Danish String Quartet

Among today’s many exceptional chamber music groups, the GRAMMY® nominated Danish String Quartet continuously asserts its eminence. Their playing reflects impeccable musicianship and an expressiveness inextricably bound to the music, from Haydn to Shostakovich to contemporary scores, giving audiences the sense of hearing even treasured canon repertoire as if for the first time, and exuding a palpable joy in music-making. In addition to its North American tours, the DSQ performs in the major European chamber music venues including London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and in Germany, Brussels, the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain. 

In 2007, the Quartet established the DSQ Festival, which takes place in an intimate and informal setting at Copenhagen’s Bygningskulturens Hus. In 2016, they launched a new music festival, Series of Four, in which they both perform and invite colleagues—the Ebène Quartet, and Chris Thile, among others—to appear at the venerable Danish Radio Concert Hall. 

Awards and appointments include Musical America’s 2020 Ensemble of the Year, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust, BBC Radio 3 2013 New Generation Artists, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s The Bowers Program . The Danish String Quartet has received the Audience Prize at the Trondheim International String Quartet Competition,  First Prize in the London International String Quartet Competition, (now the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet competition), and the Carl Nielsen Prize, Denmark’s highest cultural honor. 

Violinists Frederik Øland and Rune Tonsgaard Sørenson and violist Asbjørn Nørgaard met as children at a music summer camp where they played soccer and made music together. As teenagers, they began the study of classical chamber music and were mentored by Tim Frederiksen of Copenhagen’s Royal Danish Academy of Music. In 2008, the three Danes were joined by Norwegian cellist Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin. They have a special affinity for Scandinavian composers, from Carl Nielsen to Hans Abrahamsen, and for Nordic Folk Music.