| 1 CD |
€ 19.95
|
Preorder |
| Label Challenge Classics |
UPC 0608917200355 |
Catalogue number CC 720035 |
Release date 07 November 2025 |
Seen as the most promising young string quartet in the Netherlands, the Animato Quartet is known for its passionate, spontaneous playing and powerful on-stage presence. Founded in 2013, their programs combine both classical pieces drawn from the string quartet repertoire and contemporary compositions.
“Four top players with a vibrant energy, they captivate you from the first note! …..This quartet is the great promise of the Dutch string quartets”. - Dutch Classical Talent Award
In January 2025 the Animato Quartet won the first prize at the international Irene Steels-Wilsing Foundation Competition and got an invitation to return to the Heidelberger Frühling festival 2026.
In 2023 they collaborated with violist Nils Mönkemeyer in Kammermusikpreis Gut Hasselburg in Germany, where they received the 1st prize and the Audience prize.
In 2022 at the 9th International Joseph Joachim Chamber Music Competition in Weimar, the quartet received the Special Prize for an exceptionally talented ensemble. In September 2021, at Trondheim’s famed International Chamber Music Competition, the Animato Quartet won both third prize and a Special Jury Prize.
The Quartet was invited to participate in the prominent Verbier Festival Academy 2022 and was selected as one of only ten quartets to compete in the prestigious Banff International String Quartet Competition (Canada) in 2022.
In 2023 the Kersjes Prize, the most important state prize for classical chamber music talent, was given to these four musicians. From the jury report: “Four players, each maintaining and using their individual expression, have developed a multi-layered and intense playing as a quartet with a wide palette of colours”. “Vierspelers, die elk hun individuele expressie behouden en gebruiken, hebben een gelaagd en intens spel ontwikkeld als een kwartet met een breed kleurenpalet”.
Within the Netherlands Animato has performed at all major venues. Outside of the Netherlands they have given concerts in venues such as the Philharmonie in Paris, the Luxemburg Philharmonie and in the chamber music series of the Gewandhaus in Leipzig.
The quartet has also performed at numerous international festivals in the Netherlands such as the Utrecht International Chamber Music Festival, the Stift Music festival and the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam. Outside of the Netherlands they have performed at festivals in Portugal, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland and France.
Until 2022, the Animato was ‘artist in residence’ of the Dutch String Quartet Academy (NSKA).
Their development both as musicians and as a quartet has also greatly benefited from lessons and mentorship of some of the most recognised players in their disciplines, such as Eberhard Feltz, Marc Danel, Hatto Beyerle, Anner Bylsma, Jan-Willem de Vriend, Alfred Brendel, Gerhard Schultz and Vera Beths.
The quartet ended 2024 with a two week tour in Indonesia organised by the Erasmushuis in Jakarta, where they gave concerts and workshops in Jakarta, Ambon and Makassar.
The upcoming year will result in two CD-releases, a first release of Osvaldo Golijov’s Nonet “Ever Yours” and their debut album featuring works by Britten and Bartok.
Furthermore, some highlights include their return to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam as well as their debut in Finland, Hungary and the Oslo Quartet Series.
They are once again engaged at the String Quartet Biennale in Amsterdam in 2026 and will be performing alongside the Quatuor Danel at Diligentia in The Hague later in the season.
The Animato Quartet is grateful and privileged to play on exquisite instruments. Inga plays a violin by Tommasso Eberle from 1776 (Naples), on loan from Dextra Musica. Tim plays a violin by Johannes Theodorus Cuypers from 1797 (Netherlands), Elisa Karen plays a viola by Daniel Royé from 2017, and Pieter plays a Dutch cello by Pieter Rombouts from 1710.
Tim’s love for chamber music led to the formation of the Brackman Trio and the Animato Quartet at a young age. From 2014 to 2017, he organized an annual chamber music festival in Amsterdam with the Brackman Trio, and since 2018, he has been the artistic director of Podium Eibergen, organizing the annual Chamber Music Festival Eibergen, among other events.
While chamber music holds a prominent place in his schedule, he also focuses on other repertoires. He has performed as a soloist with various youth and amateur orchestras. As a finalist in the Dutch Violin Competition Oskar Back, he soloed in Schumann’s violin concerto with the Residentie Orkest conducted by Otto Tausk. In this competition, he won both the third prize and the NTR Prize for Best Performance of a Commissioned Composition with his interpretation of Calliope Tsoupaki’s ‘Aeriko.’
Tim pursued his bachelor’s degree with Ilona Sie Dhian Ho (The Hague) and Eszter Haffner (Copenhagen). He completed his master’s degree with Vera Beths in 2018. Subsequently, he took a postgraduate course with Pavel Vernikov and Svetlana Makarova at the Accademia Musicale Santa Cecilia in Bergamo, Italy (2018-2020). His lessons with Ivry Gitlis, Marc Danel, Hatto Beyerle, and Eberhard Feltz were a significant source of inspiration for him.
In addition to the Brackman Trio and the Animato Quartet, Tim forms a duo with violinist/violist Floor Le Coultre. Chamber music has taken him to festivals such as Stiftfestival, the Banff Centre, and the Verbier Festival. At the International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht (IKFU), Tim served as a Young Artist in Residence in 2020, responsible for a large part of the programming.
Tim regularly gives masterclasses for young talented musicians, including at the Davidsbündler Music Academy in The Hague and in Cividale del Friuli, Italy.
Tim plays a J.T. Cuypers violin from 1797. His bow, by the Parisian maker A. Vigneron, was acquired with the support of the Stichting Eigen Muziekinstrument.
Benjamin Britten is one most important British composers from the second half of the twentieth century. Remarkably, he focused on opera, a dying genre, at least in its current form. Britten's contributions however, among which Peter Grimes, The Rape of Lucretia, Gloriana, The Turn of the Screw, and Death in Venice, managed to remain core repertoire for opera companies to this day. Many of these productions included a role for his artistic partner and life companion Peter Pears. Britten also wrote a number of lieder for this tenor, among which his Serenade for tenor, horn and string orchestra. Yet, Britten excelled in many more genres. He wasn't even 20 years old when he composed his brilliant Phantasy for hobo quartet and his friendship with the legendary cellist Rostropovich led to a Cello sonata, three Suites for cello solo and a Symphony for Cello and orchestra in the 1960s.
Britten never became Master of the Queen's Music, yet he surely had feeling for public sentiments. For example, as a pacifist, he taught his people about world peace through his War Requiem from 1962. Britten was an excellent interpreter of his own work, just like Bartók and Stravinsky. Many of his recordings have been matched, but never exceeded.
Play album
