Narratio Quartet
Biography Narratio Quartet
Narratio Quartet
The narrative of the Narratio Quartet began in 2009 when it was invited to perform Beethoven’s last five string quartets on five consecutive nights at the Early Music Festival Utrecht. It is precisely these late Beethoven quartets which are rarely played on period instruments, using gut strings and 19th-century bows.
Since then the quartet has worked backwards, as it were; it has now played the complete cycle of Beethoven quartets several times in the Netherlands and recently also in Switzerland. Their repertoire has expanded to the later 19th century with the three Brahms quartets in combination with Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn. In the course of 2024/2025 Challenge Records will release their recording of the complete Beethoven cycle played on period instruments.
Johannes Leertouwer
performs as a soloist, chamber music player and conductor. For many years he was concertmaster of Anima Eterna and the Netherlands Bach Society. He is artistic director and conductor of the Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht and violinist of Ensemble Schönbrunn since its foundation. In addition to teaching at the Conservatory of Amsterdam he is a professor at Seoul National University and obtained his doctorate in 2023 from the University of Leiden on research into the performance practice of orchestral repertoire by Johannes Brahms.
Franc Polman
is a violinist in the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and has played in prestigious baroque orchestras such as Musica Antiqua Köln and Les Musiciens du Louvre. He is active in several chamber music ensembles. Polman plays on a number of Amsterdam violins from the seventeenth century, built by Hendrik Jacobs and Pieter Rombouts.
Dorothea Vogel
studied in Switzerland, the USA and London, where she has lived since her studies. She was violist of the Allegri Quartet for 20 years and is a member of the Primrose Piano Quartet. She also performs with the English baroque ensemble The Kings Consort. Dorothea teaches at the Royal Welsh College in Cardiff.
Viola de Hoog
is a versatile musician. Her international career takes place in the world of early music, but for 20 years she also travelled all over the world as a member of the renowned Dutch Schönberg Quartet. She is cellist of Ensemble Schönbrunn, principal cellist of the Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht and The Kings Consort. Viola has been professor of baroque cello, cello and chamber music at the conservatories of Amsterdam, Utrecht and Bremen since 1990.
