The Bridge String Quartet

The Bridge Quartet have a strong English repertoire built round their acclaimed recordings of the four quartets by their namesake. They gave a three-concert Bridge Cycle on the South Bank for the Kirckman Concert Society and repeated this at the Dartington International Summer Festival. Their research on the Delius 1888 Quartet Movements resulted in premieres at the 1999 Jacksonville Festival in Florida and at the Wigmore Hall, as well as performances for “Les Amis de Delius” at Grez sur Loing.

The 1888 movements were recorded alongside the 1916 Delius Quartet and the Grieg Quartet for Meridian; the CD was Strad Choice Chamber disc. Further collaboration with editor Robert Threlfall led to the pieces being added to the complete Delius Edition.

In 2007 they were invited to give a series of Elgar 150th anniversary concerts for The Spectator magazine. Also in that year their recording of Alwyn’s 3 Winter Poems for Naxos was released to great critical acclaim. Having recently recorded Bridge’s early B flat Quartet (1900) and Viola Quintet (1901), they have further augmented their recordings of Bridge (Somm records 087) with some of his lesser-known chamber works including the Rhapsody Trio, the Piano Quintet and the Novelletten.

The Bridge Quartet welcome the return 2 years ago of founder member Colin Twigg. Colin is an inspirational chamber musician and also an accomplished composer. He has had chamber works performed at the Cheltenham, Worcester and Deal festivals, and plans for the Bridge Quartet’s forthcoming 20th anniversary season include a commission for a quartet by Colin in Phantasy form popularised by Walter Willson Cobbett 100 years ago.

The Bridge Quartet are also accomplished in classical repertoire, with Haydn featuring prominently. In 1999 they presented an all-Haydn programme at the RNCM’s ‘Haydnfest’ and later that year gave six ‘Rush Hour’ concerts for the City of London Festival. In 2005 they gave a Purcell Room recital for the Park Lane Group of the ‘Seven Last Words’. The Quartet have broadcast concerts on Radio 3, have twice been invited to appear on ‘In Tune’, and appeared on BBC National News playing at Sotheby’s, publicising the auctioning of Haydn’s Opus 50 manuscript.

The Bridge Quartet have performed in major Festivals in the UK, Europe and America including Cambridge, City of London, Tuscany, Dubrovnik, Fayence, Jacksonville, Jimena, King’s Lynn, Machynlleth and Newbury. They have enjoyed musical collaborations with various guest artists including Richard Hosford, Ivo-Jan van der Werff, David Campbell and Paul Watkins.

The Bridge Quartet’s diverse educational portfolio includes projects with students from Trinity College of Music and Sikh musicians from the Raj Academy. They hold regular residential courses in England, France, Italy and Switzerland and occupied the role of ‘Musicians in Residence’ for three years at Roehampton Institute (1996-9), a role they currently hold for the London Borough of Hounslow, where they have initiated the West Four concert series and many community performances.