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THE
WU STRING QUARTET was founded at Chetham's School of Music
in 2002. Whilst at Chetham's the quartet gave many
performances at venues such as Lincoln's Inn and the Drill
Hall, Lincoln, and were winners of the school's Dewhurst
Torevell Chamber Music Competition and Mozart Chamber Music
Award. In 2004 they were invited to perform for Prince
Edward's 40th Birthday celebrations at Buckingham Palace.
Following their time at Chetham's, the members of the quartet
went on to study at music college.
Qian
Wu is currently in her first year of an MMus degree at the
Royal Academy of Music where she is studying with Gyorgy Pauk.
Mathieu
van Bellen is at the Royal College of Music where he studies
with Itzhak Rashkovsky.
Matthew
Kettle recently graduated from the Guildhall School of Music
and Drama where he studied with Mark Knight and is now taking
lessons privately in New York.
Magda
Pietraszewska graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in
2007.
During
their time in London the group has been semi-finalists in the
prestigious Royal Overseas League Competition and has given
concerts in York, at the Warrington Chamber Music Society and
in 2006 performed Mozart's E flat Piano Quartet with the
former BBC Radio 3 Young Generation Artist Ashley Wass in
Lincoln. The quartet has attended Pro Corda Musical Encounters
where they received coaching from the Wihan Quartet; the
Repton International Summer School and most recently Prussia
Cove IMS where they received masterclasses from Peter Cropper.
Other teachers include Gyorgy Pauk and Graham Oppenheimer.
More recent engagements have included recitals at Conway Hall,
London; Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester;
Hindon Music Society and at the Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh.
In
April 2008 the Wu Quartet gave two recitals in Maastriicht,
Holland and were awarded a reserve place for the Britten Pears
Young Artists 32nd Academy of String Quartets in
March 2008. In September 2008 the Wu Quartet joined with the
Navarra String Quartet as String Quartet in Residence at
Repton School, Derbyshire. In April 2009 they were chosen by
the Park Lane Group for their next concert series and in May
they won a Martin Music Scholarship Fund award from the
Philharmonia Orchestra. Future plans include performances of
the Mendelssohn Octet with the Wihan Quartet and work for the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust. |
