About
Maja Horvat, Sara Wolstenholme - violins
Gary Pomeroy - viola
Christopher Murray - cello
One of the most acclaimed British string quartets, The Heath Quartet has built a strong reputation for its dynamic and committed performances.
Established at the Royal Northern College of Music, in 2013 it became the first ensemble in fifteen years to win the prestigious RPS Young Artists Award. In 2016 they won the GRAMOPHONE Chamber Award for their recording of the complete Tippett quartets.
The Tippett album was followed by two discs recorded for Harmonia Mundi/PIAS and part-funded by a BBT Special Ensemble Scholarship, featuring Tchaikovsky’s First and Third quartets (BBC Radio 3's Disc of the Week) and the complete Bartók quartets (2017 Limelight Chamber Music Award; nominated for 2018 GRAMOPHONE Chamber Award). Their most recent album for Signum Records brings together works by Berg, Webern and Schoenberg, with soprano Carolyn Sampson.
Other accolades include first prize at the 2008 TROMP competition, and the 2012 Ensemble Prize at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where they are now regular visitors.
"The Heath Quartet’s prayerful concentration really paid off in a performance of unforced beauty and tremulous tension, dappled with sudden shadows and anguished nostalgia for happier times. Each player listened closely to each other; each fell in with Schubert’s feelings as a hand fits the perfect glove." (The Times)
Recent highlights include a two-season residency at Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal, their Barcelona debut in Palau de la Musica Catalana, a Beethoven series at Bath Festival, debuts at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Saffron Hall and Cheltenham Festival, as well as concerts at Handelsbeurs Ghent, Aldeburgh and Norfolk & Norwich festivals.
The 2023/24 season included a tour of the USA, a live broadcast with Steven Osborne for the BBC Proms, and an appearance on BBC Radio 4's How to Play; a special programme exploring Schubert's Death and the Maiden. The quartet continued its long association with Wigmore Hall with a four-concert series, and gave the inaugural concert at the newly renovated Brighton Dome Corn Exchange. The quartet enjoyed collaborations with, amongst others, Tom Poster and the Elias String Quartet.
"The delicate perfection of the sound was a marvel.." (Daily Telegraph)
This season the quartet will collaborate with hornists Ben Goldscheider and Alec Frank-Gemmill, pianist Tim Horton and clarinettist/composer Jörg Widmann.
The Heath Quartet are staff members at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and in 2025 became String Quartet in Residence at Middlesex University.
