Villiers Quartet, Jeremy Young & Leon Bosch
Biographie Villiers Quartet, Jeremy Young & Leon Bosch
Villiers Quartet
Named after Villiers Street in London's colourful musical epicentre, the Villiers Quartet encompasses the grand and iconic spirit of the extraordinary music tradition in London.
Hailed as one of the most charismatic and "adventurous" quartets of the European chamber music scene (The Strad), the Villiers Quartet has developed an international reputation for its performances of British music. Championing music which reflects Britain's rich musical heritage, the Villiers Quartet (VQ) has performed works by Elgar, Britten, Delius, William Sterndale Bennett, Robert Saxton, Kuljit Bhamra, MBE, and Frank Bridge. The VQ has been praised for its "exquisite ensemble playing" (Seen & Heard International), and its performances have been hailed as "masterful." (Classical Source).
The Villiers Quartet has been featured in numerous festivals including the North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, the Brit Jazz Fest, the Hungerford Arts Festival, and the British Music Society.
The VQ's internationally acclaimed VQ New Works Competition encourages audiences to interact with contemporary music performance online, and supports the creation of new works for string quartet. The Competition ran in 2012, 2014 and 2016. The winning compositions will be released digitally on the VQ’s own label imprint in 2017.
The Villiers Quartet is winner of the 2015 Radcliffe Chamber Music Competition, and holds the position of Quartet-in-Residence at Oxford University's Faculty of Music, and feature in the University Faculty of Music Concert Season.
In addition to their work at Oxford University, the VQ has presented masterclasses at Dartmouth College, the University of Nottingham, Syracuse University, Goshen College, and Indiana University South Bend. The VQ is also Quartet-in-Residence at Nottingham High School, where they direct an extensive chamber music programme for young students.
The Villiers Quartet are managed internationally through Mary Kaptein Artists.
The Villiers Quartet’s debut CD for Naxos, The Complete Quartets of Robert Still, was praised for its "sublimely articulate and concentrated readings," (Gramophone) and received 5-stars in Classical Music Magazine. The VQ
was the featured quartet on the soundtrack to the BBC One film, Lady Chatterley's Lover, and they have been featured on BBC Radio both in live performance and on the classical music program In Tune. Upcoming highlights include their Netherlands debut at the Festival Kamermuziek aan de Berkel, and the release of their CD of the Delius and Elgar quartets in collaboration with Oxford Professor Daniel Grimley, and the first complete recording of the quartets by English composer Peter Racine Fricker.
