Elias String Quartet
Sara Bitlloch, Violin
Donald Grant, Violin
Martin Saving, Viola
Marie Bitlloch, Cello
The Elias String Quartet takes its name from Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah-of
which Elias is the German form-and has quickly established itself as one of the
most intense and vibrant quartets of its generation. The quartet was formed in 1998 at the
Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where the members worked closely with the
late Dr. Christopher Rowland; they also spent a year studying at the Hochschule in Cologne
with the Alban Berg Quartet. Other mentors have included Hugh Maguire, György Kurtág, Gábor
Takács-Nagy, Henri Dutilleux, and Rainer Schmidt.
The quartet has been chosen to participate in BBC Radio 3's prestigious New Generation
Artists scheme, and is the recipient of a 2010 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. Highlights of
the 2009-2010 season included a monthlong tour of Australia, the quartet's first visit to
Italy with cellist Alice Neary, and a cycle of Mendelssohn's chamber music at Kings Place,
London. This year, the quartet made its debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, toured
throughout Europe with pianist Jonathan Biss, and made appearances at The Sage Gateshead
and Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, as well as at the City of London, Cheltenham, and East
Neuk festivals. Upcoming engagements include a five-concert series at Wigmore Hall, a US
tour, a return to the Concertgebouw, and performances as part of Jonathan Biss's Schumann
project.
With the support of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust, the Elias Quartet has embarked on its
Beethoven Project, in which it will perform all 16 Beethoven string quartets, with cycles
starting in 2012-2013 at venues that include Southampton, Bristol, Brighton, Norwich,
Tonbridge, and London. The quartet will document its journey on a dedicated website,
thebeethovenproject.com.
The Elias String Quartet has performed with such artists as Michael Collins, Simon
Crawford-Phillips, Ralph Kirshbaum, Ann Murray, Joan Rogers, Mark Padmore, Roger Vignoles,
Michel Dalberto, Peter Cropper, Bernard Gregor-Smith, Ettore Causa, Timothy Boulton, Robin
Ireland, Adrian Brendel, and Anthony Marwood, as well as with the Endellion, Jerusalem, and
Vertavo quartets. The Elias received second prize and the Sidney Griller prize at the Ninth
London International String Quartet Competition in 2003 (as the Johnston String Quartet),
and was a finalist at the Paolo Borciani Competition in 2005. For four years, it was
quartet-in-residence at Sheffield's Music in the Round as part of Ensemble 360, taking over
from the Lindsay Quartet.
The ensemble has released discs by Mozart, Beethoven, and Spohr with Sanctuary Classics
and Nimbus. In April 2010, a disc of works by Mendelssohn, Mozart, and Schubert on the
Wigmore Hall Live label won the BBC Music Magazine Newcomer Award. The Elias
Quartet's debut recording of Mendelssohn's quartets for Sanctuary Classics received wide
acclaim, and in September 2009, its performance of Mendelssohn's Quartet, Op. 80, was named
best recording on BBC Radio 3's Building a Library. The quartet recently released
a disc of French harp music with harpist Sandrine Chatron for the French label Ambroisie,
and Goehr's Piano Quintet with Daniel Becker for Meridian Records. Its latest release is a
disc of Britten quartets on the Sonimage label.