Calathea Quartet: Spring String Quartet Series 2026
Sat 17 Jan 2026 (note: this event has already taken place)
1pm
€17/€14
Cork violist Martha Campbell joins colleagues from New Zealand, Australia and England in this exciting new string quartet.
The first of Haydn’s extraordinary set of Op.33 quartets has surprises at every turn, never failing in its miraculous inventiveness. What a way to start the year!
Marian Ingoldsby’s Struck By a Raindrop was written in 1999, inspired by an anthology of haiku poetry. It was premiered at Cork’s Triskel Arts Centre by the Jupiter Quartet.
The first of Benjamin Britten’s three masterpieces for string quartet was written in a toolshed in California in 1941. Its language is immediately accessible, vividly descriptive and of great beauty. Kai Christiansen on earsense.org offers interesting background and a wide selection of recordings of this great work.
Calathea Quartet
Claudia Tarrant Matthews, violin
Eleanor Hill, violin
Martha Campbell, viola
Haydn Wynn, cello
Programme
Haydn - String Quartet in B minor Op.33 No.1 [1781]
Marion Ingoldsby - Struck by a Raindrop [1999]
Britten - String Quartet No.1 in D major [1941]
About the Quartet
The Calathea Quartet
is a dynamic ensemble comprising of musicians from New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, and England. They are currently based in London, where they are Fellows of the Royal College of Music, under the guidance of Simon Rowland-Jones. Formed in 2020 at the Royal Academy of Music during their postgraduate studies, they were coached by Levon Chilingirian and the Doric Quartet. Since graduating, the Calathea Quartet have enjoyed masterclasses with Isabelle van Keulen, Tom Poster, and the Ardeo, Armida and Ragazze Quartets. With a keen interest in championing the works of underrepresented composers, they play a wide variety of repertoire from the stalwarts of the classical canon to contemporary compositions, with a particular focus on the works of composers of marginalised genders.
Competition successes include 1st Prize in the RAM Historical Women Composers Prize 2021, 2nd prize in the annual RAM Wolfe Wolfinsohn String Quartet Competition 2021 and progressing through to the semi-finals of the Royal Overseas League Ensemble Prize in 2021 and 2022. Following performances as Young Artists in 2023, the Calathea returned to Britten Pears Arts as Young Artists in 2024. Recent performance highlights include a New Zealand tour supported by Chamber Music New Zealand, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Southwark Cathedral, and Stratford-upon-Avon Chamber Music Society. Upcoming projects in their 2024/25 season include a focus on women composers at Bloomsbury Festival, a return to Stratford-upon-Avon Chamber Music Society and their Conway Hall debut. The quartet are very grateful to Help Musicians UK for their support.
