Slate Quartet

Programme

More about the Slate Quartet

Formed in 2022, the Slate Quartet performs a variety of repertoire, from classical to contemporary and has a particular interest in curation, enjoying working in a conceptually focused way. 

Taking pride in championing lesser-known and modern works, they actively programme composers from diverse backgrounds or rarely performed pieces into all their concerts. The Slate Quartet are passionate about collaborating with other artists, musical and not, often reaching a wide and diverse audience as a consequence, which is another key part of their ethos. 

Their debut concert was a collaboration with a graphic designer using minimalist music (Phillip Glass) combined with looping graphics to induce a meditative state in the audience. They have performed at the Royal Festival Hall, the Petworth Festival and Leicester Cathedral and played for audiences in the South of France as part of a residency at the Ferrandou Atelier in 2024. Most recently, they made their King’s Place debut at EMPOWER: Women changing Music performing Imogen Holst and Caroline Shaw with singer Hannah Dienes Williams as well as attending the inaugural year of the Oxford Chamber Music Festival where they received coaching from Quatuor Ebéne. In the last year they have also performed in Northend’s afternoon concert series, which is run by prominent composer, Philip Cashian.

In 2024, they were thrilled to record their first EP – Brett Dean’s String Quartet No.1 “Eclipse” – with Jeremy Watt of Luminate Records and were hugely excited to share their interpretation of the piece with its release onto all major streaming platforms in January 2025. They had the privilege of collaborating with Brett Dean on this project and performed it again, alongside a talk by Dean, as guests at the Royal Academy of Music in February.

They have received coaching regularly from Jon Thorne (Oculi Ensemble), John Myerscough and Alex Redington (Doric Quartet). They have also received coaching from Isabel Charisius (Berg Quartet), Sini Simonen (Castalian Quartet) and Anthony Marwood.