Danish String Quartet

Formed in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2001, the Danish String Quartet is a one of the most awarded chamber music ensembles of its generation. Their performances focus on classical music from iconic composers like Mozart and Beethoven, although they are also known to perform classic Nordic folk music shows. Initially performing under the name, The Young Danish String Quartet, the ensemble was founded by three students who performed at summer camp together before enrolling at the Royal Academy of Music (Denmark): violinists Fredrik Øland (born in 1984) and Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen (born in 1983), and violist Asbjørn Nørgaard (born in 1984). Studying under Tim Fredriksen, they performed at the Copenhagen summer festival in 2002 spending several years perfecting their skills through intense practicing. In 2007, the ensemble founded its own festival in Nyborder, Denmark and also recorded their first two albums: Nielsen: String Quartets, Vol 1 (2007) and Nielsen: String Quartets, Vol. 2 (2008). The group became the Danish String Quartet in 2008 with the arrival of Norwegian cellist Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin (born in 1982). The newly rechristened Danish String Quartet released Haydn & Brahms: String Quartets (2012) and Fuchs & Brahms: Clarinet Quintets (2014), a collaboration with clarinetist Sebastian Manz. Signing with ECM Records, their next two albums focused on traditional Nordic folk music: Wood Works (2014) and Last Leaf (2017). In 2018, they released the first in their Prism series which found them returning to the classical music that brought them to prominence. After the release of the Grammy-nominated Beethoven / Shostakovich / Bach: Prism 1, they continued to release several more installments in that series: Beethoven / Schnittke / Bach: Prism II (2019), the Diapason d’Or-winning Beethoven / Bartók / Bach: Prism III (2021), Beethoven / Mendelssohn / Bach: Prism IV (2022), and Beethoven / Webern / Bach: Prism V (2023). During their career, The Danish String Quartet has received many awards and honors including the first prize at the London International Competition (2009), the Carl Nielsen Prize (2011) and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award (2016), and many others.