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Mstislav Rostropovich
"You are the most wonderful group of musicians, you really touched my heart"

Second Prize
5th Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition :: 2007

First Prize
Florence International Chamber Music Competition 'Vittorio Gui' :: 2005

The Navarra String Quartet

Xander Van Vliet (violin)
Marije Ploemacher (violin)
Simone van der Giessen (viola)
Nathaniel Boyd ('cello)

In 2008 the Navarra Quartet received the ‘Outstanding Young Artist Award’ at the MIDEM Classique Awards in Cannes, in partnership with the International Artist Managers’ Association, and in 2007 received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship.  Formed in 2002 at the Royal Northern College of Music under the guidance of the late Dr Christopher Rowland, the Quartet were Junior Fellows at the RNCM and postgraduate students of the Alban Berg Quartet in Cologne.  In 2007 the Quartet won 2nd Prize in the Melbourne and in 2005 1st Prize in the Florence International Competitions.

The Navarra Quartet has won numerous prizes and awards, in 2006 being selected for representation by YCAT and receiving Tunnell Trust, Tillett Trust and Musicians Benevolent Fund Awards.  They have taken part in the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove and in 2008 returned as resident quartet to the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh and were Quartet in Residence at the Verbier Festival. 

Over the last year the Quartet has given debut concerts at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schwetzinger and Rheingau Festivals in Germany, recorded for BBC Radio 3 at LSO St Lukes, given recitals at the RNCM Chamber Music Festival and returned to Sweden and Italy. They also worked with Wayne MacGregor’s Random Dance Company on a new piece called Entity with music by Joby Talbot giving a series of performances at Sadler’s Wells and in Aldeburgh, Madrid and Amsterdam. 

In 2009 they give recitals in Luxembourg, Germany, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Sweden, Australia and the Middle East.  They also undertake an Arts Council Around the Country tour with the Sacconi Quartet performing the Brahms Sextets and Mendelssohn Octet, record Haydn’s 7 Last Words on the Cross for Altara Records with paintings by Jamie Boyd; and perform the Haydn at the RNCM and City of London Festivals.  The Quartet continue their strong association with Wigmore Hall with several future performances including the Haydn series in 2009. 

Since being selected for representation by YCAT, the Navarra Quartet has undertaken an exciting concert schedule encompassing concerts in Europe, Australia, Russia and the USA with performances in renowned venues such as Concertgebouw, Wigmore, Bridgewater, St. George's Bristol, Purcell Room, the Teatro della Pergola (Florence) the Glazunov Hall (St Petersburg) and the Hamer Hall (Melbourne). The Quartet has broadcast for BBC Radio 3, RAI 3 (Italy), Radio 4 (The Netherlands), SWR (Germany) and ABC Classic FM (Australia).

Collaborative artists with whom the quartet has performed include Richard Harwood, Guy Johnston, Hansjörg Schellenberger, Jiri Hudec and the Elias Quartet, Julius Drake, Allan Clayton, Mark Simpson and Alasdair Tait.  In June 2005 they performed Shostakovich's eighth quartet in a masterclass with Mstislav Rostropovich.

The quartet is delighted to support their teaching and educational commitments as an associated quartet at the RNCM with a residency at Repton School in Derby, a residency at St Christopher's School in Bahrain (Middle East) and as part of the Wigmore Hall’s Chamber Challenge programme.

Recent reviews:

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Rheingau Musik Festival, July 2008)
“A rarity, on the other hand, was a performance in the basilica by the Navarra Quartet of Haydn’s string quartet in G op.33 No. 5 and Mozart’s noticeable reference (to it – Haydn’s piece), the quartet No.15 in d KV 421; performed impulsively and dynamically, but also with admirable filigree by the musicians…. the Navarra quartet unfolds the adorable setting in Haydns largo or Mozart’s andante with breathtaking tension into full bloom’.

The Strad (Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, July 2007))
“‘The Navarra Quartet brought some good humoured playing to Haydn’s Op.64 No.6….many magical moments in Thomas Ades Arcadiana….the Mendelssohn was outgoing and it’s Schnittke fearless.

