GOLDNER STRING QUARTET

Launched in 1995, the Goldner String Quartet is named after Richard Goldner, founder of the original Musica Viva Australia. The players are all well known to Australian and international audiences through solo performances and recordings and their concurrent membership of the Australia Ensemble (Resident at UNSW).

In 1997 the Goldner Quartet made its debut at the Wigmore Hall in London.  Unanimous audience and critical acclaim has ensured the Goldner Quartet’s regular return invitations to London and many presitgious UK and European festivals.  In  2001 the Quartet made its American debut with concerts at the prestigious 92nd St Y in New York , and in Washington DC.  Closer to home, the Goldner Quartet has performed in Korea, Singapore and Brunei and has undertaken several extensive tours of New Zealand.

The Quartet regularly appears at major music festivals around Australia in addition to national tours for Musica Viva. In 2000, the Goldner Quartet performed a major retrospective of 20th-century string quartets at the Adelaide Festival and in 2004 performed its first complete Beethoven Cycle in Sydney for Musica Viva. A number of new works have been commissioned for the Quartet from many of Australia’s leading composers.

The Quartet’s live recordings of the complete Beethoven String Quartets, recently released by ABC Classics, won ‘Best Classical Recording’ in the   Limelight Awards in 2009. Their recordings for Hyperion of quartet and piano quintet music of Ernest Bloch and Frank Bridge (with pianist Piers Lane) have been universally praised, achieving Editor’s Choice in Gramophone Magazine and a finalist in the BBC Music Magazine Awards.