Helene Pohl, violin; Douglas Beilman, violin; Gillian Ansell, viola; Rolf Gjelsten, cello

With its dynamic performing style, eloquent communication and beautiful sound the New Zealand String Quartet has forged a major career in the busy international chamber music field, earning the acclaim of critics and the delighted response of audiences. The Quartet has particularly distinguished itself through imaginative programming, insightful interpretations of the string quartet repertoire including cycles of composers’ music from Mozart to Berg, and the development of an international audience for important new works from New Zealand composers.

Recent career highlights have included acclaimed debuts in London at Wigmore Hall and in New York at the prestigious Frick Collection. International tours and festival successes have taken the group to Canada and the US for twice-yearly visits as well as to Mexico, Korea, Australia, Scotland, Germany and the Netherlands, with debut performances planned in Poland and the Czech Republic. Much-loved by audiences in New Zealand, the engaging musicians of that country’s premier chamber ensemble present over eighty concerts there and overseas each year.

The New Zealand String Quartet has recently brought its interpretative skill to a major project to record all of Mendelssohn’s string quartets in a three volume CD set for Naxos. The New Zealand String Quartet participates regularly in a number of international chamber music festivals.

Dedicated teachers as well as performers, the group has been Quartet-in-Residence at Victoria University of Wellington, now the New Zealand School of Music, since 1991. In North America they have been artist/teachers-in-residence at the Banff Center, Quartet Fest West, and the Quartet Programme at Bucknell in Pennsylvania.