photos: Anne de Haas
The Windermere String Quartet was formed in the spring of 2005 to perform the music of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and their contemporaries on period instruments. The Quartet is rapidly gathering notice for its dynamic performances and distinctive sound. Violinists Rona Goldensher and Cristina Zacharias, violist Anthony Rapoport, and cellist Laura Jones are well known to audiences as long-time performers with leading period instrument ensembles throughout Canada and the U.S., between them performing with Tafelmusik, Toronto Consort, Aradia, Theatre of Early Music (Montreal) Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (San Francisco), Aston Magna (New York), and many others. Along with their wealth of experience in Baroque and Classical styles, the members of the Windermere String Quartet have a wide range of musical tastes and have also been acclaimed for their performances with such groups as Sinfonia Toronto and Talisker Players and Klezmer music with the ensemble HuTsaTsa. These eclectic interests bring a freshness and passionate spontaneity to their performances.
The Quartet’s own series, the Windermere String Quartet Concert Series, was established to explore the well-known masterworks as well as lesser-known gems of the string quartet repertoire on period instruments. In addition, the series occasionally features newly commissioned works, such as the new work by distinguished Canadian composer Alexander Rapoport presented in April of 2006. The series concerts take place in the warm acoustic and intimate atmosphere of St. Olave’s Anglican Church in Toronto’s west end, and have been recorded for broadcast by CBC radio. In addition, the Quartet has made several appearances at Toronto’s Academy Concert Series and returned this summer to the Toronto Music Garden, where it presented its debut performance in the summer of 2005. The Quartet has also performed on Toronto Early Music Centre’s “Musically Speaking” series, Stratford Chamber Music, and the chamber music festival Music at Port Milford, where they have twice been Quartet in Residence. The Quartet has enjoyed collaborations with clarinetist Nicolai Tarasov and fortepianist Sharon Burlacoff.