Nicola Lisle looks forward to the start of Villiers Quartet’s residency

When members of the Villiers Quartet step on to the Holywell Music Room stage in a couple of weeks’ time, they will be marking the start of their new Radcliffe Chamber Music Residency at the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Music.

The quartet – one of the UK’s leading young ensembles – beat the Ligeti Quartet and Piatti Quartet to secure the residency.

“We were very surprised,” says first violinist James Dickinson. “You try not to hope too much with these things, but we were delighted to be asked to do the residency. We’re very much looking forward to it.”

Over the next three years, the quartet will spend at least two weeks a year in Oxford, performing a series of concerts at the Holywell Music Room and the Sheldonian Theatre, and working with academics and students at the Music Faculty.

“It’s great for us as a quartet because residencies are the lynchpin of quartets,” says James. “It gives us a base. There’s also the prestige of being at Oxford and the chance to work with the Faculty. We’ve already got two projects lined up with some of the Faculty, so that’s great for us.”

The concert on November 25, L’Entente Cordiale, features three string quartets by Elgar, Delius and Faure, all set in E minor and all influenced by the Great War. Professor Daniel Grimley, from the Faculty of Music, will give a pre-performance talk on Delius.

Two days later, there is a lunchtime concert, In the shadow of greatness, featuring Britten’s Divertimenti and two quartets by Robert Still.

The Quartet returns in February, when they will be featuring neglected Oxford composer William Sterndale Bennett.

“It’s very exciting because we’re going to work in conjunction with the Bodleian Library,” explains James.

“Our programme includes Brahms, Mendelssohn and Schumann, who were all friends, but also Bennett, who was very famous in the 19th century and was hugely influential.

“He was head of music at just about everywhere, including the Royal Academy of Music, but not Oxford – they turned him down. So after all this time he can finally come here.

“After the concert we’ll have a reception at the Bodleian and the original scores for the Mendelssohn quartet and the William Sterndale Bennett are actually in the Bodleian.”