CONSONE Quartet, the first period instrument string quartet to be selected as BBC New Generation Artists, is coming to Bridport Arts Centre, Ilminster Arts Centre and Crewkerne Dance House on 28th and 29th November, for the final Concerts in the West tour of 2025.
The four musicians – Agata Daraškaite and Magdalena Loth-Hill, violins, Elitsa Bogdanova, viola, and George Ross, cello – formed their ensemble at the Royal College of Music in London, and are in demand with their honest and expressive interpretations of repertoire, notably from the classical and romantic eras.
The late Sir Roger Norrington said of them: “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.”
The 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, including the EUBO Development Trust Prize and a place on an emerging artists 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 (BBT) fellowship.
As well as enthusiastic receptions at London’s major venues, they have performed in Poland, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Bulgaria and Slovenia and at festivals including Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Dartington, Two Moors and Buxton. Consone are Artists-in-Residence at Paxton House (2023-2025) and at Saxon Shore Early Music at Kenardington in Kent (2024-2027).
For the regular coffee concert at Bridport Arts Centre at 11.30am on Friday 28th November, they will be playing Haydn’s String Quartet in G minor, and for the two full-length concerts at Ilminster Arts Centre, that evening, and Crewkerne Dance House on Saturday 29th, both at 7.30pm, they will be playing Hugo Wolf’s Italian Serenade, Mozart’s String Quartet No 18 in A major and Beethoven’s String Quartet in B-flat major, Op 130.