“beautifully calculated and co-ordinated, time and motion seemed to defy the laws of physics” — The Washington Post

“Their sound was often downright gorgeous – rich as a vintage port – and their style at once disciplined and supple.” — Tim Passmore, Brisbane Live Reviews.

Predicted by The Australian to become ‘one of Australia’s proudest cultural exports’ Brisbane-based Orava Quartet first joined forces in 2007 and have since taken audiences worldwide by storm. With global tours, two chart-topping ARIA Classical charts albums, and the acclaim of being the first ensemble to record with Deutsche Grammophon in Australia, Orava Quartet , now established as one of Australia’s foremost quartets, bring their energy, impeccable technique and style back to Newcastle Music Festival, for the first time since 2017. Violinist Daniel Kowalik and David Dalseno, violist Thomas Chawner and cellist Karol Kowalik make up this long-lived quartet.

In 2018 Orava Quartet was the first Australian string quartet to release an album under the prestigious label Deutsche Grammophon – produced and distributed worldwide by Universal Music Australia. The album, featuring music by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich and a collaboration with Australian Soprano Greta Bradman, was received to great acclaim, and in 2023 Orava Quartet will release their second album under the same label.

Orava Quartet has toured throughout Canada, the United States, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Philippines, and performed for Queen Sofia of Spain and Pope Benedict XVI. As graduate Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Colorado (USA), they had the privilege of working closely with the world-renowned Takács Quartet from 2012-2014. During this time the Quartet were selected to be part of the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar in New York City, and toured extensively in the US, including at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. The Quartet also made their debut at the Sydney Opera House for VIVID Festival (in PLANETARIUM: Sufjan Stevans, Bryce Dessner and Nico Muhly) and won two major awards at the 2013 Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition in Melbourne, including the Musica Viva Australia Tony Berg Award for ‘Most Outstanding Australian Ensemble’.

Since returning to Australia, the Orava Quartet has continued its impressive rise to national attention, earning a reputation for consistently excellent and thrilling performances. Alongside performances for Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, where they are Quartet-in-Residence; they are also quartet in residence for the Orange Chamber Music Festival, Blackheath Chamber Music Festival and the Bangalow Music Festival.

Orava Quartet has performed at many major festivals which include return engagements at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music and Huntington Estate Music Festival; Canberra International Chamber Music Festival; Tasmanian Chamber Music Festival; the BBC Proms Melbourne (for which they were named one of the ‘2016 Arts Highlights of the Year’ by arts luminary, Robyn Archer); Queensland Music Festival, Melbourne Festival (where they were again one of the ‘Top 10 Picks’ of the Festival, in the Herald Sun), the Musica Viva Festival, Brisbane Baroque, and Newcastle Music Festival, among others. Orava Quartet regularly performs and has commissioned new works by contemporary and Australian composers including Elena Kats-Chernin, Paul Dean and more.

Image credit: Dylan Evans Photography, courtesy of Universal Music

AT THE FESTIVAL