Grundmann Quartet
The Grundmann Quartet takes its name from the oboe maker Jakob Friedrich Grundmann (1727–1800). In addition to compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Dmitri Shostakovich, the quartet devotes itself largely to the nine Budapest oboe quartets by Georg Druschetzky which it has also recorded. Moreover, together with baritone Florian Götz, the quartet regularly performs the song cycles by Franz Schubert (Winterreise), Robert Schumann (Dichterliebe; Liederkreis Op. 39) and Gustav Mahler (Des Knaben Wunderhorn) in arrangements for voice and oboe quartet. Their repertoire also includes string trios by Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven. Since it was founded in 2010, the Grundmann Quartet has performed extensively across Europe, notably in Madrid, Amsterdam, Budapest, Prague, Berlin, Dresden, Braşov among others.
The Grundmann Quartet plays on the following instruments:
Oboe: Andreas Löhner, Nürnberg, c.1790 / J.F. Grundmann, Dresden, 1784 / English horn: J.B. Tabard, Lyon, c.1830
Violin: Matthew Furber, 1804 / Bow: Pieter Affourtit, Hoorn, 2013, after Dodd, c.1770
Viola: Ute Wegerhoff, Frankfurt am Main, 1990 / Bow: Luis Emilio Rodriguez Carrington
Cello: Anonym, 1769 / Bow: Basil de Visser, Amsterdam
Eduard Wesly, born and raised in Amsterdam, studied the oboe with Bas Prinsen, Carlo Ravelli and Jan Spronk and then spent eleven years playing in the reed ensemble Calefax. For some years he has specialised in the music and oboes of the eighteenth century. He gained valuable experience with the English Baroque Soloists under John Eliot Gardiner, with Musica Antiqua Cologne under Reinhard Goebel and with Al Ayre Español under Eduardo Lopez Banzo. He is currently a member of the Orchestra Libera Classica in Tokyo and works on a freelance basis with various orchestras in Europe and Australia.
Ulrike Titze studied violin in Dresden and was subsequently a member of the Staatskapelle Weimar. She is co-founder of the Dresden Baroque Orchestra, which she led for more than 25 years, and has taught baroque violin at the Dresden Conservatory. Ulrike regularly teaches at International Bach Academies and works as guest leader with orchestras and at conservatoires and festivals across Germany and in Romania, the Ukraine and Turkey. Chamber music is her particular passion.
Bettina Ihrig studied viola in Hanover (with Heinz-Otto Graf and Jacob Zeijl) and Salzburg (with Thomas Riebl) and gained orchestral experience in the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and the Bielefeld Philharmonic Orchestra. She currently works as a freelance musician, with an intensive commitment to historical performance practice. She is a member of the Hannoversche Hofkapelle, the Neue Düsseldorfer Hofmusik and the ensemble La Ricordanza and also plays frequently with the baroque orchestra L'Arco, Ensemble Schirokko Hamburg, "La Festa Musicale" and the Lautten Compagney Berlin, among others.
Ulrike Becker first studied ‘cello at the Weimar and Berlin Conservatories and then took a postgraduate course in viola da gamba, graduating with the Concert Diploma. She is a permanent member of the Lautten Compagney Berlin, with whom she has recorded several acclaimed CDs (ECHO prizewinners). Thanks to the ensemble’s wide-ranging repertoire, she plays both ‘cello and gamba with them in works from the early Baroque to the classical period, including operas and concerti, and has performed in many successful concerts.
Since 2007 Ulrike has produced editions of numerous works, in particular from the archive of the Berliner Singakademie, and is also under contract with Reznicek Editions.
Florian Götz cooperates intensively with the Grundmann Quartet. Their joint repertoire includes the interpretation of Schubert's Winterreise in an arrangement by Eduard Wesley for baritone and oboe quartet.
Read the complete biography of Florian Götz