I was very happy to join the Behn Quartet as the first violinist in 2020. Due to the pandemic, however, we have been able to come together much less often than we'd envisioned. So many lessons, concerts, and projects have been canceled, but there is always a silver lining: having no access to coaching and public performances to work towards, we were forced to stay creative and create in-depth rehearsal retreats in the UK, Portugal, and the Netherlands to get to know each other in a profound way, both musically and personally. I'm very proud of our project "Fanny's Salon", a theatrical concert in collaboration with actress Lonneke Dapiran, where we focus on Fanny Hensel's letters to her brother Felix Mendelssohn and play both their string quartets. We have independently set up and produced this project as a tour in the Netherlands, and we look forward to bringing this project to the UK and Italy.
Next up on the agenda for 2022 is our first CD recording!
We are the Behn Quartet, a prize-winning ensemble formed of players from England, Portugal, and the Netherlands.
We are recipients of the Kersjes Fonds Stipendium, presented at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam in December 2019.
Winners of the 2017 Orlando International Chamber Music Competition, we were Associate Ensemble at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire for 2019/20, and previously held the CAVATINA Chamber Music Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music in London. We take our name from Aphra Behn, the seventeenth-century playwright, political activist, and philanthropist of the arts.
The Behn Quartet is generously supported by the De Lancey & De La Hanty Foundation, Help Musicians UK, Le Dimore del Quartetto, and Het Kersjes Fonds.
