About Us

(Pictured Left to Right)
Sophie Rowell - Violin
Sally Boud - Viola 
Anne Horton - Violin
Rachel Johnston - Cello 

The Australian String Quartet (ASQ) was established in 1985 and is Quartet in Residence at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, University of Adelaide. 
The Quartet has had a major impact on the musical life of Australia, touring widely both nationally and internationally and commissioning many works by leading Australian composers throughout its history.

The current membership of Sophie Rowell and Anne Horton, violins, Sally Boud, viola and Rachel Johnston, cello was established in 2006. In 2000, this combination of players originally came together as the Tankstream Quartet and was coached by Alice Waten at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney. The Quartet then undertook further studies in the chamber music class of the Alban Berg Quartet at the Cologne Hochschule fur Musik. 

This ASQ holds the distinction of having won more international chamber music competitions than any other ensemble in Australian history, including First Prize at the 2005 Cremona International String Quartet Competition, the Gold Medal in the 2002 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition (Japan) and Second Prize in the Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition in Italy in 2005.

The ASQ has performed in many major European cities including Hamburg, Berlin, Paris, London, Copenhagen, Cologne, Belgrade, Budapest, Zagreb, Frankfurt, Reggio Emilia (Italy), and in New York, USA. It has also toured throughout Australia, Germany, New Zealand and Japan.

In 2009 the ASQ was invited to perform at the Beethovenhaus in Bonn as part of the Beethoven Festival and also for the Cheltenham, Lichfield and Buxton Festivals in the UK. Projects for 2010 include the world premiere of Brett Dean’s Viola Quintet.

The Quartet has been broadcast extensively in Australia on ABC Classic FM and has been featured on NDR (North German Radio), the BBC and Radio France, and televised in Austria, Australia, Denmark and Japan.