Founded in Oslo in 1989 The Cikada String Quartet is an independent ensemble within the Cikada Ensemble, which from its very beginning uniquely has counted three autonomous formations: the full ensemble consisting of ten musicians, the Cikada String Quartet and the Cikada Duo.

The Cikada String Quartet began life with a performance of George Crumb’s sensational, innovative work Black Angels from 1970. They have enjoyed close associations with composers including George Crumb, Rolf Wallin, Stefano Gervasoni, Bent Sørensen, Cecilie Ore, Eivind Buene, Hans Abrahamsen, Bruno Maderna, Maja Ratkje, John Cage and James Dillon.

Beyond commissioning new works and reinterpreting Nordic and international contemporary repertoire, Cikada String Quartet has over the years gained a unique position thanks to a number of cross-genre projects with various experimental jazz musicians and vocalists.

The Cikada Quartet has since the beginning of the nineties buildt an extensive discography. Their close collaboration with ECM on albums includes the quartet’s solo album "In due tempi”"(2005) with music of Kaija Saariaho, John Cage and Bruno Maderna, which will be followed by a second release featuring works by Dillon, Hosokawa and Wallin. The Bent Sørensen portrait CD “Birds and Bells”, the CD An Acrobat’s Heart with the American ‘avant-garde torch song’ vocalist Annette Peacock, as well as CDs with the Norwegian improvising quartet the Source, the Swedish folk musician Mats Edén, and veteran Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen. In November 2006 the ECM-distributed XtraWatt label will issue a further disc featuring the Cikada Strings: “So There” is a special project curated by Steve Swallow and featuring the great bass player’s settings of poetry of Robert Creeley.

The Cikada String Quartet enjoys a world-wide reputation for their spirited and technically refined interpretations of contemporary music. The ensemble has received several prizes for its work. In 1995 Cikada String Quartet was awarded a Norwegian ”Grammy” in the contemporary music category for their CD Black Angels, released on the British label Cala Records. In 2005 the Cikada Ensemble won the Nordic Council Music Prize. This year The Cikada String Quartet received Holland’s coveted Edison Award in the Chamber Music category for their ECM New Series disc "In due tempi”". Of their performance, the judges noted, “emotion can be felt in every note they play”.

Henrik Hannisdal, violin
Odd Hannisdal, violin
Marek Konstantynowicz, viola
Morten Hannisdal, violoncello Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.