The first period instrument string quartet to be selected as BBC New Generation Artists, the
Consone Quartet are known for their honest and expressive interpretations of repertoire,
notably from the classical and romantic eras.
Formed at the Royal College of Music in London, the Consone Quartet launched their professional career in 2015, shortly after which they were awarded two prizes at the 2015 York Early Music International Young Artists Competition, the EUBO Development Trust Prize and a place on the EEEmerging Scheme in France. They went on to win the 2016 Royal Over-Seas League Ensemble Prize, and in 2022 were awarded a prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust fellowship.
The quartet has been enthusiastically received at London’s major venues, as well as further afield in Poland, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Slovenia and across North America.
Festival invitations have included Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Dartington, Lammermuir, MA
Festival in Bruges, Heidelberger Streichquartettfest, Schwetzingen Festival and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany, and Styriarte Graz in Austria.
Since 2021 the quartet has been awarded several grants from Continuo Foundation which have
enabled the group to take innovative programmes to locations across the UK. This season sees them
tour the latest of these: Beethoven Mixtape. A concert of music and spoken word, pieces by Beethoven and his contemporaries are paired with historical details narrated by presenter and writer Dr Katy Hamilton. This season they also launch a new programme with regular collaborator Helen Charlston, which brings together Purcell, Britten, Vaughan Williams and Oliver Leith. Further season highlights include a return to London’s Wigmore Hall with the Chiaroscuro Quartet, their debut at Vienna Konzerthaus, and a new clarinet quintet collaboration with Nicola Boud.
Education work remains a core interest to the group, having worked with students at the Royal College of Music in London, Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, as Hans Keller fellows for 2020-2022. They continue this season as “visiting quartet" for Sheffield's Music in the Round, supported by the Frost Trust.
The Consone’s debut recording explored music by Haydn and Mendelssohn and was described by The Strad as an album “that instantly leaps out of the stereo at you as something special.” In Spring 2023 they released the first of three recordings with Linn Records, centering around Felix Mendelssohn. The album, featuring both the ‘1823’ and op.44 no. 3 quartets, has been described as ‘top-notch’ (Allmusic) and ‘exquisite’ (Pizzicato) and was followed by a recording of the composer’s op.44 no.2 and op.80 quartets
alongside Fanny Hensel’s quartet. The project concludes in Summer 2027 with a recording of
Mendelssohn’s op.13 and op.44 no.1.
The Consone Quartet are a young string quartet with a really big future. They play with perfect intonation, tremendous attack, and impeccable historical style. All the four instruments work together with such intelligence and imagination, that I would happily listen to them every day.
Sir Roger Norrington
Magdalena Loth-Hill | violin
George Ross | cello
Agata Daraškaite | violin
