Simply Quartet (withdrawn)
Austria, China, Norway
Antonia Rankersberger, violin
Danfeng Shen, violin
Lu Xiang, viola
Ivan Valentin Hollup Roald, cello
Biography
As a multinational, young, thriving ensemble, the Viennese based Simply Quartet has received more and more attention in the chamber music world. They have been acclaimed with four first prizes at international competitions: The Grand Prix at the “Quatuors á Bordeaux” International String Quartet Competition, the Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition in Copenhagen in 2019, the International “Schubert and Modern Music” Chamber Music Competition in 2018, the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition Vienna in 2017.
For the season of 21/22, The ECHO (European Concert Hall Organisation) have chosen Simply Quartet to be one of their Rising Stars. This includes performances at the main concert halls of Europe throughout the season. Besides that, they will also play concerts at the Berliner Philharmonie, the Musikverein in Graz, the Februari Festival in the Hague, as well as tours in the UK, in the Benelux, in the Baltics and in China.
As of the season 20/21, Simply Quartet is chosen to be a part of the program Great Talent at the Wiener Konzerthaus as one of Austria’s most promising, young artists. It will comprehend several performances in the Wiener Konzerthaus and getting extensive artistic support.
The last seasons has included concerts at venues like Wiener Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Berliner Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall in London, Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, l’Auditori de Barcelona, Concertsaal in Tilburg, Louisiana Museum in Denmark, the Rachmaninov Hall in Moscow, Casa da Musica in Portugal. They have enjoyed participating in festivals like the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Pablo Casals Festival Prades, Grafenegg Festival, Ravenna Festival, Davos Festival, the Shanghai Festival and done residency at the Banff Centre of the Arts.
Simply Quartet always strives to search a deep understanding of the language of the music, from the early classical to the music of today. They are also astonished, that one can find such a common understanding of and to develop their own musical language and sound worlds, coming from three different cultures.
To deepen this understanding, they are also exploring the contemporary music of each of their backgrounds. For the ECHO Rising Star Tour they have commissioned a piece from the Austrian composer Julia Lacherstorfer.
Simply Quartet was in their earlier years founded in Shanghai under the tutelage of Jensen Horn-Sin Lam. Coming to Vienna and pursuing their discoveries of the origins of the string quartet, they are currently studying with their mentor, Johannes Meissl, at the Joseph Haydn Department of Chamber Music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Since 2017, they have been a part of ECMA (European Chamber Music Academy), where they have harvested inspiration and knowledge from Hatto Beyerle, Alfred Brendel, Patrick Jüdt, Avedis Kouyoumdjian, Miguel da Silva and Michel Lethiec, Are Sandbakken amongst others.
Since 2020 they also attend the classes of Günter Pichler at the Reina Sofia school of music in Madrid.