Heath Quartet

Performers

We close our season with the Heath Quartet. Well-known to audiences in the North-East, they are an exceptional quartet – read some of the quotes we’ve printed below to see what critics have written about them – and we are delighted that they have found time in their busy schedule to play for us.

The quartet formed in 2002 at the Royal Northern College of Music. Since then, they have earned an impressive international reputation, winning many awards including the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artists Award, and the 2017 Limelight Chamber Music Award for their recording of the complete Bartók quartets.

Recent highlights include a two-season residency in Berlin, performances in Hamburg, Barcelona and Ghent, a USA tour and, closer to home, appearances at the Wigmore Hall and the Aldeburgh Festival.

Their programme for us begins with the first quartet from Haydn’s op. 50 set and Britten’s early Three Divertimenti before concluding with Dvořák’s tenth string quartet, also known as his ‘Slavonic’ quartet, which was written in the year after the composer’s first (and very successful) set of Slavonic dances and is imbued with the spirit of Bohemian folk music. A joyful way in which to end our 2024/25 season!

‘…the miraculous Heath Quartet…’ – The Guardian

‘This always was – and still is – a quartet worth travelling a long way to hear’ – Charles Hutch Press

‘The delicate perfection of the sound was a marvel’ – The Telegraph

Programme

Haydn  String Quartet in B flat major, op. 50 no. 1
Britten  Three Divertimenti
Dvořák  String Quartet no. 10 in E flat major, op. 51

Watch

The Heath Quartet play Haydn’s string quartet, op. 9 no. 2

… and Schubert’s Death and the Maiden quartet, D. 810

… and Suk’s Meditation on an Old Bohemian Chorale, op. 35a