The Vardanyan Quartet was formed at the Royal College of Music in 2005. In May 2006, they were selected to represent the RCM in the intercollegiate Gerard Heller and Rosemary Rappaport String Quartet Competition. After hearing them in a private concert in January 2007, Bernard Haitink invited them to perform in his concert series in Switzerland.
The quartet is currently working under the guidance of Levon Chilingirian and Simon Rowland-Jones. They have also studied with Gabor Takacs, Siegmund Nissel, Bernard Greenhouse, and the Chilingirian Quartet.
The Vardanyan Quartet has performed at a number of prestigious venues, including the British Library, St Martin-in-the-Fields, the St Jude’s Proms, and Wolterton Hall in Norfolk. For the last two summers they have been quartet scholars at Lake District Summer Music, giving recitals in the festival. Future concert engagements include festivals in Norway, Portugal and Italy.
Astghik Vardanyan graduated from the State Conservatoire in Yerevan in 2005 and continued her studies at the RCM with Levon Chilingirian, receiving an Artist’s Diploma in June 2006. She won First Prize in the Chilingirian All-Armenian Competition in 2001. She led the RCM Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink in 2005 and 2007, and her studies were supported by a personal scholarship from Haitink. She currently leads the Southbank Sinfonia orchestra in London.
Rowan Bell grew up in the Scottish Borders and he studied with Rosemary Ellison at the junior department of the RSAMD. Whilst in Scotland, Rowan led most of the major youth orchestras including NYOS and Camerata Scotland. Rowan is currently a Douglas Downie Scholar at the Royal College of Music where he studies with Dona Lee Croft. He leads Scottish Connection – a young professional string ensemble – and plays in the Arthas Ensemble, a string quintet/sextet led by BBC New Generation Artist, Jennifer Pike. Rowan regularly performs recitals across the UK and an interest in conducting has led to performances in London and Edinburgh.
Arun Menon gained his Bachelors and Masters degrees from the RCM, studying viola with Simon Rowland-Jones and Andriy Vytovych, and violin with Dona Lee Croft. In 2004 he was the co-principal viola of Southbank Sinfonia, and has performed around the UK with the Prince Consort Ensemble. As an orchestral musician he has worked with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra as guest co-principal, as well the LSO, Halle, RPO and CBSO.
Steffan Rees studied music as an academic scholar and music exhibitioner at Christ Church, Oxford, before pursuing his cello studies with Melissa Phelps at the Royal College of Music, supported by an RCM bursary. He was awarded diplomas in Performance (2005) and Advanced Performance (2006), both with distinction. He performs regularly as a chamber musician and was a member of Southbank Sinfonia in 2007.
