Lindsay Quartet
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The Lindsay String Quartet (or The Lindsays) is a former British string quartet from 1965 to 2005.
The Lindsay String Quartet first formed at the Royal Academy of Music in 1965 to compete for a prize and set out to make the string quartets of Bartók and Beethoven the center of their repertoire. In 1967, the quartet was appointed to be Leverhulme Scholars at Keele University, and in 1970, the quartet changed its name from the Cropper to The Lindsay String Quartet, naming itself after Lord Lindsay, the Founder of Keele University. 1971 brought a change in second violin to Ronald Birks.
In 1974, they became Quartet-in-Residence at Sheffield University and 5 years later held a similar position at Manchester University, where they performed a regular concert season, directed seminars, and coached chamber ensembles. The quartet presented festivals each year at the Studio Theatre in the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, which featured many famous local and international musicians, and travelled widely throughout the world.
In 2005, after 39 years in existence and 20 years since the last change of members, the quartet announced their intended retirement in the following year. They then performed a very successful series of farewell concerts throughout the world, culminating in four final concerts in their home town of Sheffield in July 2005. Individual members are now pursuing separate musical ideas.
The quartet have produced an extensive list of recordings, including two highly acclaimed Beethoven cycles, and substantial parts of the Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Dvorak repertoires.
Leader Peter Cropper is the Artistic Director of Music in the Round, a chartitable organisation he founded in the 1980s, that promotes chamber music concerts in Sheffield and nationally. The Lindsays formed the core of Music in the Round's acitivity for over twenty years, until their retirement.
[edit] Members
- Peter Cropper (first violin)
- Ronald Birks (second violin)
- Robin Ireland (viola)
- Bernard Gregor-Smith (cello)
[edit] References
- Bigley, Roger (1981). Beethoven String Quartets Op.59 'Razumovsky' [CD liner notes]. Academy Sound and Vision Ltd.
