Partridge String Quartet
As Musica Viva Australia’s 2020 – 2022 FutureMaker Artists, the award-winning Partridge String Quartet are fast becoming a force with the Australian classical music scene.
The Partridge String Quartet was formed at the Australian National Academy of Music in 2017. They have received national recognition as first prize winners of the inaugural 2019 Queensland International Chamber Music Competition, 2018 ANAM Chamber Music Competition and were the recipient of the Musica Viva Chamber Music Prize (2017). As engaging and dynamic artists, the quartet strives to connect with their audiences through their fresh and creative performances. They have collaborated with widely recognized Australian artists and are engaged in festivals, concert series and projects around Australia which have been featured on the Violin Channel as well as Cutcommon and Limelight magazines.
2019 was an exciting year for the quartet as they performed at the Melbourne Recital Centre for its 10th Anniversary Gala Concert, the ANAM Winners Concert Series in the MRC Salon and for Richard Mills’ 70th Celebration concert at Elizabeth Murdoch Hall. As alumni of the Australian Youth Orchestra, they were actively involved at the Musica Viva Festival as participants on the Chamber Players program, where their interview with Ed Ayres and performance was broadcasted on ABC Classic FM. They have performed alongside artists such as clarinetist of Ensemble Q Paul Dean, Blair Harris from Ensemble Offspring, the Penny Quartet and musicians from the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. As winners of the QICMC, the Partridge String Quartet were featured as part of Ensemble Q’s Champions Concert performing at the Queensland Conservatorium Theatre.
Passionate advocates of Australian music, the Partridge String Quartet was honoured to perform a full cycle of string quartets by highly esteemed Australian composer Richard Mills including a world-premiere of his fifth string quartet at the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival in 2018 which was recorded by 3mbs. An avid fan of Paul Stanhope, they have performed his work Sea Chronicles with soprano Merlyn Quaife at the inaugural Bendigo Chamber Music Festival and their performance of his second string quartet has been developed into animation and featured at the Australian International Animation Festival and Melbourne International Animation Festival. The quartet has presented an exciting collection of string quartets written by emerging and renowned Australian composers at the MPavilion, National Gallery of Victoria and the Ian Potter Centre for the opening of Australian Art and Music exhibitions. In 2021, they premiered Brian Howard’s fourth string quartet The Amoured Faun at the National Film and Sound Archive Theatre at the Canberra International Music Festival.
Continually developing as an ensemble, the quartet has studied with a wide range of leading musicians. As graduates of the prestigious Australian National Academy of Music, the quartet has been mentored by Caroline Henbest, Robin Wilson, Sophie Rowell, Howard Penny and Timothy Young. They have been mentored by members of the Dover Quartet, Australian String Quartet and performed in masterclasses with international artists such as Igor Naidin from the Borodin String Quartet, Gerhard Schultz from the Alban Berg Quartet, cellist Alban Gerdhart, violinist Andrew Haveron and Christian-Pierre La Marca from Trio Dali. In 2018, the quartet received the Husky Energy Artist Award after they were selected as one of 10 string quartets internationally for a three week string quartet program residency at the Banff Centre of Arts and Creativity in Canada. During the program, they were tutored by music faculty from Harvard and Julliard, the JACK Quartet, Eybler Quartet, Parker Quartet and prolific American composer Paul Wiancko. The program culminated with multiple performances at the Rolston Recital Hall and collaborations with other international artists for the world premiere of a string octet by emerging American composer Isaac Blumfield.
In 2022 the quartet was selected to take part in the intensive two-week Dover Quartet workshop held at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia which included intensive coaching from members of the Dover Quartet as well as a public masterclass with with Shmuel Ashkenazi and performances in the Curtis Field Hall and the Woodmere Art Museum, generously supported by the Curtis Institute of Music, the Ernest Llewllyn Memorial Trust and Musica Viva Australia.
Upon returning back to Melbourne, the quartet put the finishing touches on their FutureMakers project with Musica Viva Australia, having spent the past year speaking with leaders from various artistic practices. This culminated in the production of two music videos presenting selections of George Crumb’s Black Angels.
In 2023, the quartet started their season by participating in a ‘Schubert & Friends’ concert series in Sydney with ‘Music With A View,’ collaborating with cellist Daniel Yeadon, before beginning their residency as ‘Artists in Residence’ at Orange Conservatorium, where they presented masterclasses and worked with both larger ensembles and smaller chamber groups.
In September, the Partridge String Quartet premiered David Hush’s 4th String Quartet in Mount Beauty, presented by the Upper Kiewa Valley Regional Arts. They also held their own concert at Noisy Ritual Winery and performed at the Melbourne Athenaeum Theatre’s Library concert series. They finished their season together collaborating with pianist Elyane Laussade for Piano Quintet performances in Castlemaine and Melbourne, and performing with Katie Noonan and Elixir as part of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival in November.