Karelia Quartet
“The Karelia Quartet is truly a dream, the dream team of the string quartet world right now!”
About
The Karelia Quartet is an award-winning British-based string quartet whose profound musical insight, imaginative programming, and commanding technical prowess have rapidly established them as one of the most compelling young ensembles in Europe.
Formed in early 2024 at the Royal Academy of Music, the quartet comprises violinists Emil Hartikainen and Megan Yang, violist Felix Pascoe, and cellist Daniel Schultz. The ensemble’s meteoric trajectory has been accelerated by an array of prestigious European appointments, notably being selected as Kirckman Concert Society Artists for the 2026–27 season and chosen for the elite international MERITAcubed programme (2026–29), which sees them undertaking a high-profile cycle of international performances and collaborative projects across the continent.
The quartet’s competitive record is a testament to their artistic maturity, sweeping First Prizes at the Wolfe Wolfinsohn String Quartet Competition, the Historical Women’s Composer Competition, and the Nina Drucker String Quartet Competition, alongside a major Second Prize at the celebrated CAVATINA Chamber Music Competition at Wigmore Hall. This technical standard has garnered attention at the highest levels of society, resulting in exclusive command performances for His Majesty King Charles III at St James’s Palace and for Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Wellington at Apsley House. From September 2026, the quartet will further refine their craft through intensive advanced studies under the legendary mentorship of Professor Günter Pichler (Primarius of the Alban Berg Quartet) at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid.
Backed by an active global footprint, the Karelia Quartet is designated as ECMA Aspirants (European Chamber Music Academy) for 2025–27, participating in collaborative sessions across Europe. Their festival credentials include the Danish String Quartet Academy and the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland, where they were honoured with the Oleg Kagan Memorial Fund Scholarship, alongside a prestigious international residency with the Hasdrubal Foundation in Hammamet, Tunisia. Working under the close guidance of mentors Alex Redington (Doric String Quartet) and Sini Simonen (Castalian String Quartet), their 2026–27 itinerary features highly anticipated debuts at King’s Place and Conway Hall, alongside major festival appearances at the Winchester Chamber Music Festival, the Großraming Festival in Austria, and a curated residency at Ferrandou Musique in France.
Projects
Mainstage Concert Series & Festival Engagements
The Karelia Quartet is an elite choice for headline festival bookings, international chamber series, and prestigious venue debuts. Equipped with an exceptional core classical repertoire, they deliver electrifying, deeply intellectual interpretations of the heavy-hitting cornerstones of the quartet literature. Their available concert programs feature masterworks ranging from the dramatic architecture of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden and Grieg’s String Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, to the rich impressionism of the Ravel quartet and standard classical masterworks by Haydn and Dvořák. Their mainstage offerings combine absolute technical precision with a refined, cohesive ensemble identity that has captivated audiences from London's premier civic spaces to major international stages.
Curated Concepts, Crossover & Recording Projects
Operating at the vanguard of modern chamber curation, the quartet offers highly innovative, thematic programming designed to expand and re-energise the traditional quartet format. As winners of the Historical Women’s Composer Competition, they excel at unearthing rare, overlooked gems, pairing them alongside 20th-century and contemporary masterworks by Peter Sculthorpe and Lotta Wennäkoski. They also seamlessly integrate sophisticated crossover elements into their programs, offering custom, highly evocative concert arrangements of traditional Danish Folk Tunes and the songs of Percy Grainger. Highly experienced in acoustic tracking environments, the quartet is available for commercial recording commissions, utilising premier studio environments including the VOCES8 Centre in London to deliver flawless, broadcast-ready sessions.
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