Introducing the performers…

Nathaniel Anderson-Frank (violin)
Michael Trainor (violin)
Tetsuumi Nagata (viola)
Jessie Ann Richardson (cello)

Taking their name from the great 19th-century cellist and Royal Academy professor, Alfredo Piatti, the Piatti Quartet are one of the most distinguished quartets of their generation. Prizewinners at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, they have performed in all the UK’s major venues and festivals as well as giving concerts throughout the world, with national broadcasts on BBC Radio, ABC (Australia), RTÉ (Ireland) and France Musique.

The Piattis are renowned for their diversity, commitment and passionate interpretations across the spectrum of quartet writing. They regularly perform world premieres of new compositions  alongside old masterpieces and are particularly known for expanding the quartet genre through their collaborations with leading British composers. Recent commissions and premieres include new works by Mark-Anthony Turnage; Darren Bloom; Emily Howard (The Music of Proof, with celebrated mathematician Marcus du Sautoy); Simon Holt; Freya Waley-Cohen; and Jacques Cohen. The quartet have also collaborated with artistes such as Ian Bostridge, Michael Collins, Krzysztof Chorzelski, Julius Drake, Charles Owen and Guy Johnson.

The quartet commissioned Joseph Phibbs’ String Quartet No 1, which features on a recording alongside Mark-Anthony Turnage’s “Twisted Blues with Twisted Ballad” and classics by Britten and Bridge for release on the Champs Hill label. Other recordings have been released on Linn Records, NMC and Champs Hill =, including the Piattis’ lauded contribution to the complete string quartet works of Felix Mendelssohn (Champs Hill), which was BBC Music Magazine’s Critic’s Choice (September 2014). The quartet have also featured on a jazz concept album released by 33 Records to critical acclaim, including a 4.5* review from Downbeat Magazine.

Click here for more information

Pierre Doumenge (cello)

Cellist Pierre Doumenge enjoys a busy career divided between solo work, chamber music and teaching. From 2001 to 2005 he was a member of the Dante String Quartet performing at major venues in Europe and making regular radio and commercial recordings. Pierre has also worked as guest principal cellist of the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Passionately fond of chamber music, Pierre regularly explores and performs the repertoire with artists such as Pascal Rogé, Lars Vogt, Daniel Hope, Carolin Widmann, Pekka Kuusisto, Lawrence Power, the Belcea and Allegri Quartets, and the Nash Ensemble. He has appeared at many international festivals – Aldeburgh, Bath, Cheltenham, Kuhmo, Bucharest, La Hague, Nuremberg, Bergstaden and Hindsgalv – and frequently attends the Open Chamber Music sessions at IMS Prussia Cove in Cornwall, joining their tour of England in 2003. Pierre is also a regular performer at the Joy of Music Festival in Hong Kong. He has recorded for the Dutton, Meridian and Hyperion labels to great critical acclaim, and in 2008 was chosen to be the official cellist of the Menuhin International Violin Competition.

Pierre taught cello and chamber music at the Yehudi Menuhin School from 2003-2009 and is now a cello professor at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He gives regular masterclasses at the Oxford Cello School, the International Cello Courses UK, the Violoncello Society of London, the École Normale de Musique de Paris, the West Helsinki Music Institute, the Conservatoire Royal de Mons and the Szymon Goldberg Seminars in Toyama (Japan).