The Players

the Schubert Ensemble of London

[Photo Archive]

The Ensemble

The Schubert Ensemble has established itself over 27 years as one of the world’s leading exponents of music for piano and strings. Regularly giving over 50 concerts a year, the Ensemble has performed in over 40 different countries. In 1998 the Ensemble’s contribution to British musical life was recognized by the Royal Philharmonic Society when it presented the group with the Best Chamber Ensemble Award.

  2009 saw a busy international schedule, with performances in the Czech Republic, Norway, Gibraltar, Spain, Holland, Canada and the USA, as well as appearances across the UK. The Ensemble released two new recordings for the Chandos label, of works by Martinů and Fauré, both of which were widely praised. Its Finding Fauré Festival at London’s Kings Place was a critical and popular success, and will be followed there in June of this year with another four-day Festival, Saint-Saens’ Paris, part of which will be broadcast by BBC Radio 3.

  This autumn will see the start of a three-concert series at Wigmore Hall featuring the music of Georges Enescu, which continues into 2011, as does their involvement with the Leeds International Concert Series, whose 2010-11 season has been curated by the Ensemble with a Viennese theme. The major overseas tour this year will be to China in October, the Ensemble’s first visit to this country, with concerts in the Shanghai and Beijing areas.

  Alongside its busy concert schedule, the Ensemble has established a reputation for innovation in the field of new music, education and audience development. This year will see the Ensemble continue its Residency at the Birmingham Conservatoire, as well as giving workshops and masterclasses around the country. The Ensemble has built up strong relationships with many of the UK’s leading composers, and has an impressive list of over 80 commissions. In June of last year the Ensemble gave the world premiere of a piano quintet by Jonathan Dove at the Spitalfields Festival, and this year sees the premiere of a new piano quartet by Joe Cutler at the Cheltenham Festival in July.

 

"...a vibrant, virtuoso performance..."
Los Angeles Times
"…one of the finest piano quartets performing today…"
Classic CD
"At the end, where the music rises to an orchestral exuberance, the performers swept us along irresistibly with that same combination of reckless abandon and perfect control"
The Telegraph
"..an account that combined passion, refinement and, in the slow movement, sheer desolation with impeccable control."
The Independent on Sunday
"...The Schubert Ensemble of London are a marvellously unified ensemble, imparting their energy and lyricism to anything to which they turn their expert hands..."
Classic FM Magazine
"…The performances by The Schubert Ensemble are exactly what the music requires – they fizzle with energy and pep."
Fanfare, USA
" A solitary movement for string trio, dating from Schubert's teenage years, was a delightful curtain-raiser to the Trout Quintet, whose sparkling, clean textures were at times truly spine-tingling in their immediacy. The balance, clarity and tone were perfectly realised, both by performers and by this remarkable new hall  (Kings Place, London): outstanding in every respect."
The Guardian