The Goldner String Quartet can make a strong claim to preeminence among the string quartets active in Australia, having achieved both considerable longevity and international celebrity. The quartet was founded in 1995 and consists of violinists Dene Olding and Dimity Hall, violist Irina Morozova, and cellist Julian Smiles. The players are both professionally and personally connected: they are members of the Australia Ensemble of the University of New South Wales, and they include a pair of married couples (Dene Olding & Irina Morozova and Dimity Hall & Julian Smiles). The quartet was named for Richard Goldner, the Romanian-Australian founder of the chamber music presenter Musica Viva Australia, under whose auspices the Goldner String Quartet has often performed. They also made a major appearance at the Adelaide Festival in 2000, performing a retrospective of 20th century string quartet works. They regularly appear at major festivals in Australia and New Zealand, including Music in the Hunter, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music (where they have served as Quartet in Residence), and, in 2017, the Adam Chamber Music Festival in Nelson, New Zealand. Two years after its founding, the quartet made its debut at London's Wigmore Hall. Its U.S. debut was similarly prestigious, taking place at the 92nd Street Y in New York (along with performances in Washington). The Goldner String Quartet has also toured in Italy, France, Finland, and South Korea. The quartet made its debut in 1998 with a pair of albums devoted to the string quartets of Peter Sculthorpe, but since then has recorded mostly for the Hyperion label in Britain and the national broadcaster's ABC Classics label in Australia. For the latter they recorded a complete cycle of Beethoven's string quartets (in live performances at Musica Viva). They have focused mainly, however, on repertory of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, releasing in 2017 an album featuring Alexander Borodin's Piano Quintet (with Piers Lane) and String Quartet No. 2. As of 2017, their 22nd year, the quartet retained its original membership. ~ James Manheim