Judith Busbridge, viola,    Giles Francis, Violin,    Krysia Osostowicz, violin,      Bernard Gregor-Smith, cello
Dante Quartet main website:  www.dantequartet.org

The Dante Quartet is one of the finest string quartets in Britain. The quartet is renowned for the emotional intensity of its performances, its rich palette of tone colours and its imaginative programming. Founded in 1995 on friendships made at the International Musicians’ Seminar in Cornwall, under the artistic influence of the celebrated Hungarian violinist Sandor Vegh, the Dante Quartet chose its name to reflect the idea of a great and challenging journey.

Recording projects have included the quartets of Edmund Rubbra, shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in 2001, and a disc of romantic Russian works by Lyapunov and Gretchaninov, which received outstanding reviews from BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone and others. Two new Dante recordings will appear this year: a disc of Janacek’s string quartets for Meridian Records, and a collection of English works for string quartet and tenor with rising star Andrew Kennedy. Future recording plans include the quartets of Faure, Franck and Kodaly. The Dante Quartet has recently has recently been awarded a five-year residency at Kings College, Cambridge, involving concerts, master classes and some joint projects  with the renowned King’s College Choir. The quartet is also an Associate Ensemble at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and has taught at Dartington and Cadenza summer schools and in Spain. In addition, the Dante Quartet enjoys working with children and gives specially devised programmes for school audiences who might otherwise never hear a live classical concert.

With a busy schedule of concerts throughout the UK and Europe, the   Dante Quartet has appeared overthe past two years at the Wigmore Hall, Aldeburgh Festival, Bath International Festival, Spitalfields Festival, Presteigne Festival, Hampstead and Highgate Festival, Deal, Swaledale and Dartington Festivals, Conway Hall, LSO St Luke’s and St George’s Bristol with tours of France, Scotland, the North and West Country.  In 2004 the quartet inaugurated its own chamber music festival at Launceston in North Cornwall, which proved highly successful and is now repeated annually. The quartet performs frequently on BBC Radio 3, broadcasting live from venues such as Cheltenham, Birmingham Symphony Hall and Cardiff.  International appearances include residencies at the Kuhmo International Chamber Music Festival in Finland, and concerts in France, Spain, Holland and Swizerland and Poland. Future engagements for the Dante Quartet include concerts in Madrid, London Wigmore Hall and the City of London Festival

She has given concerto and recital performances across Europe and made a series of award-winning recordings. Before founding the Dante Quartet in 1995, she played with the pioneering piano quartet Domus, which toured with its own portable concert hall – a large white geodesic dome – and went on to win a worldwide audience and two Gramophone awards in ten years.

She has made over 20 CDs of solo, duo and ensemble repertoire, including the sonatas of Brahms, Faure and Bartok for Hyperion.  

More recently she has recorded the complete chamber music of Edmund Rubbra for Dutton as well as his Violin Concerto with the Ulster Orchestra for Naxos. Krysia is also principal violinist of Endymion Ensemble, and teaches at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She lives in London with her husband Simon and children Jacob (10, French Horn) and Alinka (7, Violin), who are both keen helpers at East Penrest Farm.

JUDITH BUSBRIDGE,  VIOLA graduated from Birmingham University and completed her viola studies in Salzburg with Thomas Riebl. While there she was appointed principal viola in Sandor Vegh’s Camerata Academica. 

Judith is currently principal viola in both the London Mozart Players and in John Eliot Gardiner’s Monteverdi Orchestra. As concerto soloist she has performed widely, including appearances at Vienna’s Musikverein and the Queen Elizabeth Hall. As chamber musician she has collaborated with many distinguished artists including Ernst Kovacic, Radu Lupu, the late Paul Tortelier and the Hagen Quartet. She is a founder member of the Dante Quartet and also plays with the piano quartet “Touchwood” and the Kegelstatt Trio. She lives in London with her husband Bernard and their daughter Caitlin.

GILES FRANCIS, VIOLIN studied music at Cambridge University, and violin with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He completed his violin studies in Amsterdam with Istvan Pakanyi, and later studied viola with Vladimir Mendelssohn at the Rotterdam Conservatory.

As well as playing in the Dante Quartet, Giles has played with the English Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the LSO and the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, where he lives with his family