Last Leaf by The Danish String Quartet

2017 | Classical

The members of the Danish String Quartet — Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen (b. 1983), violin; Frederik Øland (b. 1984), violin; Asbjørn Nørgaard (b. 1984), viola; and Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin (b. 1982, who actually is Norwegian), cello — met, with the exception of Sjölin, who joined the group in 2008, at a music summer camp when they were children. They were also soccer teammates. The musical connection stuck, and as teens they formed a string quartet and began serious studies at the Copenhagen Academy of Music. The quartet's primary teacher there was Tim Frederiksen, and the group has also participated in master classes with the Tokyo and Emerson String Quartets, among other players. The quartet made its debut in 2002 at the Copenhagen Summer Festival.

After accumulating major awards including first prizes at the Danish Radio P2 Chamber Music Competition (2004) and the Vagn Holmboe String Quartet Competition (2005), the quartet was signed to the Dacapo label, releasing Carl Nielsen's complete string quartets in two volumes. It has also recorded for CAvi-music, issuing two recordings of Brahms, and for CPO (the complete string quartets of Paul Hindemith). In 2013 the Danish String Quartet snared the prestigious designation of BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists, broadening its concert schedule across Europe and North America. In 2016 it moved to ECM for a recording of quartets by Adès, Nørgård & Abrahamsen. Its 2017 ECM album, Last Leaf, featured string quartet adaptations of folk music from the Scandinavian world. That summer, it appeared at the Chamber Music of Lincoln Center's upstate New York summer program series at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. By that time, the young musicians were already veterans. "If all goes well, around 2060 we will beat the world record for longest-running string quartet," they write. "On that day we will host a giant feast — you shall all be invited!"

The Danish String Quartet (Artist/Musician)