Biography
“Glowing ensemble playing and experimental spirit” NRC ****
“The Belinfante Quartet are on terrific form” – BBC Music Magazine *****
The Belinfante Quartet is recognised as one of the most exciting string quartets of its generation, heralded for their engaging and innovative performances. Formed in the Netherlands in 2016, the quartet members come from The Netherlands, England, Scotland and Spain. They take their namesake from Dutch cellist, conductor and resistance fighter Frieda Belinfante.
‘We make music, we compose it, we perform it’
Frieda Belinfante
Frieda Belinfante’s story, work and legacy have encouraged the quartet’s inventive programming, and their love of C.20th and modern quartets. C.20th quartets tell stories and ask questions of Frieda’s time, and give us the ability to travel into the musical past, to even before string quartet writing was invented. It allows us to travel through Europe and across the world, as Frieda, and so many artists who worked during WW2 did, encountering different cultures and new ideas. The Belinfantes are well-known in their projects for using folk music from around the world to introduce musical cultures to the string quartet art-form. They aim to widen the reach of the string quartet to places around the world who often haven’t had string quartets in their musical culture. Working with today’s composers is at the heart of their mission. From Sally Beamish to Caroline Shaw, they have also worked with composers such as Mathilde Wantenaar, Marion von Tilzer, Arthur Klaassens, Polina Medyulyanova and Rhiannon Randle.
In addition to these activities, the quartet enjoys the opportunity to collaborate with other artists including internationally renowned pianist Nino Gvetadze, Urban Dance Group Static and visual artist Jordi Cárdenas, together with whom they won the 2019 Delft Chamber Music Festival Award. In 2023 they were delighted to be a part of the Kronos Quartet’s ‘50 for the Future’ project, performing a selection from 50 quartet commissions for the Kronos Quartet in a festival hosted by the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam in the Muziekgebouw.
The quartet has performed at festivals throughout Europe including: the String Quartet Biënnale Amsterdam; International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht; Zeistermuziekdagen; Wonderfeel; Trondheim Chamber Music Festival and Stift International Festival. Recent engagements have included performances at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Doelen in Rotterdam and Tivoli Vredenburg, Utrecht. The quartet regularly performs live on European radio stations such as NPO Radio 4 and BBC Radio 3 and their CD releases Ellipse (2022) and Parallel 40 (2024) with the Dutch label 7 Mountain Records received international acclaim. They are the recipients of several prizes, including receiving the Ensemble Of The Year 2022 award from Le Dimore del Quartetto.
The Belinfante Quartet studied at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover with Professor Oliver Wille, at NSKA in The Netherlands and they were a quartet in residence at the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam Residency 2021 – 2022. The quartet has performed in masterclasses with Eberhard Feltz, Isabel Charisius and the Jerusalem, Casals, Signum, Ebene and Danel Quartets.
Members
Olivia Scheepers, Violin
This Oscar Wilde fan met Pau Marquès (see below) during an orchestral project which is the root of how this quartet came about in 2016. Olivia’s playful and mischievous side gives her the ability to switch naturally between humour and drama which makes her playing really captivating.
An avid reader, she has read the complete works of Oscar Wilde among many other authors. When she isn’t practising violin passages or drinking black tea, she can be found in the boxing ring.
Fiona Robertson, violin
Fiona is originally from Scotland, which according to some is a Mediterranean country with Northern weather. If that is true then Fiona is the perfect ambassador. She loves artisan beer and Italian food in equal parts, she speaks Italian as fluently as she spreads butter on toast.
Fiona possesses an inspiringly natural talent for musik-ing that she combines exemplary with her supportive and intelligent role as a second violinist. She can also name all 254 flags of the world.
Henrietta Hill, viola
Henrietta comes from the idyllic English town Bakewell, situated in the Peak District. Unsurprisingly, she is a lover of the great outdoors and spends her free time horseback riding.
Henrietta is the beating heart of the quartet and her sincere love of chamber music shines through in her expressive playing. She is also a legendary improviser, constantly inspiring the rest of us to try new and daring things.
Pau Marquès i Oleo, cello
Pau combines his sincere Mediterranean island personality with a great ambition; he is an artist of life, creating beauty with a passion, whether it is baking bread or traditional music. When he isn’t perfecting Popper etudes, he makes arrangements of traditional Menorcan music for us to play.
Pau loves all things beautiful, stories, and languages.
