Quartet's winning way with a tune (From Stroud News and Journal)

Quartet's winning way with a tune

FOLLOWING their win at the Kuhmo International Chamber Music Competition in Finland last year, the Carducci String Quartet, featuring 28-year-old Stroud man Matthew Denton, have picked up a prize at the prestigious 2005 Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in France.

The group consists of Matthew alongside Michelle Fleming on violins, Graham Broadbent on viola and Emma Denton on cello. They were awarded the Ministry of Culture and Communication prize after three knockout rounds at the Bordeaux Opera House.

Performing six set works in front of a full capacity audience and a panel of nine international jurors, they were also invited to be artists in residence at the 2006 Luberon International Festival, France.

"It was quite a lot of hard work," said Emma, who is married to Matthew. "It felt really nice to feel the fruits of our labour.

"It was made harder by the fact that it was 40 degrees in Bordeaux and the warm up room lived up to its name because there was no air conditioning!"

The quartet attributes its success to the fact that three of them have been together since the age of 12.

Matthew, Emma (from Churcham) and Graham (from Newent) formed their first quartet at the Gloucester Academy of Music and were members of the Gloucestershire Youth Orchestra

They have been prize-winners in other major competitions, including the Osaka International Chamber Music competition, Japan and the Charles Hennen International Chamber music competition, Holland and are recognised today as one of Britain's finest young string quartets.

They were recently selected to launch the PLG Young Artists 2006 series at London's South Bank and future local performances include concerts in 2006 at Cheltenham Town Hall on February 7 and at Painswick Parish Church on March 26.