Benjamin Lai will join the piano quartet from September 2024, replacing Philip Graham
The Notos Quartet has announced the appointment of Benjamin Lai as its new cellist. Lai will replace Philip Graham, who will leave to pursue other projects and ‘will remain artistically and amicably connected to the quartet.’
’It was always my dream to play in an ensemble of this calibre and I can’t wait to explore the many gems of the piano quartet repertoire together and to share them with audiences all over the world,” says Lai, a former student of Heinrich Schiff, Jens Peter Maintz and Julian Steckel.
Lai will join the ensemble in September 2024, bringing with him his Domenico Montagnana ’ex-Olevsky’ cello. He will join Antonia Köster, violist Andrea Burger and violinist Sindri Lederer.
The Notos Quartet was founded in 2007 and recently won the Würth Prize. Upcoming highlights in its 2024/25 season include performances at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the Beethovenhaus Bonn, as well as tours to the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands and Hungary. The quartet is currently planning a new CD with Sony Classical and has previously recorded three albums with the label, the most recent being Paris Bar.
The ensemble holds a teaching post at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and has led the Saigon Chamber Music Masterclass in Vietnam. In 2015, the group initiated the Notos Chamber Music Academy, which has taken place in Weikersheim since 2019 in collaboration with the Jeunesses Musicales Germany.
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