Sospeso is thrilled to share its concert portrait of Elliott Carter on Friday, January 30, 2004, with the celebrated Arditti Quartet. In addition to his phenomenal career as first violinist of the Arditti Quartet, Irvine Arditti continues to excel as an extraordinary soloist. Born in London in 1953, Irvine Arditti began his studies at the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 16. He joined the London Symphony Orchestra in 1976 and after two years, at the age of 25, became its Co-Concert Master. He left the orchestra in 1980 in order to devote more time to the Arditti Quartet which he had formed while still a student.

During the past decade Irvine Arditti has given the world premières of a plethora of large scale works especially written for him. These include Xenakis’ Dox Orkh and Hosokawa’s Landscape III, both for violin and orchestra, as well as Ferneyhough’s Terrain, Francesconi’s Riti Neurali, Dillon’s Vernal Showers and Harvey’s Scena, all for violin and ensemble. He has appeared with many distinguished orchestras and ensembles including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Orchestre National, Asko Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, Schoenberg Ensemble, London Sinfonietta and Contrechamps. Recent performances include Ligeti’s Violin Concerto with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Dutilleux’s Violin Concerto with Het Residentie Orkest.

As well as having recorded over 100 CDs with the Arditti Quartet, Irvine Arditti has built an impressive catalogue of solo recordings. His CD of solo violin works by composers such as Carter, Estrada, Ferneyhough and Donatoni, as well as his recording of Nono’s La Lontananza, both on the label Montaigne Auvidis, have been awarded numerous prizes. His recording of Cage’s Freeman Etudes for solo violin, as part of his ongoing Cage series for American label Mode, has made musical history. The last CD in this series which includes One6 and Chorals will be released later this month. The violin concertos by Berio, Xenakis and Mira, recorded in Moscow with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, are featured on a disc by Swedish label Bis.

From the Arditti Quartet website.