Cologne Hochschule für Musik, Young Musicians' Festival, 2001
![[Cuarteto Casals]](images/older/casals.jpg)
Vera Martinez-Mehner, violin
Abel Tomàs, violin
David Quiggle, viola
Arnau Tomàs, cello
Winners of the First Prize in the 8th London International String Quartet Competition, April 2000.
"Here is a quartet for the new millennium if I have ever heard one." Tully Potter in 'The Strad'
The Cuarteto Casals was founded in 1997 at the Escuela de Música Reina Solia in Madrid. Since then it has received much critical acclaim and has been awarded top prizes at many international string quartet competitions, including First Prize in the 8th London International String Quartet Competition in April 2000.
The Quartet has been profoundly inspired by intensive studies with Professors Walter Levin (La Salle Quartet) and Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet) and has also been coached by Harald Schoneweg (Cherubini Quartet) and by Veronika Hagen. Currently, they are doing postgraduate work at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne where they study with the Alban Berg Quartet.
The Cuarteto Casals performs extensively throughout Europe, participating in festivals such as those in San Sebastian, Santander, Granada, Marseille, Fontainebleau, Luberon, Strasbourg, Bath and Schleswig-Holstein. This season, in addition to a residency in Barcelona's Auditorio Winterthur, they will tour Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Great Britain, where they will make their debut at London's Wigmore Hall.