The Asaka Quartet is Iona McDonald, Eriol Guo Yu, Susie Xin He and Jonathan Ho Man Fong. Through presenting creative and innovative programmes, they invite their audiences to discover new repertoire from a fresh and exciting perspective.
ABOUT OUR RUSH HOUR CONCERTS
Avoid the early evening rush hour and relax with an hour of live music from up-and-coming performers here at the The Stoller Hall.
Tickets are just £5 and you can pre-order a drink to collect and enjoy during the event.
These hour-long concerts are a chance to catch artists from our Emerging Artists Scheme, which has been generously supported by the Jeremy Howarth Foundation
Rush Hour Concerts offer – Book all five concerts for the price of four! Simply add tickets for all five concerts to your basket in the same transaction and your discount will be automatically applied at checkout.
ABOUT ASAKA QUARTET
The Asaka Quartet is a prizewinning string quartet formed in 2021 at the Royal Academy of Music in London. They were the 2023/23 Chamber Music Fellows at the Academy and are now about to begin another year as the 2023/24 Open Academy/Wigmore Hall Fellowship Ensemble. Yielding from China, Hong Kong and Scotland, the Asaka’s each bring with them their own identities. They pride themselves on communicating their enjoyment of making music together and sharing this with their audiences, with a keen interest in music by underrepresented composers.
Asaka were 1st prize winners in the Wolfe Wolfinsohn String Quartet Competition at the Royal Academy of Music in July 2022 for their performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet Opus 18 No.2 in G major. They attended the Tunnell Trust’s Chamber Music Coll in June 2022 and 2023, where they were mentored closely by Ralph de Souza of the Endellion Quartet, Scott Dickinson and Jonathan and Charles Tunnell. The quartet have also been mentored closely by Martin Outram since 2021, when they were selected for the prestigious Frost Trust Advanced Specialist Strings Ensemble Training Scheme (A.S.S.E.T.) at the Academy.
The Asakas made several festival appearances this summer, as String Apprentices at the Southwell Music Festival, performing at the Dinard Opening Festival in France as well as premiering a new work for string quartet by composer Ned Bigham at the Petworth Festival in July. In January 2024 they will embark on a tour of Scotland, performing in Skye, Biggar, Moffat, and Argyll.
Asaka also enjoy working with young musicians. In November 2022 and April 2023 they visited the Poole Society for Young Musicians to work with the young chamber ensembles. They have also presented workshops introducing the String Quartet to primary school children across Exmoor as part of the Two Moors Festival.
As close friends, growing up on opposite sides of the world to the most contrasting of cultures, they have a keen interest in learning and experiencing new things, which lead them to enjoy discovering and sharing underrepresented music. Through presenting creative and innovative programmes, they invite their audiences to discover new repertoire from a fresh and exciting perspective.
Asaka are delighted to have been selected for The Stoller Hall’s ‘Emerging Artists Scheme’ and are also one of Chamber Music Scotlands ‘Ones to Watch’ for 2022/23.
