The New Hellenic Quartet gave two concerts in New York within the framework of the activities for the Cultural Centre of the Onassis Affiliated Public Benefit Foundation. Two of the Quartet’s members, Chara Sira (viola) and Dimitris Chandrakis (violin) are among the scholars of the Onassis Foundation. The other two members of the Quartet are Georgios Demertzis (violin) and Apostolos Chandrakis (cello).
During the concerts given on October 11 and 12, 2005 they performed ‘La Dance des Faunes’ by Dimitris Mitropoulos, the ‘Quartet No. 1’ by Georgios Sicilianos, the ‘Opus 95 Quartet No. 11’ by Ludwig van Beethoven, the ‘Kimitirion’ by Mikis Theodorakis, the ‘Ten Sketches for String Quartet’ by Nikos Skalkottas and the ‘Quartet’ by Maurice Ravel.
The New Hellenic Quartet was founded in 1991 and is considered as one of the most distinguished chamber ensembles in Hellas. It has performed in some of the world’s leading festivals, but the core of its repertoire has always been the works of Hellenic composers.
Some of the New Hellenic Quartet’s highlights include the performance and recording of sixteen modern Hellenic quartets in 1996 for the League of Hellenic Composers (Agora Music), the performance of the complete string quartets of Georgios Sicialianos and Dimitris Dragatakis at the Athens Megaron, as well as the performance of the Skalkottas’ quartets in various European cities, under the auspices of the Foundation for Hellenic Culture.
