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Asaka Quartet
This is to say a massive thank you for such a brilliant evening's music-making for us in Edenbridge on Saturday. Your energy, musicianship, enthusiasm and enjoyment were so infectious. The audience loved it, and, as I said, many of us will be following your careers with eager anticipation.
The quartet displayed a remarkable mastery of a varied programme of music. Throughout, the Asaka Quartet brought a youthful exuberance to a testing programme, and thoroughly delighted their audience.
Quartet - String Quartet
Instrumentation
- Iona McDonald - Violin
- Eriol Guo Yu - Violin
- Inis Oírr Asano - Viola
- Jonathan Ho Man Fong - Cello
Repertoire
Bax, Quartet No. 1 in G major
Beethoven, Quartet in G major Op. 18 No. 2
Beethoven, Quartet in C minor Op. 18 No. 4
Brahms, Quartet in C minor, Op. 51 No. 1
Bridge, Quartet No.1 in E minor ‘Bologna’
Mozart, 'Hunt' Quartet No. 17 in B flat major
Haydn, Quartet in D minor, Op.76 No.2 Hob III:76 ‘Fifths’
Haydn, Quartet in B minor Op. 33 No. 1
Mendelssohn, Quartet in E flat major, Op. 12 No. 1
Danish String Quartet selection
Prokofiev, Quartet No. 2 in F, Op. 92
Tchaikovsky, Quartet No. 1 in D, Op. 11
Biography
The Asaka Quartet is an upcoming string quartet formed in 2021 by Iona McDonald, Eriol Guo Yu, Inis Oírr Asano and Jonathan Ho Man Fong, all recent graduates of the Royal Academy of Music in London. In October 2021, after playing for only a week, they were selected for the prestigious Frost Trust Advanced Specialist Strings Ensemble Training Scheme (A.S.S.E.T.) at the Academy where they are mentored by Martin Outram. The four members receive lessons from Maureen Smith, Michael Foyle, Paul Silverthorne, Yuko Inoue and Josephine Knight.
In June 2022, they attended the Tunnell Trust's Chamber Music Coll course upon invitation by Jonathan Tunnell where they studied with Richard Deakin, Charles Tunnell, Scott Dickinson and Jonathan Tunnell, working and performing alongside Sylvia Winds and the Ferrante String Quartet. In July 2022 they were delighted to have been awarded 1st prize in the Wolfe Wolfinsohn String Quartet Prize at the Royal Academy of Music for their performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet Opus 18 No.2 in G major. In February 2022, Asaka was joined by fellow students in a performance of Schubert’s Octet in the Academy’s Bicentenary Chamber Festival, invited and coached by Levon Chilingirian. They are looking forward to a busy recital season in the Autumn which includes recitals in Moffat Town Hall, St James’ Piccadilly & Regent Hall in London.
In September, they will begin their position as Chamber Music Fellows at the Royal Academy of Music for the academic year of 2022/2023.
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