Goldner Quartet to disband after 30 years

2024 will mark the Australian ensemble’s final season

The Goldner String Quartet. Photo: Keith Saunders

The Goldner Quartet has announced that it will disband in 2024 in its 30th anniversary year. Its cellist, Julian Smiles, made the announcement at the final performance of the Australian Chamber Music Festival (ACMF) in Townsville on 5 August 2023, where the ensemble serves as quartet-in-residence.

The quartet, comprising violinists Dene Olding and Dmity Hall, violist Irina Morozova and cellist Smiles, was formed in 1995 and named in honour of the founder of Musica Viva, Richard Goldner. Its London debut at Wigmore Hall in 1997 launched the quartet’s international career, leading to appearances at festivals in the UK and Europe, the US, Asia and Australasia.

The Goldners’ most recent tour saw performances in the UK, including a return to Wigmore Hall with long term collaborator, pianist Piers Lane. The quartet also appeared in Ireland and in Italy for the opening of the 2019 Biennale Arte in Venice.

Special projects include a 20th-century retrospective, as well as a complete Beethoven String Quartet cycle. The quartet was included in the DVD documentary entitled The Quartets, recorded live with Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe in 2012 (released by ABC Classics), and an international project in celebration of Sydney’s Sister Cities.

The quartet has recorded extensively, including a live recording of the Beethoven String Quartets for ABC Classics, numerous recordings for Hyperion, Naxos and the Tall Poppies label.

The Goldners have mentored young ensembles through programmes of the Australian Youth Orchestra, Musica Viva Australia, the Australian National Academy of Music, the Sydney Conservatorium, and AFCM Townsville. The players hold concurrent membership of the Australia Ensemble at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and have held principal positions in orchestras including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

First published at The Strad, August 8, 2023