CALLINO QUARTET

Sarah Sexton, Michaela Girardi, violins
Rebecca Jones, viola, Sarah McMahon, cello

“as good as you’re likely to hear anywhere..”
The Irish Times

“All four members play strongly and expressively and they have a beautiful homogenized sound”.
Tromp International Music Competition 2008.

"The evening's greatest pleasure was the Callinos' performance of Debussy's early Quartet in G minor.  The quartet have the knack of registering harmonic character with ease. It's a knack that enabled them to capture the freshness of the only string quartet Debussy would complete"
Michael Dervan, Irish Times July 2008 (National Concert Hall Dublin Summer Chamber Series)

The Callino Quartet was formed at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival in 1999. They immediately felt a deep musical affinity and after a very successful first performance at the festival, decided to embark on a career together as a string quartet. They have impressed audiences both at home and abroad with their fresh, enthusiastic approach and have become an internationally established ensemble.

The quartet members endeavour to retain innovative performances by having a wide ranging and challenging repertoire and a thoughtful and historically informed approach to the traditional quartet repertoire as well as close collaborations with contemporary composers and other artists. The quartet has worked with diverse performers including the Vogler and Belcea string quartets, double bassist Edgar Meyer, pianist Barry Douglas, rock band The Arcade Fire and jazz guitarist John Abercrombie and composers Edgar Meyer, Peteris Vasks, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, Ian Wilson, Raymond Deane, Ronan Guilfoyle and Kimmo Hakola. The quartet’s first commercial CD of works by Ian Wilson on the Riverrun label is followed by a recent Louth Contemporary Music Society recording of music by Arvo Pärt, Valentin Silvestrov, John Tavener and Alexander Knaifel.

Following Easter concerts at Bantry, where they have been anchor quartet for Easter celebrations for four years with many special guests, they start a busy summer with Louth Contemporary Music Society’s presentation of the work of Alexander Knaifel. They will work with the composer and perform his works with soprano Patricia Rozario and pianist Oleg Malov on 1 May. As well as concerts in London, Prague and Spain, and in Ireland in Tullynally Castle and for Church Classics in Tuam and Limerick, the quartet will perform in the Music21 series in the National Concert Hall with Benjamin Dwyer and Hugh Tinney, followed by a number of quintet performances with distinguished pianists at the New Ross Piano Festival.

Winners of second prize in 2008 Tromp International String Quartet in the Netherlands, the judges said of them: "All four members play strongly and expressively and they have a beautiful homogenized sound." Continued development of the quartet included studies over 2008 with Professors Walter Levine (La Salle Quartet) and Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet) at the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland and they were delighted to have been invited to travel to Italy for a week in October to work with Gyorgy Kurtag on one of his own compositions for string quartet- 'Officium Breve'.

The Callino Quartet take their name from the Irish air " Cailin cois tSuir a me" which means Girl by the River Suir. This song was the first Irish air to be notated and became known as the Callino manuscript. It is now on display in Trinity College library, Dublin.

www.callinoquartet.com