AITOR HEVIA, Violin
CIBRÁN SIERRA, Violin
JOSEP PUCHADES, Viola
HELENA POGGIO, Cello
PREMIO NACIONAL DE MÚSICA 2018
"Exquisite: precise, perfectly balanced, interpretively fresh performances, couched in consistently warm hues." The New York Times.
"The Cuarteto Quiroga has become the guardian of chamber music in Spain and the new generation of musicians. They are a model for the professionals of the 21st century. They work in perfect consensus, take great care when launching new records -six till now- offer different types of concerts and have established their name internationally on stages which are now familiar to them like Wigmore Hall in London, Berlin Philharmonie, Frick Collection and Lincoln Center in New York, Invalides in Paris, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid or German Heidelberger Frühling, among others. They were in charge of playing the Stradivarius collection at Palacio Real for two seasons, they both teach and perform and have shown a possible path for the new generations” El País
Cuarteto Quiroga, ensemble resident in Palacio Real de Madrid and in charge of its Colección Palatina of ornament Stradivarius, is considered to be one of the most particular and active groups of the new European generation. They have been internationally acclaimed by both audiences and critics for their strong personality as a group and their daring, fresh interpretations.
The group was set up to pay tribute to the great Gallego violinist Manuel Quiroga, one of the most important instrumentalists of our musical history. Educated with Rainer Schmidt, Walter Levin and Hatto Beyerle (Hagen, LaSalle and Alban Berg quartet) at Escuela Reina Sofia, Musikhochschule in Basil, and the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA), other maestros have also influenced the personality of their music like György Kurtág, Ferenc Rados, András Keller, Eberhard Feltz and Johannes Meissl.
Winners of the most prestigious international competitions for quartets (Burdeaux, Paolo Borciani, Beijing, Geneva, Paris, etc.), the ensemble usually plays at the main chamber music venues (Wigmore Hall London, Philarmonie Berlin, Frick Collection and Lincoln Center New York, Invalides Paris, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Heidelberger Frühling, National Gallery Washington DC, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Da Camera Los Angeles, Martinu Hall Praga, Nybrokajen Stockholm, Stadtcasino Basel, Mozarteum Salzburg, etc.). In 2007 they were awarded Premio Ojo Crítico by RNE and in 2006 Medalla de Oro del Palau de Barcelona. They share the stage with musicians of the stature of Martha Argerich, Javier Perianes, Richard Lester, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Alain Meunier, David Kadouch, Darío Mariño, Enrique Bagaría, Carles Trepat, and members of the quartets Alban Berg, Hagen, Meta4, Casals, Doric, Arcanto, Galatea and Ardeo, among others.
Being very much involved in teaching chamber music, they teach at Curso Internacional de Llanes, as heads of Quartet and Chamber Music, at Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón and are regularly invited to teach at JONDE and at Conservatoires and Universities across Europe, the US and Latin America.
Their first record, “Statements”, was hailed by specialised critics unanimously and was awarded Premio al Mejor Album 2012 by Unión Fonográfica Independiente. Their second work “(R)evolutions”, dedicated to early music of the Second Viennese School, was also welcomed by critics and received the highest distinctions from European and North American specialist press. In Spain they have been given the label “Excepcional” by Scherzo magazine and “disco para la historia [historic record]” by Ritmo magazine. Their following records – “Frei Aber Einsam” (Cobra), dedicated to de Johannes Brahms’s quartets Opus 51 and their collaboration with Javier Perianes for Harmonia Mundi, dedicated to piano and string quintets by Granados and Turina– have also received awards and acknowledgement by magazines like Scherzo, Ritmo, Melómano (Spain), The Strad, Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine (UK), Pizzicato (Luxemburg), Luister (Holland) and media like Radio France (recommended record), NDR-Deutschland (Record of the Year), Klara Belgium (Record of the Month), ICMA (finalist 2017) etc. Their fifth CD “Terra” is out this season and it includes works by Bartók, Ginastera and Halffter, recorded for Cobra Records.