About Us
Hatty Haynes. ViolinGemma Sharples, ViolinFrancesca Gilbert, ViolaAnna Menzies, CelloEqually passionate about new music and works from the quartet canon, the Gildas have collaborated with many eminent British composers. The Quartet has been privileged to work with Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Colin Matthews and Michael Finnissy, and commissioned Philip Cashian’s String Quartet No. 2, which was given its premiere by the Quartet at the St Magnus Festival in Orkney. The quartet’s recording of two works by Cheryl Frances-Hoad has recently been released to critical acclaim on the Champs Hill label.
The Quartet has given recitals at international festivals such as Cheltenham, Two Moors, Oxford Lieder and Kings Lynn, as well as touring in Europe, China and South Africa. They are City Music Foundation Artists and Associate Ensemble at the Birmingham Conservatoire. They have frequently been featured by the Park Lane Group and are grateful for awards and support from the Arts Council, Britten Pears Foundation, Tunnell and Richard Carne Trusts.
2020 has seen the quartet enjoy developing two further projects: ‘Tune-Up Tuesdays’ and ‘Workshop Wednesdays’, which have been gaining a loyal following all across the UK and even abroad. These are regular online groups run by the Gildas and designed for amateur and student string players, offering technical exercises, musical discussions, coaching and informal performances.
The Gildas Quartet, praised for their ‘energy, verve and refreshing approach’ have performed to critical acclaim at major venues including the Bridgewater Hall, Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall and live on BBC Radio 3. Their bold and explorative approach to performance has been recognised by the International Franz Schubert and Modern Music Competition, Graz, where they won first prize in the Audience Engagement Award 2018. Determined to bring the visceral experience of string quartet performance to audiences at close quarters, the Gildas launched their immersive ‘Surround Sound Sessions’ project in Winter 2019. This series ranges from short one-work ‘pop-up’ concerts in unusual settings to full-length recitals, with the audience literally in the midst of the players, in surround sound. In May 2020, the Gildas Quartet received an award from the Help Musicians UK Do It Differently Fund, which supports the continuation of their Surround Sound Sessions project remotely, under the dramatically different circumstances that this year has brought about. The project has continued via the commission of new works specially designed to be recorded in isolation, which exploit binaural panning techniques to allow the four instrumental lines to surround (and move around) the listener.
