Danish String Quartet

The Danish String Quartet made its debut at the Copenhagen Summer Festival in 2002. The group is known for its performances of classical music as well as its own renditions of traditional Nordic folk music. The quartet has also worked with an extensive range of contemporary Scandinavian composers.

Danish String Quartet and clarinetist Sebastian Manz, Heidelberger Frühling, 2013

Current members

• Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen (born 1983), violin
• Frederik Øland (born 1984), violin
• Asbjørn Nørgaard (born 1984), viola
• Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin (born 1982), cello

History

Violinists Frederik Øland and Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen and violist Asbjørn Nørgaard met as children at a Danish music summer camp where they played both football and music together, eventually making the transition into a serious string quartet in their teens and studying at the Royal Academy of Music, Copenhagen. At the time, the name of the group was the Young Danish String Quartet. In 2008, they were joined by Norwegian cellist Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin and changed the group's name to the Danish String Quartet. The quartet was primarily taught and mentored by Tim Frederiksen and has participated in master classes with the Tokyo and Emerson String Quartets, Alasdair Tait, Paul Katz, Hugh Maguire, Levon Chilingirian, and Gábor Takács-Nagy.

Since 2007, the group has curated its own annual festival, the DSQ Festival, in Copenhagen. 2016 marked the beginning of Series of Four, the quartet's concert series in the concert hall of the Royal Danish Academy of Music.

In 2013, the quartet began a three-year appointment at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's CMS Two Program.^[1] The quartet was named a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist for 2013–15^[2] and Ensemble of the Year by Musical America in 2019.^[3]

In 2024, the quartet released its third folk music album, Keel Road.^[4]

Awards and recognition

• Danish Radio P2 Chamber Music Competition, First Prize and Audience Prize (2004)^[5]
• Jacob Gade Award (2004)^[6]
• Trondheim International String Quartet Competition, shared First Prize and Audience Prize (2005)^[7]
• Charles Hennen International Chamber Music Competition, First Prize (2005)
• Vagn Holmboe String Quartet Competition, First Prize (2005)
• Danish Music Critics Association Artist Award (2005)^[8]
• London International String Quartet Competition, First Prize, Beethoven Prize, Sidney Griller Award, 20th century Prize, Menton Festival Prize (2009)^[9]
• Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, NORDMETALL-Ensemble Prize (2010)^[10]
• Carl Nielsen Prize (2011)
• Wilhelm Hansen Prize (2015)
• Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award (2016)^[11]

In 2017, NPR Music named the quartet's second folk music album, Last Leaf, the Best Classical Album of 2017;^[12] in 2019, the quartet was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for its album Prism I.^[13]

• Léonie Sonning Music Prize (2025)^[14]

Discography

Performance of Haydn's String Quartet No. 42 in C major, Op. 54, No. 2, Hob.III:57 (May 2015)

• Keel Road (ECM Records, 2024)
• Prism V (ECM Records, 2023)
• Prism IV (ECM Records, 2022)
• Prism III (ECM Records, 2021)
• Prism II (ECM Records, 2019)
• Prism I (ECM Records, 2018)
• Last Leaf (ECM Records, 2017)
• Adès, Nørgård & Abrahamsen (ECM Records 2016)
• Brahms/Fuchs: Clarinet Quintets with clarinetist Sebastian Manz (CAvi-music, 2014)
• Wood Works (Dacapo Records, 2014)
• Haydn/Brahms (CAvi-music, 2012)
• Nielsen: String Quartets, Vol. 2 (Dacapo Records, 2008)
• Nielsen: String Quartets, Vol. 1 (Dacapo Records, 2007)