Formed at the Royal Academy of Music in 2006, the Hampden String Quartet takes its name from the village of Great Hampden in Buckinghamshire where they gave their first concert.  Since then they have given a wide range of recitals, including at the Amersham Festival in Buckinghamshire and the Dean and Chadlington Festival in Oxfordshire as well as a series of performances for Coutts Bank and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.  All four members of the Quartet have won chamber music prizes at the Royal Academy of Music, including the Sir John Barbirolli Prize and the Max Pirani Award.  They have also received quartet tuition from eminent musicians such as Hartmut Rohde, Thomas Brandis, Aleksander Pavlovic, Marianne Thorsen and Martin Outram.

The Quartet regularly gives private recitals, including in the past year a series of recitals for Hadley Wood Golf Club. In November 2009 they performed at St James’s Palace for an evening celebrating the sixtieth Anniversary of NATO. Following a concert in March 2009, an article in the Financial Times stated:  “I don’t think anyone was unmoved by the ardour and commitment with which this group delivered the soul-harrowing slow movement of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden quartet and the exuberant finale of Beethoven’s opus 130″.

In addition to exploring the wealth of String Quartet repertoire, the group also enjoys playing larger chamber music works.  In the past two years this has included performances of Schubert’s String Quintet in C major, Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence, Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat major and Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor with fellow students from the Academy.  In 2008 they performed as the solo Quartet in Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro with the Chiltern Youth Chamber Orchestra.

In 2010 the Hampden Quartet will continue to give frequent recitals at Great Hampden Church. They will also give a series of performances in London and further afield, including for Proms at St Jude’s in Hampstead and for the Hambleden Concert Series in Oxfordshire.

For further enquiries please use the form on the Contact page.