Calidore String Quartet - About

It is truly an honour to be part of the BBT family which is comprised of our inspirational colleagues and mentors. The Trust’s incredible depth of knowledge both artistically and of the music business is what has enabled us to make an impact with the projects we have chosen to pursue. So many of our dreams and ambitions have been and continue to be realized thanks to the dedicated efforts and generous support of the BBT!

The Calidore String Quartet is distinguished by its dramatic instinct, commanding precision, interpretive clarity and extraordinary cohesion of individual artistry and collective expression: “four more individual musicians are unimaginable, yet these speak, breathe, think and feel as one” (The Washington Post). After more than a decade of international performances and residencies, the release of numerous critically acclaimed recordings, and a collection of significant awards, the Calidore String Quartet is recognised as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of an extensive repertory – from the cycles of quartets by Beethoven and Mendelssohn to works of celebrated contemporary voices like György Kurtág, Jörg Widmann and Caroline Shaw.

Proud to be the first US ensemble to receive a BBT Fellowship, the Calidores fully embraced the possibilities of such a prize. Introduced to Signum Classics by BBT, nobody realised just how successful and enduring this partnership would become. Several award-winning recordings have followed the Quartet’s BBT-supported debut album, Resilience, featuring quartets by Prokofiev, Golijov, Janáček and Mendelssohn. Yet BBT assistance runs the whole gamut of artists’ needs, and in prioritising the importance of promotion and good photography, the Calidores chose to use its award to fund American PR and a set of striking photographs taken in unmistakeably New York City settings.

The Calidore String Quartet was supported with a BBT Fellowship between 2016 and 2018.

For a current biography please visit imgartists.com

Read the Calidore String Quartet’s blogs: How Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, Janáček and Golijov speak for our troubled times here; and If Music be the Food of Love here

Press Release Resilience

Photographs by Marco Borggreve and Sophie Zhai