Performing with style and commitment, the Sacconi Quartet is known throughout the world for its creativity and integrity of interpretation. Formed in 2001, its four founder members continue to demonstrate a shared passion for string quartet repertoire, infectiously reaching out to audiences with their energy and enthusiasm. The Quartet enjoy a highly successful international career, performing regularly throughout Europe, at London’s major venues, in recordings and on radio broadcasts. The Sacconi is Quartet in Association at the Royal College of Music and Associate Artist at the Bristol Old Vic.
The Quartet has given over twenty world premières and British premières, including works by Graham Fitkin, Jonathan Dove, John McCabe, György Kurtág, Paul Patterson, Simon Rowland-Jones, John Metcalf and Robin Holloway, and they performed as the solo string quartet on Paul McCartney’s hit song Come Home. The Quartet has been joined on stage by countless musicians including Pekka Kuusisto, Freddy Kempf, Melvyn Tan, Simon Crawford-Phillips, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Guy Johnston, Alasdair Beatson, Tom Poster, Matthew Rose, Bellowhead’s Jon Boden and actor Timothy West.
The Quartet’s Sacconi Chamber Music Festival in Folkestone is an established event in the cultural calendar and is expanding year on year with challenging programming and exciting collaborations. Firm believers in the importance of bringing chamber music to the next generation, the Sacconi Quartet dedicates much passion, time and energy to education work. They regularly lead workshops and give school and family concerts as part of the Sacconi Chamber Music Festival outreach programme and the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust.
The Quartet’s recording of Beethoven Op. 132 and Mendelssohn Op. 13, the first commercial pairing of these closely related works, was released on Sacconi Records in 2016, and received a 5-star review in Classical Music. The previous release, a disc of Czech quartets, was received with widespread critical acclaim and is regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. The Quartet’s debut recording of Haydn’s Op. 54 quartets was praised in the press and both their Ravel and Haydn CDs were featured in The Full Works programme on Classic FM. They have also recorded for Signum, NMC and Champs Hill Records, and their 2006 Naxos recording of Finzi’s song cycle By Footpath and Stile with baritone Roderick Williams was well received in all the national broadsheets and BBC Music Magazine.
The name Sacconi Quartet comes from the outstanding twentieth-century Italian luthier and restorer Simone Sacconi, whose book The Secrets of Stradivari is considered an indispensable reference for violin makers. Ben Hancox plays a 1932 Sacconi violin and Robin Ashwell a 1934 Sacconi viola, both made in New York. Hannah Dawson plays a 1927 Sacconi violin made in Rome, and Cara Berridge plays a Nicolaus Gagliano cello from 1781. Ben, Hannah & Cara have all been generously loaned these instruments by the Royal Society of Musicians, a charity which helps musicians in need, for which they are extremely grateful. Robin is indebted to Ellen Solomon for the use of his viola.

Mark Padmore was born in London and grew up in Canterbury. After beginning his musical studies on the clarinet he gained a choral scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge and graduated with an honours degree in music.

He has established a flourishing career in opera, concert and recital. His performances in Bach’s Passions have gained particular notice throughout the world. In the opera house he has worked with such theatrically-minded directors as Peter Brook, Katie Mitchell, Mark Morris and Deborah Warner. Recent work includes Les Troyens at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and Handel’s Jephtha at WNO and ENO. He also played Peter Quint in an acclaimed BBC TV production of Turn of the Screw. Plans include Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky’s Rake’s Progress at La Monnaie. He recently recorded the title role in La Clemenza di Tito with René Jacobs for Harmonia Mundi for which he received two Grammy nominations.
In concert he has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Berlin, Vienna and New York Philharmonics, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the LSO and BBCSO. He makes regular appearances with the OAE with whom he conceived a project exploring Bach’s St John Passion which took place in Aldeburgh and London in 2005 and given further performances on tour in 2008. In November 2007 he made his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Rattle. He has recently toured with the Hallé Orchestra as soloist in Britten’s Serenade conducted by Mark Elder and in 2008 he will be appearing as soloist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra on their European tour.
He has given recitals in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Milan, Moscow, New York and Paris. He appears frequently at the Wigmore Hall in London where he performed the three Schubert song cycles in May 2008. As well as his regular collaborators Julius Drake, Roger Vignoles and Andrew West he works with many internationally renowned chamber musicians including Natalie Clein, Imogen Cooper, Till Fellner and Paul Lewis. He has made many recordings including the Bach Passions with Herreweghe and McCreesh, Bach Cantatas with Gardiner and Herreweghe, Haydn Masses with Hickox, Don Giovanni with Harding and operas by Rameau and Charpentier with Christie. His first solo recording for Harmonia Mundi, a recital of Handel Arias with Andrew Manze and the English Concert was released in April 2007. Recent releases include Haydn’s Creation on Deutsche Grammophon and a disc of Dowland Lute Songs with Elizabeth Kenny on Hyperion.

Described by Gramophone magazine as ‘one of the finest British pianists of his generation,’ Charles Owen has enjoyed an extensive international career performing a wide ranging repertoire to outstanding critical acclaim. He has appeared at London’s Barbican and Queen Elizabeth Halland regularly gives recitals at the Wigmore Hall and Kings Place. Internationally, he has performed at the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, the Brahms-Saal in Vienna’s Musikverein, the Paris Musée d’Orsay and the Moscow Conservatoire. His chamber music partners include Julian Rachlin, Chloe Hanslip, Augustin Hadelich and Nicholas Daniel as well as the Vertavo, Takács and Elias Quartets.
Charles studied in London at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal College of Music with Irina Zaritskaya and Imogen Cooper. His numerous awards include the Silver Medal at the Scottish International Piano Competition (1995) and the 1997 Parkhouse Award.
A regular guest at festivals such as Aldeburgh, Bath, Cheltenham and Leicester, as well as Perthin Australia, he has also performed concertos with the Philharmonia, Royal Scottish National, Hallé, Aurora and London Philharmonic orchestras. He has enjoyed collaborations with many leading conductors including Sir Mark Elder, Ryan Wigglesworth, Nicholas Collon and Martyn Brabbins.
Charles’s solo recordings comprise discs of piano music by J.S. Bach, JanáÊek, Poulenc and Fauré. Chamber music discs include the cello sonatas of Brahms, Rachmaninov and Chopin with Natalie Clein, The Stravinsky Piano Ballets with Katya Apekisheva and the world premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Piano Quintet with the Sacconi Quartet. The latter was named Recording of the Month by Gramophone Magazine in August 2017.Charles Owen is a Professor of Piano at the Guildhall School in London and was appointed Steinway & Sons UK Ambassador in 2016.