AN EXCITING group of individually acclaimed musicians who formed at the Royal College of Music in London will perform in Bridport on Friday, March 16.

The Marmen Quartet will play in the 2018 Concerts in the West tour. This exciting group of individually acclaimed musicians will perform at Bridport Arts Centre in a coffee concert beginning at 11am.

The group consists of Johannes Marmen on violin, Ricky Gore on violin, Bryony Gibson-Cornish on viola and Steffan Morris on cello.

The quartet have progressed at a spectacular rate, winning awards (including the Royal Philharmonic Society Albert and Eugene Frost Prize), performing regularly both in the UK and internationally, and continuously developing professionally through Music in the Round’s Bridge scheme.

As winners of the Bridge scheme, Marmen are receiving three years of mentoring, financial support, and guidance in every aspect of life as a string quartet, including regular performance opportunities.

Recent highlights for the Marmen Quartet includes a collaboration with Ensemble 360 and the Sacconi Quartet, as well as taking part in the Foco Boulez Festival in Buenos Aires. In addition they had a two-week residency with Aldeburgh Music and have appeared live on Swedish Radio and BBC In Tune.

Catherine Maddocks, the founder and director of Concerts in the West, said: “We are delighted to welcome the Marmen Quartet to the West Country. They are such wonderfully communicative musicians, whose ability to tell stories through their music is quite riveting. They are unbelievably talented performers who get better and better every time I hear them. I can’t wait to see how Concerts in the West audiences respond to these young people - they are so dedicated and it is a real pleasure to see them at work.”

Johannes Marmen enjoys a varied career as a chamber musician and orchestral leader, dividing his time between Sweden and the U.K. He is the first violinist in the Marmen Quartet, co-leader of the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra and guest concert master of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. Johannes plays on a 1796 Joseph Gagliano.

Ricky Gore was born in Kagoshima, Japan and moved the UK to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School at the age of 13. He graduated with distinction from Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2015. Since 2013, Ricky has been 2nd Violinist of the Marmen Quartet and performs regularly throughout the UK. He also performs chamber music with Northern Chords Ensemble, Maiastra Ensemble and Nidum Ensemble and is a freelance orchestral player.

Originally from New Zealand, Bryony Gibson-Cornis is a graduate of the Royal College of Music, The Juilliard School and University of Canterbury (NZ). She was recently awarded the RCM’s Tagore Gold Medal. Bryony is a passionate advocate for NZ music, having recently recorded Philip Norman’s When Gravity Fails with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. In London, she is on trial for Co-Principal with English National Opera and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. She also freelances with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Britten Sinfonia and the English Chamber Orchestra.

Welsh Cellist Steffan Morris has an active career as a performer across the UK and has been cellist for the Marmen Quartet since 2016. Steffan has been a guest Principal with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Royal Northern Sinfonia. As a soloist he has performed with orchestras in the UK such as Sinfonia Cymru, the Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra, Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra and the Surrey Philharmonic Orchestra.

Concerts in the West’s founder and director Catherine Maddocks has an unerring eye for picking the cream of young classical music talent. The majority of the musicians who perform for Concerts in the West audiences are award winning performers, who have scooped some of the genre’s most illustrious and sought after musical awards and prizes. Two recent cases are pianist Alexander Ullman (who performed for CiW in June 2015 and who will be returning again in October 2018 accompanied by cellist Michael Petrov) and the Maxwell String Quartet (who played concerts from 4-6 May 2017). Alexander has just won first prize at the 11th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition, receiving €20,000 and a Career Development Programme. While the Maxwell Quartet has won the Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition 2017.

The programme at Bridport Arts Centre will consist of Haydn String Quartet in F sharp minor, Op 50, No 4, Mozart String Quartet No 14 in G major, K 387.

*The Marman Quartet, Bridport Arts Centre, Friday, March 16, 11am. Tickets cost £10. Contact the box office for tickets and more information.