With the courage, vitality and intensity of its performances, the Marmen Quartet has fast established itself on the international scene as one of the most impressive and engaging talents in chamber music. The highlights of its 2025–26 season include concerts at Konzerthaus Dortmund, Rotterdam’s De Doelen, Boulez Saal, Wigmore Hall, The Library of Congress and Princeton University, as well as its debut at Beethovenfest Bonn.

The quartet brings its energy and intelligence to a broad variety of repertoire, from Joseph Haydn and Debussy to brand new works. Commissions have included Garth Knox’s Secret Letters (written for the group as a companion piece to Janáček’s Intimate Letters), Salina Fisher’s Heal and Benjamin Staern’s String Quartet no.1. In January 2026, the quartet returns to String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam for several performances, including a collaboration with percussionist DOMNIQ and a world premiere by Samuel Adams. The quartet made its Australian debut in 2023, playing a work written for them by Hannah Kendall as part of the Australian National Academy of Music’s Quartetthaus project.

The Marmen records for BIS and its schedule also demonstrates the players’ wide-ranging musical appetite. Their debut album featured music by Bartók and Ligeti and won the prestigious accolades of BBC Music Magazine Awards 2026 Chamber Award, Diapason d’Or and Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice. Recording plans include music by Debussy, Ravel, Haydn, Chausson and Takemitsu.

The quartet has played in the UK’s most prestigious venues, including Wigmore Hall and Cadogan Hall (for the BBC Proms), and its reputation has spread across Europe, with performances at Berlin Philharmonie, Boulez Saal, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Stockholm Concert Hall and Muziekgebouw Eindhoven. The group is a favourite at music festivals, having appeared at West Cork, Lockenhaus, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rheingau, Heidelberg, Zeister Musiekdagen, and Lofoten as well as specialist quartet festivals in Amsterdam and Barcelona, and for the Gulbenkian Foundation. Further afield, recent North American highlights have included performances at Rockport and Music Mountain chamber music festivals, as well as in Calgary, Kelowna and Victoria, and as part of Capital Region Classical series.

First prize winners at the prestigious Bordeaux and Banff International String Quartet Competitions, the quartet formed at the Royal College of Music in 2013 and has returned there as Quartet in Association. The group held a Guildhall School of Music String Quartet Fellowship (2018–20) and studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover with Oliver Wille, as well as in London with Simon Rowland-Jones and John Myerscough (Doric Quartet). They were mentored by the late Peter Cropper and have received support from the Musicians Company/Concordia Foundation, Hattori Foundation, Help Musicians and Royal Philharmonic Society. The Marmen Quartet is an official Pirastro Artist.

Johannes Marmén: 1696 Andrea Guarneri violin, bows by Leonard Tourte, Lauri Tanner
Laia Valentin Braun: French violin, 1804, bows by Etienne Pajeot, Caressa et Français
Bryony Gibson-Cornish (Stradivari Trust Artist): 1610 Brothers Amati viola, formerly played in the Lindsay and Allegri Quartets, courtesy Stradivari Trust; bows by Lauri Tanner
Sinéad O'Halloran: 1714 David Tecchler cello, generously loaned to her by The Royal Society of Musicians; bows by Lauri Tanner and Dominique Peccatte
The Marmen Quartet gratefully acknowledges the support of Florian Leonhard Fine Violins