'‘...outstanding coolness and flexibility... quicksilver tonal variety... sharp musical and technical
reflexes.’ The Strad

‘Feisty boundary pushers, four supremely talented classical musicians’ Metro

The Elysian Quartet is one of the UK’s most innovative young ensembles and the only British string quartet of its generation focused exclusively on 20th Century, contemporary and experimental music. It was formed in 1999 by prize-winning students at Trinity College of Music and has since performed all over the world to great acclaim. International engagements have included a British Council tour of Taiwan and concerts in the Canary Islands, France, Belgium and at the Montepulciano Festival in Tuscany. In the UK, the quartet has performed at the Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Dartington International Summer School, and at festivals nationwide. January 2005 saw the Elysian Quartet open the Park Lane Group New Year Series at the South Bank and the quartet has returned to the same venue twice since: in July 2005, performing alongside percussionist Joby Burgess thereby becoming the first string quartet to perform at the prestigious Rhythm Sticks festival, and again in April 2007 joining legendary cult singer Damo Suzuki for a pioneering free-improvised performance.

Notable for the breadth of their musical interests, the Elysians have worked with artists as diverse as virtuoso beat-boxer Killa Kela, jazz pianist Keith Tippett, and experimental electronic composer Simon Fisher-Turner. A desire to bring contemporary classical music to a wider audience has lead to them playing George Crumb's renowned electronic masterpiece Black Angels in Ronnie Scott's jazz club, performances of special contemporary classical ‘sets’ at London band nights, including recent support for bands such as Hot Chip and Polar Bear, and joining forces with electro-acoustic composer and producer Gabriel Prokofiev to found the ‘Chamber Music @ Cargo’ contemporary classical club night in 2004, the first event of its kind to be held at the renowned Shoreditch venue. The Elysian Quartet has commissioned and released recordings of Gabriel Prokofiev’s two string quartets on the Nonclassical label. These albums have aroused much interest as along with the dance music influenced original works they also feature remixes by some of the UK’s most talented producers. They have received airplay on BBC Radio 1, Radio 3, Radio 4, Classic FM, BBC and ITV television and other radio and TV stations abroad.

Over the past year the Elysians have been winning much recognition as skilled improvisers performing completely free sets at Oxford Contemporary Music’s Luminox festival, the Bloomsbury Festival and on each of the nine consecutive nights of the Homefires festival’s inaugural UK Tour. The Elysian Quartet has released an EP of their own music on myspace and commissioned a new semi-improvised work from Keith Tippett to be premiered later this year. Other recent commissions for Elysian Quartet include a major new work, Inside, by Graham Fitkin and a series of pieces by Max De Wardener which will comprise part of a limited edition music/artwork product being released in collaboration with famed Radiohead visual artist Stanley Donwood. In March 2008 the Elysians will also be working with groundbreaking composer and vocalist Meredith Monk on a new work for string quartet and voices.