Meta4 String quartet

Founded in 2001, Meta4 is one of Finland’s most celebrated string quartets. In 2004, the ensemble won first prize and the special prize for the best interpretation of a Shostakovich work at the International Shostakovich String Quartets Competition in Moscow and, in 2007, first prize at the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna. The Finnish Ministry of Culture awarded the ensemble the Finland Prize in recognition of its international cultural influence and Meta4 was chosen for the “BBC New Generation Artist Scheme” (2008 2010). In 2013, the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation honoured the quartet with a special lifetime achievement award. Meta4 performs regularly at some of the great international concert venues (the Vienna Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall and King’s Place in London, the National Auditorium in Madrid, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, and the Stockholm Konserthus). From 2008 to 2011, Meta4 oversaw the artistic direction of the Oulunsalo Festival and has been in residence at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival since 2008. The members of the quartet also followed the classes of Hatto Beyerle and Johannes Meissl at the European Academy of Chamber Music. They have three recordings to their name at Hänssler Classics, all of which were acclaimed by the music press. They also have an album devoted to the chamber music of Kaija Saariaho on the Ondine label and a Sibelius CD entitled Voces Intimae (Berliner Meister Schallplatten).