Sacconi Quartet celebrates 21 years of performing together with the release of a new album of Schubert and Beethoven.
Two pinnacles of Western classical music, Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, and Beethoven’s Quartet No.131 in C# Minor, are given breathtaking performances on their new CD, released this week on Orchid Music.
The Sacconis have been playing together with the same personnel, making them the only quartet in this country to have maintained their original members for this length of time. Three of the founder members met as members of the Kent Youth Orchestra, violinists Ben Hancox and Hannah Dawson, and violist Robin Ashwell. They formed the Sacconi Quartet with cellist Cara Berridge while students at the Royal College of Music.
Hannah Dawson and her family recently moved from St Leonards to Rye.
Over the years, the quartet has become well-known locally through performances in the Rye Festival, at Vinehall and at the Etchingham Festival. They are the resident quartet in Folkestone where they hold a chamber music festival in May each year, and play regular outreach events. They regularly play in London at the Wigmore Hall and at Kings Place. Their reputation is international and they have toured all over Europe. Hannah, however, is just beginning maternity leave, preparing for the arrival of a baby boy in December.
Image Credits: Orchid Music .