Castalian Quartet - Biography

The Castalian String Quartet was supported by BBT between 2018 and 2023. For an up-to-date biography please visit karstenwitt.com.

Sini Simonen violin
Daniel Roberts violin
Natalie Loughran viola
Steffan Morris cello

The Castalian String Quartet is taking the international chamber music scene by storm. Gaining renown for interpretations “full of poetry, joy and sorrow, realised to such perfection” (The Observer), it is the first Hans Keller String Quartet in Residence at the University of Oxford and was named Young Artist of the Year at the 2019 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards. In August 2023, the Castilians premiered Mark-Anthony Turnage’s new string quartet Awake, co-commissioned by BBT, at the Edinburgh International Festival, followed by the Belgian and Netherlands premieres at deSingel Antwerp and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

Formed in 2011, the quartet studied with Oliver Wille at the Hochschule für Musik, Hannover, before being selected by the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2016. They were awarded First Prize at the 2015 Lyon International Chamber Music Competition and in 2018 were recipients of the inaugural Merito String Quartet Award and Valentin Erben Prize, and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship.

The Borletti-Buitoni Trust offers so much more than financial support – it is a family that nurtures and cares whilst giving young artists such as ourselves the opportunity to explore creative projects that would otherwise have remained mere pipe dreams.

Photographs by Paul Marc Mitchell