ESTA Magazine, January 2006 (Soviet-Festival Manchester, January 2006)
"The outstanding quartet playing of the whole Fest was giving us by the Navarra Quartet. The group formed at the RNCM in September 2002 with three Dutch members and an English cellist. It was no surprise that they were multi-prize-winners at home and abroad, and had gained the RNCM's professional performance diploma with distinction. Joined by pianist, Vyacheslav Sidorenko, their Sunday afternoon recital of Shostakovich's Prelude and Fugue No. 15, Schnittke's quartet No. 3, Shostakovich's piano quintet and Shostakovich No. 3 was a truly remarkable experience. Totally at one with the music and each other, these talented young players are on their way to top acclaim in the chamber music world. By comparison the St Petersburg Quartet…though superb, did not play with such all-consuming believe."

The Strad, January 2007 (Wigmore Hall, September 2006)
"Moments of intuitive chamber work and cellist Nathaniel Boyd's compelling melodic lines were signs of good things to come…Shostakovich's marathon third quartet came to life in subtle shades of humour and gravity. The young anglo-dutch ensemble played with an uncanny wisdom…."

The Musical Opinion (Purcell Room, September 2006)
"The Navarra Quartet opened the programme exactly a hundred years after Shostakovich’s birth with the composers eight quartet, a reading of much insight and dedication."

Dutch violinist Marije Ploemacher began her studies in the Hoekschewaard, Holland, before joining the ‘Young Talent Class’ at the conservatoire of Utrecht to study with Joyce Tan. In 1998 she continued her studies with Jan Repko and Ilya Grubert at the Sweelinck Conservatoire in Amsterdam. For several years Marije led the Netherlands Youth String Orchestra with which she also performed as a soloist and from 2002-2005 she was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra.
In 2002 Marije came to England to study at the Royal Northern College of Music with Jan Repko. During her time at the Royal Northern College of Music Marije won numerous prizes, including all the RNCM’s chamber music prizes as a member of the Navarra Quartet.  As a soloist Marije performed Shostakovich’s violin concerto No. 1 with the RNCM’s Symphony Orchestra after winning the prestigious concerto auditions held at the RNCM  in 2003 and in the following years performed concertos by Tippett and Schnittke with the same orchestra, most recently the Brahms ‘Double’ Concerto with cellist Nathaniel Boyd. Awarded the RNCM’s highest accolade, the Gold Medal, Marije went on to gain her B(mus) from the RNCM with First Class Honours and her Professional Performance Diploma (2005) and Postgraduate Diploma (2007) both with distinction. Marije has won a Myra Hess award from the MBF and the Allcard Award from the Worshipful Company of Musicians and came third in the NYOS Staffa Award Competition in 2005.
Marije is a violin tutor at Chetham's School of Music and plays a Julius Caesarus Gigli of 1761.

Nathaniel Boyd (cello) is a passionate and dedicated musician who combines a busy chamber music career with frequent solo engagements. He studied at the Junior Guildhall and the Royal Northern College of Music with Hannah Roberts and Ralph Kirshbaum, graduating in June 2005 with First Class Honours, a PPRNCM (Distinction) and the Leonard Rose Prize. He went on to postgraduate study at the RNCM and recently graduated with a starred first in performance.
Nathaniel has participated in masterclasses with Mstislav Rostropovich and Bernard Greenhouse amongst others. He appears regularly as both a recitalist and with orchestra, most recently performing Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto and Brahms' "Double" Concerto with violinist Marije Ploemacher and the Royal Northern College of Music Symphony Orchestra. 
In October 2009, as winner of the Tillett Trust Young Artists' Platform, Nathaniel will make his Wigmore Hall recital debut with his duo partner, Simon Lane and in November, Nathaniel will tour Australia under the auspices of Musica Viva performing with the pianist Alexander Boyd.  
Nathaniel plays a Grancino cello of 1695.