Guildhall School of Music and Drama, YMF 2002
![[Bronte String Quartet]](images/older/bronte2.jpg)
The Bronte String Quartet was founded at the Dartington International Summer School in 1997 while its members were still students. In both 1998 and 1999 the Quartet won scholarships to the Internationale Sommerakademie Prag-Wien-Budapest where it was coached by members of the Amadeus, Alban Berg, Bartok, Smetana, Janacek and Prague quartets. It has also played to members of the Takac, Endellion, Chilingirian and Vellinger quartets and to Sir Colin Davis. It is currently the Fellowship quartet at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
The Bronte Quartet has given recitals in the Netherlands and in Austria, including a live broadcast from Vienna on Austrian State Radio. It performs regularly in London as well as at music festivals and venues throughout the UK.
The Quartet actively believes in the promotion of new music. It is also deeply committed to Music Outreach and has given many workshops in schools and community centres. It is part of the Live Music Now! scheme and performs regularly at the Wigmore Hall as part of the ‘Chamber Tots’ series.
Sara Trickey, violin, read Classics at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and then pursued a two-year scholarship at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she studied with Camilla Wicks. She now lives in London as a free-lance violinist and has played with groups such as the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia 21 and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. She has attended numerous masterclasses, including IMS Prussia Cove, and recently did a recital in the Purcell Room as part of the Park Lane Group series. She has been kindly supported by the Countess of Munster Musical trust and the Wingate Foundation.
Katharine Gorsuch, violin, was born in America, and received her undergraduate degree at Indiana University under Sylvia Rosenberg and Miriam Fried. In 1998 she won the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Scholarship to take an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma at the Royal College of Music, where she studied with Itzhak Rashkovsky. She has participated in many music festivals, including Prussia Cove and Yellowbarn Chamber Music Festival. She received her MMus degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama studying with David Takeno and Stephanie Gonley and now plays and teaches in London.
Jon Thorne, viola, studied with Simon Rowland-Jones at the Royal College of Music. Upon leaving he joined the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. He has also played with RTE Dublin, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2001, Jon was a Finalist in the Royal Overseas League George Bernard Shaw viola scholarship. He has a very strong belief in music education and teaches viola at Bournemouth and Royal Holloway universities as well as at the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music.
Daisy Gathorne-Hardy, cello, read Music and History of Art at Clare College, Cambridge before spending two years at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she studied with Steven Doane. She has won scholarships to many music courses and festivals both in Europe and the USA. She also plays the Baroque cello and has taken part in various multi-media improvisation projects. Since 2000 she has taught at Pro Corda (the National School for Young Chamber Music Players) and she now teaches regularly and freelances in London. She has been kindly supported by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust.