29.7.2010 1pm ABERYSTWYTH, WALES Joseph Parry Hall PRESS 'Technically these players were superb, and their ensemble sound well judged.' The Strad - Purcell Room, 1st April 2010 'The Solstice Quartet shone in Barber's quartet.' The Telegraph - Purcell Room, 13th January 2010 '...an intensity that was hard to resist.' London Evening Standard - Purcell Room, 11th January 2010 The Solstice, winners of this year's Royal Over-Seas League competition, also brought considerable conviction to Graham Ross's new Quartet No 1, premiered in Suffolk two weeks earlier... Not only was Ross's material effectively characterised, but the transitions from one mode to the other were seamlessly achieved. The Guardian - Vale of Glamorgan Festival, 9th September 2009 The Solstice String Quartet gave an outstanding Young Artists recital and performed with great intensity and passion, captivating the audience. Newbury Today - Newbury Spring Festival, 20th May 2009 'But there were several concerts where you felt the musicians had really 'arrived'. The Solstice String Quartet achieved a haunted stillness in Kurtag's Microludes that I haven't heard bettered by hardened new-music professionals.' The Telegraph - PLG Purcell Room, 9th January 2009 'The Solstice String Quartet is in a different class, and brought the proceedings to an end impressively. The first of Ligeti's quartets is the more infrequently played, and this group made a strong case for it, with impeccable ensemble and tonal variety. The tiny Kurtag Microludes (twelve miniatures in nine minutes) were Webernesque gestures; minimalist but each making its economical point surely. Cutler's Folk Music was a welcome upbeat finisher.' Musical Pointers - PLG Purcell Room, 9th January 2009 ‘The other piece in the first half of the concert was the first Ligeti quartet, composed in 1953-54 under the title 'Métamorphoses nocturnes’. The version that gave us the Solstice Quartet was exemplary. With Jamie Campbell and Nicholas Shardlow, violins, Meghan Cassidy, viola and Gregor Riddell, violoncello, we enjoyed the music. This group, which has only existed for a few years, is very promising indeed. We are fortunate to have had them here in Madrid.’ Mundoclasico - Sony Auditorium, Madrid, 1st December 2008