CORDULA KEMPE violin
BARBARA O’REILLY violin
ROBIN DEL MAR viola
PETER WILSON cello
Named after the leader’s violin – made by Michelangelo Bergonzi of Cremona in 1755 – this highly acclaimed string quartet covered a wide repertoire from the late 17th century to the present and specialised in the exploration of new interpretative approaches through the juxtaposition of musical and literary texts.
As members of distinguished UK and continental orchestras, the musicians were also experienced teachers with leading academies, and aimed to impart their professional insight to ever-growing audiences who were new to the classics.
The Bergonzis were regularly joined by distinguished musicians from all over Europe, as well as gifted young instrumentalists and singers of the Rudolf Kempe Society’s International Young Artists Platform, performing in virtually all combinations of chamber music.
Playing with words
As the resident ensemble of Songs of Apollo, the Bergonzi Quartet played everything from Purcell and Haydn to Shostakovich, often in movements chosen to answer a poem or a scene read by the actors on the same platform. Haydn’s Seven Last Words – given with reflections on the biblical texts – and Dvořák’s Cypresses each became the backbone of a whole programme.
Friends of the Quartet
The quartet was regularly joined by other musicians: pianists, singers and wind players from the UK and the continent, and the young artists the Society supported, many of them students or recent graduates of the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Their concerts are recorded in the events archive, and the cellist Peter Wilson and the Bergonzi Quartet have their own archive pages.
What the critics said
Their virtuoso instrumental playing, musical sensitivity and spirit of ensemble were praised by critics and audiences alike.
“World class on our doorstep!”
Birmingham Post“Spellbinding – revelatory – sheer beauty from beginning to end!”
Stratford Herald