Castalian String Quartet 

The Castalian String Quartet are the first Hans Keller String Quartet in Residence at the University of Oxford and were named Young Artist of the Year at the 2019 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards. In August 2023, they premiered Mark-Anthony Turnage’s new string quartet Awake at the Edinburgh International Festival, followed by the Belgian and Netherlands premieres at de Singel Antwerp and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.  Formed in 2011, the quartet studied with Oliver Wille at the Hochschule für Musik, Hannover, before being selected by the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2016. They were awarded First Prize at the 2015 Lyon International Chamber Music Competition and in 2018 were recipients of the inaugural Merito String Quartet Award and Valentin Erben Prize, and a prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship.  

Recent debuts include New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and Paris Philharmonie. Their last two seasons at Wigmore Hall had a focus on the quartets by Benjamin Britten and Bela Bartok, the current season will feature late quartets by Schubert. Recent and upcoming premieres include works by Charlotte Bray, Edmund Finnis, Mark Simpson, Simon Rowland-Jones and Francesco Antonioni. In the 2024/25 season, the Castalian String Quartet will make its debuts at Konzerthaus Berlin, Concertgebouw Bruges and in the chamber music cycles of Unione musicale Turin and Helsinki Seriös amongst others. 

The Castalian String Quartet’s 2022 release Between Two Words (Delphian Records), presenting music by Orlando di Lasso, Thomas Adès, Ludwig van Beethoven and John Dowland, was given a double five-star review as BBC Music Magazine’s Album of the Month. Eleanor Alberga’s Tower with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Kemp was released in May 2024 on Resonus Classics. 

The quartet’s name is derived from the Castalian Spring in the ancient city of Delphi. According to Greek mythology, the nymph Castalia transformed herself into a fountain to evade Apollo’s pursuit, thus creating a source of poetic inspiration for all who drink from her waters. Committed to inspiring a diverse audience for classical music, the Castalians have performed everywhere from the great concert halls to maximum security prisons and even the Colombian rainforest. When not on stage, Finnish first violinist Sini Simonen bags Munros, American violist Natalie Loughran mixes mean cocktails and the Welshmen, second violinist Daniel Roberts and cellist Steffan Morris, get overly emotional about rugby. 

Tom Kirby is an oboist and cor anglais player in his second year at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford; where he reads music. Prior to Oxford, he attended the Royal College of Music Junior Department and the Purcell School as well as being a member of the National Youth Orchestra. This led him to performing in concert venues all around London including: the Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall and the Barbican.  

An experienced orchestral musician, this year marks his second year in the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra’s Side-by-Side scheme as well as the music faculty’s contemporary music Ensemble Isis scholarship. He also regularly plays principal roles in student groups such as Oxford University’s Orchestra and Sinfonietta as well as accompanying various operas with Orchestra VOX. In his spare time, he is the assistant conductor of the Oxford University String Ensemble. 

As of this year, he was grateful to be selected for the Royal Academy of Music’s partnership scheme with Oxford, where he has lessons with Professor Melanie Ragge. 

Oliver is a cellist, composer, conductor and tenor reading music at St Hilda’s, holding academic, music and choral scholarships. 

He made his debut aged 14, playing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto.  An experienced concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician, with recent performances of Haydn in C with the Oxford Philharmonic, Shostakovich No.1, Elgar, Saint-Saëns’ No.1, Dvořák Rondo, and recitals at the Elgar Room, RAH and Milton Court, Barbican, his chamber highlights include performances with the Villiers Quartet, Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective and Jess Gillam in Wilton’s Music Hall. 

Oliver was LPO Junior Artist 2021/22, performing solo with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the RFH. He has won many prestigious national/international competitions and attended Kronberg Academy as an active participant in the prestigious public Cello Masterclasses 2024 with Philippe Muller. 

Oliver has a passion for composing, with recent performances of his works by the Chroma Ensemble, Brickworks, the Oxford Philharmonic and the BBC Singers.