Dudok Quartet Amsterdam - Biography

Judith van Driel violin
Marleen Wester violin
Marie-Louise de Jong viola
David Faber cello

‘Sharing the heart of music is our motto and we live and breathe old and new music in both our performance and on record ‘ says Dudok Quartet Amsterdam.

The Dudok Quartet Amsterdam is forging a reputation as one of the most creative and versatile quartets of its generation. With its ethos of ‘sharing the heart of music’, the quartet believes that chamber music is an act of friendship and play to be shared directly with audiences, and is committed to crafting unique and eclectic programmes that engage listeners in new and imaginative ways.

The players present repertoire ranging from Ligeti, Shostakovich and Bacewicz through to Mendelssohn, Mozart and Beethoven, and create their own arrangements of composers such as Gesualdo, Desprez, Shostakovich, Brahms and Messiaen. They are also committed to commissioning new works and have collaborated with composers including Joey Roukens, Peter Vigh and Theo Loevendie. They recently gave the premiere of a new piece by British–Lebanese composer Bushra El-Turk, co-commissioned by the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam, West Cork Chamber Music Festival and BBT. Another current repertoire highlight is Steve Reich’s Different Trains, for which the players have made their own new recording of the accompanying tape track.

Recent projects include the world premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s opera Only the Sound Remains with Philippe Jaroussky and Dutch National Opera, and a collaboration with director Rosabel Huguet, re-imagining Beethoven’s Op132 String Quartet for children – Quartet! A card game with Beethoven – which toured venues including the Vienna Konzerthaus, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, as part of the Dudok’s commitment to education and outreach.

The group has performed at many of Europe’s major venues and festivals, including the Vienna Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall, Beethovenhaus Bonn, De Bijloke, Barcelona Auditori, De Doelen, Festspiele Mecklenburg Vorpommern, BBC Proms, Heidelberg String Quartet Festival and West Cork Chamber Music Festival, as well as appearing regularly at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Amsterdam Muziekgebouw.

When we first heard that we would be receiving the BBT Award in 2018, we just couldn’t believe our ears! Becoming part of the BBT family, with all its musicians we greatly admire, feels like a dream coming true. Winning the award has enabled us to expand the amount of time devoted to delving deep into the treasury of classical music, both newly written and from the past, whilst also providing new and better ways to share our findings with a larger audience. BBT’s financial and artistic support-team encourages us to think adventurously when it comes to programming new music or finding new ways to present classical music’s greatest hits. Next to that, BBT has put us in touch with our amazing general management and many other key figures in their network. Because of all this, we are now looking at a very bright future with lots of great music and the tools and platforms to share the heart of music with as many people as possible!

Photographs by Feiko Koster / Marco Borggreve