Philharmonia Quartet Berlin & Dionysis Grammenos

The Pharos Arts Foundation presents a concert with one of the world's premier string quartets, the Philharmonia Quartet Berlin and the phenomenal young clarinetist Dionysis Grammenos who had impressed audiences worldwide after winning the Eurovision Young Musicians International Competition in 2008. The concert, which will include string quartets by Mozart and Shostakovich as well as Brahms Clarinet Quintet, will take place at The Shoe Factory on Monday 10 May 2010, 8.30pm.

Philharmonia Quartet Berlin
Daniel Stabrawa (violin), Christian Stadelmann (violin), Neithard Resa (viola), Dietmar Schwalke (cello)

Hailed as 'Four of the Best' by the British press after their debut at Wigmore Hall in London two decades ago, the Philharmonia Quartet Berlin has since celebrated a critically acclaimed career, establishing itself among the world's premier string quartets with 20 years of international concerts and a large and diverse discography. Their extensive concert calendar has taken them to destinations throughout Europe, North and South America as well as Asia. Lord Yehudi Menuhin commented: 'I'd like to hear music always played as beautifully as you play.'

Founded in 1984 by the principal concertmaster and the string section leaders of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Quartet appears regularly at the world's most prestigious concert halls such as Carnegie Hall or Wigmore Hall in London. Annual international festival appearances include performances at the Salzburg Festival. In 2006, the Philharmonia Quartet Berlin was invited by his Excellence Pope Benedict XVI to perform a private concert at the Vatican. The Spanish Royal Family invites the ensemble regularly to the Palacio Real to play on the royal Stradivari instruments. The Philharmonia Quartet Berlin enthuse the audiences throughout the world with their incredible artistry. In particular, the Beethoven and Shostakovich cycle in the Philharmonie Berlin caused international furore. The Quartet's discography is quite extensive including recent recordings of the quartets of Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich and Reger for the Thorofon Classics label, which was awarded the German Record Critics prize. The Quartet received the Echo Klassik Award for Chamber Music twice, for their most recent Beethoven CDs. In 2001, the Quartet was awarded the Argentine Critic Price in Buenos Aires.

After winning many international competitions at a very young age Daniel Stabrawa was appointed concertmaster of the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Krakow in 1979. He joined the Berlin Philharmonic violin section in 1983 and was appointed concertmaster of the Orchestra in 1986 under Herbert von Karajan. Since 1994, he has devoted more time to conducting and at the beginning of the 1995/1996 season became music director and conductor of the Capella Bydgostiensis in Bromberg, Germany. Violinist Christian Stadelmann started taking violin lessons at an early age and graduated from the Conservatory of Arts in Berlin. He has won numerous competitions and was a founding member of the German Chamber Philharmonic Bremen. After several years with the Young German Philharmonic, he became a member of the Berlin Philharmonic in 1985 and has led the second violins of the Berlin Phil since 1987. Neithard Resa studied in Berlin, Cologne and in the United States. In 1978 he won the Young Artists? Competition, the German Music Foundation and joined the Berlin Philharmonic as principal viola of the Orchestra that same year. Dietmar Schwalke studied in Hamburg and Berlin. He made his debut with the Philharmonie Berlin and before joining the Berlin Philharmonic in 1994 he played six years in the Kreuzberg String Quartet.

Dionysis Grammenos (clarinet)
Clarinetist Dionysis Grammenos was born in 1989 in Corfu, Greece. Having impressed an audience of 50.000 with his interpretation of the IV movement of the Concerto pour Clarinette et Orchestre by Jean Françaix accompanied by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra during the Wiener Festwochen's Opening Ceremony at the Rathausplatz, Grammenos won the Eurovision Young Musicians International Competition in 2008, and became the first woodwind player to have won the specific competition. Grammenos has since performed with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the Athens and Thessaloniki State Orchestras of Greece, the Greek Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Athens and the Thessaloniki Megarons, the Sofia Symphony and Sofia Philharmonic Orchestras, the Soloists of Patras Camerata, and the Greek-Turkish Youth Orchestra for the Athens Festival at the Odeon Herodes Atticus, under the baton of such renowned conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ari Rasilainen, Shao En, Enrique Barrios, Aleksandar Markovich, Nikos Athineos, Myron MIchaelides and Loukas Karytinos. Dionysis Grammenos has recorded for the Austrian, Greek and Norwegian Radios. In November 2008, Grammenos was invited to give a recital for solo clarinet at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and, in March 2009, to perform the Mozart Clarinet Concerto at the Auditorio Nacional de Musica de Madrid in the presence of Queen Sofia of Spain.

Season 2009/10 includes debuts with the Nordic Chamber Orchestra and the Swedish Wind Ensemble under the baton of Christian Lindberg, an invitation to perform as soloist at the renowned Rheingau Music Festival, as well as recitals and a solo concerto in Japan, at Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall and Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall. Alongside with his solo performing activities, Grammenos collaborates with the well-known Berlin Philharmonia and Salzburg Mozart Quartets for a series of concerts. Future engagements include invitations for concertos at the Rheingau Music Festival, the Polnische Kammerphilharmonie under Wojciech Rajski, the Wiener Kammerorkester at the Vienna Konzerthaus, a recital at the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris which will include the world-premiere of Celebration VI for solo clarinet by the Greek composer Theodore Antoniou, debut with the Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra and the Shanghai Opera Orchestra, as well as appearances with the Berlin Philharmonia Quartet for a series of concerts in Greece and with Borodin Quartet and Salzburg Mozart Quartet for a series of concerts in Austria.

Grammenos has been awarded the European Leonardo da Vinci award and the Golden Award of the City of Athens by the Mayor of Athens for his outstanding contribution to music. Since September 2008, Dionysis Grammenos has been guest clarinetist with the Symphony Orchestra of the City of Athens. He currently studies at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar, with Martin Spangenberg.

Limited Seating, Pre-booking required