Elwira Przybylowska violin

Marek Czech viola

Michal Pepol cello

Shortlisted by the Royal Philharmonic Society as one of the three most outstanding chamber groups to appear in the UK in 2006, the Royal String Quartet was established in 1998 and has since gained a reputation as one of the world's most interesting and dynamically developing string quartets of the younger generation. It has won rave reviews with such superlatives as 'technically superb', 'youthful energy certainly not in short supply' and 'an undeniably talented group'. Such opinions were confirmed by top prizes at international competitions including a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship (2005), Special Prize of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (2007), First Prize and the Grand Prix at the 9th Carlo Silva International Competition in Casale Monferrato (2000), Second Prize at the 7th International Contemporary Chamber Music Competition in Kraków (2003), Special Jury Prize at the 1st International String Quartet Competition in Kuhmo, Finland (2004) and Third Prize in Banff's 8th International String Quartet Competition in Canada (2004).

The Royal String Quartet has been fortunate to be guided by outstanding musicians, initially by members of the Camerata and Wilanów Quartets and later by the Alban Berg Quartet at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. The ensemble has also worked with musicians from the Amadeus, Guarneri and Chilingirian Quartets.

From 2004-2006 the Royal String Quartet was a member of  BBC Radio 3's New Generation Artists, a scheme promoting most talented artists from around the world. This enabled the ensemble to perform in prestigious festivals, appear on radio and make recordings (these include Mendelssohn's Octet with the Psophos Quartet as a cover CD for the BBC Music Magazine).

The Quartet has participated in many festivals in Poland (the Mozart Festival, the Easter Beethoven Festival) and elsewhere in Europe (BBC Proms, City of London, Cheltenham, St Albans, East Neuk, Lichfield, Aldeburgh, Pulse, Angela Hewitt's Trasimeno Music, Next Generation in Dortmund, Musikfesttage in Frankfurt, Valloires and Classique au Vert in Paris).    In 2004 the Royal String Quartet performed for Queen Elizabeth II during the official visit of the Polish President.    In March 2007 it made its Australian debut at the Perth International Festival.   The Quartet returned to the BBC Proms in August.

Since 2004 the Quartet has run its own chamber music festival in Warsaw under the title 'Kwartesencja' (Quartessence).    Kwartesencja has already won a wide following and media recognition as the 'Cultural Highlight of Year'. The Quartet has performed with such artists as Angela Hewitt, Thomas Allen, Ann Murray, Antoine Tamestit, Christian Poltéra, Emmanuelle Bertrand, Laurence Power, Freddy Kempf, Cédric Tiberghien, Martin Fröst, Cédric Pescia, Llyr Williams, Ronald van Spaendonck, Klaudiusz Baran, Tomasz Strahl, Wojciech Świtała and Michał Nagy.   Venues include the Wigmore Hall and Cadogan Hall in London, Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Le Grand Theatre in Bordeaux, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna's Konzerthaus, and the Witold Lutosławski Hall of Polish Radio, the National Philharmonic and the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Many of its concerts have been broadcast on Polish Radio 2, BBC Radio 3 and other European radio stations.

The Royal String Quartet’s recording of Szymanowski Quartets for Hyperion was named ‘CD of the Month’ in the BBC Music Magazine and has just been awarded the Polish music industry'sFryderyk Prize as the best chamber music recording of the year.   Its next project for Hyperion will be the three quartets of Henryk Gorecki.   The Quartet’s discography also includes: 'Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven' (debut CD for the DUX label, nominated for the 'Fryderyk' Award of the Polish recording industry in 2002), 'Astor Piazzolla – Tango' (for Sony Classical, the 'Fryderyk 2003' Award in the chamber music category), 'String Quartets by Moniuszko, Szymanowski and Bacewicz' (BeArTon, 2006) and Juliusz Zarębski's Piano Quintet (with Wojciech Świtała, BeArTon, 2006).

For more information see: www.royalstringquartet.pl

Autumn 2009