, 15) which Dmitri Shostakovich himself sent to them towards the end of his life. The FSQ also helped celebrate other significant anniversaries, not least leader Lucy Russell’s own 30 years in the group; but also their eponymous Cambridge college, Jeffrey Skidmore’s Ex Cathedra, Leamington Music Festival, Fishguard Festival, Martin Randall Travel, Opera North’s Howard Assembly Room, and Gloucester Music Society.
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Fitzwilliam String Quartet appointed quartet-in-residence at University of St Andrews Music Centre
OctobeR 2018
As part of the residency the quartet will coach student string players and scholarship groups, and mentor advanced players looking to enter postgraduate study or the music profession. The group will also participate in special projects with university groups such as Byre Opera and the Strings in Spring course. Michael Downes, the University’s director of music, said: ‘Since the Fitzwilliam first visited St Andrews in 2010, they have made an enormous impact on musical life in the university and the town. As one of the few leading British quartets to perform regularly on both modern and period instruments, their incredibly versatile musicianship has been displayed in projects as diverse as productions of Baroque opera, CD recordings with St Salvator’s Chapel Choir, and premiering contemporary works with principals from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.’
