Chilingirian Quartet

Founded in 1971 by Levon Chilingirian, the Chilingirian Quartet ranks among Britain’s foremost string ensembles, having amassed a substantial discography across three decades. Born in Cyprus to an Armenian family with deep musical roots, Levon Chilingirian took up the violin at age five and studied with virtuoso Manoug Parikian.

Early broadcasts on the BBC soon followed the ensemble’s formation, opening doors to appearances at the Edinburgh, Bath, and Aldeburgh festivals and then to engagements at leading international music centers. The quartet has since performed on all six inhabited continents in more than thirty countries, completing multiple coast-to-coast tours of the United States, Mexico, and Canada as well as journeys to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Africa, and South America. Annual concert series are presented at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall, with further appearances at Munich’s Herkulessaal, Zurich’s Tonhalle, the Vienna Konzerthaus, and Copenhagen’s Tivoli.

The group has been featured on most European national television channels, National Public Radio in the United States, and the CBC. Recordings have appeared on the EMI, RCA, CRD, Nimbus, Chandos, Conifer, and Virgin Records labels, covering standard quartet literature alongside works by lesser-known and contemporary composers. These include the world premieres of Hugh Wood’s quartets Nos. 1–4, quartet pieces by Stravinsky, Schnittke, Roslavets, and Firsova, and compositions by Arvo Pärt, Andrzej Panufnik, John Tavener, and Michael Tippett. Three members took part in the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Tippett’s Triple Concerto.

In 1986 the quartet was appointed ensemble-in-residence at the Royal College of Music in London, where it regularly conducts master classes, and received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Chamber Ensemble Award for 1995.

Levon Chilingirian also serves as conductor of the chamber orchestra Camerata Romana, holds a professorship in violin at the Royal College, and appears as a soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Liverpool Philharmonic, performing on a 1729 Stradivarius violin. The other members are violinist Charles Sewart, violist Asdis Valdimarsdottir, and cellist Philip de Groote.