about Cuarteto Casals string quartet biography

„ I loved the Casals Quartet`s Brahms C minor, full of spanish colour but not at all the usual interpretation, its tough Stravinsky and subtle Webern. Here is a quartet for the new millenium if ever I heard one.“ Tully Potter in The Strad magazine

Since its founding at the Escuela Reina Sofia in Madrid under Professor Antonello Farulli in 1997, the Cuarteto Casals has quickly become recognized as one of Europe's most distinguished young string quartets. This Spanish quartet has garnered extensive critical acclaim and has won top prizes at many international competitions, including First Prize at the 2000 London International String Quartet Competition and First Prize at the Johannes Brahms International String Quartet Competition in Hamburg (2002). In September 2000, the ensemble was honored with the Catalonian Music Critics Prize.

Upcoming and recent activities include performances at the Wigmore Hall in London, Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Lincoln Center (New York), Beethovenhaus (Bonn), Philharmonie (Berlin), Library of Congress (Washington), Konzerthaus (Wien), Weill Reciatal Hall (New York), Philharmonie (Cologne) and tours throughout Europe, the United States, South America and Japan as well as appearances at the Salzburger Festspiele and Luzern, Santa Fe, Bantry, City of London, Schleswig-Holstein, Kuhmo, Liceo de Cámara and Citta di Castello festivals.

In September 2005, the Cuarteto Casals released a three disc set of the complete early quartets and divertimenti of W.A. Mozart, its third commerical recording with Harmonia Mundi, following the critical success of its previous album, which paired the lone quartet of Claude Debussy with the Second Quartet of Alexander Zemlinsky. The ensemble was widely praised for its debut recording of the three quartets of J.C. Arriaga, a cycle previously traversed by the foursome at the Royal Palace in Madrid, performing on the royal family's matched set of Stradivarius instruments. Plans for future recordings include the quartet of Maurice Ravel, works by 20th Century Spanish composers Joaquín Turina and Eduard Toldrà as well as lesser known quartets and quintets from Luigi Boccherini.

Addititionally, the quartet has worked with important composers in Europe today, premiering works by David del Puerto and Jesús Rueda of Spain, collaborating with James MacMillan of the United Kingdom and György Kurtág of Hungary, and at the composer's request, recording Christian Lauba's quartet 'Morphing'. Cuarteto Casals has been heard frequently on the radio and in live concert broadcasts from the Spanish National Radio, Radio France, Deutschland Radio, WDR, NDR, SWR, RAI, NPR and the BBC and seen on television throughout Spain and Germany.

The Cuarteto Casals is currently quartet in residence at leading Spanish conservatories in Barcelona and Zaragoza, and has been profoundly influenced by intensive studies with Professors Walter Levin and Rainer Schmidt, as well as by graduate work in Cologne under the Alban Berg Quartet and Harald Schoneweg.