Sara Bitlloch, Donald Grant, violins

Martin Saving, viola

Marie Bitlloch, cello

The members of the Elias String Quartet all live in England but are originally from France, Scotland and Sweden. 

The Quartet was formed in 1998 at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester where they worked regularly with the late Dr. Christopher Rowland. They also spent a year studying at the Hochschule in Cologne with the Alban Berg quartet. Other mentors in the Quartet’s studies include members of the Amadeus, Endellion and Vermeer Quartets, Hugh Maguire, György Kurtág, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Henri Dutilleux, Paul Katz, Rainer Schmidt, Kim Kashkashian and Milan Skampa.

The Quartet received second prize and the Sidney Griller prize at the 9th London International String Quartet Competition in 2003 (as the Johnston String Quartet) and were finalists in the Paolo Borciani Competition in 2005.

They have performed extensively in the UK, and in France, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Italy, and the USA, in venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Kettle’s Yard, Bridgewater Hall,  Fairfield Halls, Stockholm Concert Hall, the Auditorium du Louvre-Paris, and Jordan Hall, Boston, and have broadcast  live on National Radio in the UK, France and Sweden. They look forward to a residency at the Wigmore Hall, London, beginning in October 2009 and will be touring Australia with leading promoter Musica Viva in September 2009. 

They have performed alongside artists such as Andrew Marriner, Ralph Kirshbaum, Joan Rogers, Mark Padmore, Roger Vignoles, Michel Dalberto, Peter Cropper, Bernard Gregor-Smith, Robin Ireland, Adrian Brendel and with the Endellion, Navarra and Vertavo Quartets.

The Quartet has recently released a disc of Schubert, Mozart and Mendelssohn Quartets for the Wigmore Live label to great critical acclaim.  Previous discs were of Mendelssohn Quartets with Sanctuary Classics, French harp music with harpist Sandrine Chatron for the French label Ambroisie, and Goehr’s Piano Quintet for Meridian Records.

In 2005 the Elias were appointed resident String Quartet at Sheffield’s Music in the Round as part of the Ensemble 360, taking over from the Lindsay Quartet. The Ensemble brings together 11 musicians from across the globe: five wind players, a pianist, a double bassist and the Elias. Their home is at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, but they also tour nationally. The Ensemble has a residency at Sheffield University and a series at the Wigmore Hall, London. Ensemble 360 has released  discs of Mozart’s and Spohr’s chamber music with Sanctuary Classics.

Visit the Elias String Quartet website