About
Praised for their “immaculate precision and spirit” (The Strad) and “cultured tone” (Arts Desk), the Solem Quartet has established itself as one of the most innovative and adventurous quartets of its generation. A 2020 awardee of the Jerwood Arts Live Work Fund, the Solem Quartet takes its place amongst some of the UK’s brightest artistic voices. Since winning the Royal Over-Seas League Ensemble Competition 2014, the Solem Quartet has built a strong following. They enjoy a busy concert schedule, ranging from international tours in Asia and Europe to performances at major UK venues including Wigmore Hall and Royal Festival Hall.
The Quartet takes pride in creating original and exciting work, bringing the string quartet genre to unexpected places; this approach has seen them collaborating with Ayanna Witter-Johnson at Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, playing Beethoven and Britten at Picturehouse Cinemas to bring Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Lobster” to life, and performing a lecture-recital of Steve Reich’s Different Trains with broadcaster Tom Service.
As proud advocates of new music, the Quartet has worked closely with many of today’s leading composers, including Thomas Adès, Anna Meredith, Edmund Finnis, William Marsey and Bushra El-Turk. In recent times, the Quartet has given world premieres of Ryan Latimer’s Spinfall; LENCTEN, by Master of the King’s Music Errollyn Wallen; and Laurence Osborn’s Lakes, Mists, Bats, Daggers, and Fountains at Wigmore Hall. In 2021 they gave the UK premiere of Jonny Greenwood’s Quartet Suite from “There Will be Blood” at the V&A Museum.
L to R:
William Newell, Amy Tress, Stephen Upshaw, Stephanie Tress
Between 2020 and 2023, the Quartet’s ‘Beethoven Bartók Now’ series featured six major commissions from British composers, alongside the complete Bartók Quartets and complete late Beethoven Quartets, bringing new life and relevance to these iconic masterpieces. ‘Beethoven Bartók Now’ also featured a wealth of digital content and educational activity including ‘Writing for Quartet’ workshops for composers of all backgrounds, which won an award from the Royal Philharmonic Society.
Passionate about collaboration, the Quartet has worked with artists from across genres including vocalist/composer Alice Zawadzki, filmmaker Jessie Rodger, and clarinettist/composer Mark Simpson, with whom they appeared at the Aldeburgh Festival and live on BBC Radio 3. In 2024 the Quartet appeared at the Southbank Centre with cellist/composer Philip Sheppard as part of Sleeping at Last’s UK debut, and were featured artists on Jamie Philokyprou’s 2024 release Nostalgia, and the BAFTA-nominated Blue Jean (2022) performing a score by composer Chris Roe.
The Quartet released their most recent album, “Painted Light”, with Delphian Records in October 2023. The CD, of 20th-century and contemporary music linked by light, shade and perspective, received Five Stars from BBC Music Magazine and was described by Europadisc as “compelling listening for all lovers of the string quartet genre”. ‘The Four Quarters’ (Orchid Classics), the Solem Quartet’s debut album, was released to critical acclaim in 2021. Using Thomas Adès’ The Four Quarters as a framework – and featuring several arrangements by the ensemble – this CD explores composers’ depictions of night and day and all the moments in between; from the melodious dawn chorus of Cassandra Miller’s Warblework, via Bartók’s earthly and touching portrayal of An Evening in the Village, to Kate Bush’s ethereal And Dream Of Sheep.
The Solem Quartet takes great pride in its educational work. From 2015-17 they held the Junior Fellowship in Chamber Music at the Royal Northern College of Music, and from 2016-24 they were Quartet in Residence at the University of Liverpool, where they performed in the gala opening concert for the Tung Auditorium, flagship concert hall of the University’s Yoko Ono Lennon Centre. Their immersive concerts and workshops have taken them to mainstream and special needs schools through Live Music Now and they have performed or given seminars at Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Cardiff Universities.
Biographies
Amy Tress
Violinist Amy Tress is a chamber musician and recording artist whose wide-ranging work stretches fluidly across classical and contemporary genres. A ‘brilliantly adaptable’ player (The Strad), she has been described as performing ‘poetically’ (The Arts Desk) and with ‘demonstrative charm’ (The Scotsman). Alongside her role as first violinist of the Solem Quartet, she records frequently for film and TV, from major franchises like Marvel Studios and “The Matrix” to soundtracks by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, with whom she has also appeared in recital.
Amy regularly works with many of the UK’s finest chamber orchestras and contemporary music groups, including London Sinfonietta, Explore Ensemble, United Strings of Europe, Britten Sinfonia, 12 Ensemble, Manchester Camerata, Riot Ensemble and London Contemporary Orchestra, many of whom she has been invited as guest principal. She has collaborated with leading living composers such as Thomas Adès, Anna Meredith and Edmund Finnis, and appeared as soloist with orchestras such as the National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland). Her solo and chamber performances have taken her to major venues across Europe, Asia and the USA, and her recordings are broadcast regularly on BBC Radio 3.
Amy studied Music at Christ Church, Oxford, where she was awarded the Gibbs Prize for the highest First Class Music degree, and subsequently the Royal College of Music, where she won a number of performance prizes. She teaches at the Royal College of Music Junior Department and since 2014 has directed La Mariette Junior Masterclasses in France.
William Newell
William Newell enjoys a wide-ranging career centred around chamber music. Aside from his work with the Quartet, Will is Principal second violin of Manchester Camerata, hailed by The Times as “Britain’s most adventurous orchestra”. Recent highlights have included recording Mozart piano concertos with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and legendary Artistic Director Gábor Takács-Nagy, The Four Seasons with Daniel Pioro and Michael Morpurgo, and performing alongside Camerata principals as soloist in Tippett's Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli.
Will performs regularly with other leading UK ensembles including Manchester Collective, London Mozart Players, Royal Northern Sinfonia, and 12 ensemble, and has appeared as guest leader with Heritage Orchestra. Demonstrating his dynamic versatility and broad tastes, William is a member of the Mead Men (a sea shanty group); has played for Nonclassical and the Vortex Jazz Club; and has appeared at Glastonbury Festival with Abel Selaocoe's Bantu Ensemble.
Alongside performing, William works as an arranger; his arrangements have been featured on both Solem Quartet albums, and have been performed and broadcast by groups worldwide including London Mozart Players, the Jess Gillam Ensemble, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra String Quartet. He has worked closely with visual artist/director Imran Perretta for his 2024 installation piece A Riot in Three Acts, and his debut 2025 film ISH which won the audience award at the Critics' Week at the Venice Film Festival. Will also works regularly with film composer Isabella Summers, including for the 2024 Netflix series Kaos, and the 2025 film My Oxford Year. In 2023/24 the Solem Quartet toured with vocalist Alice Zawadzki performing a set of Kate Bush songs arranged by Will, described as "lush and evocative".
Originally from Romford, North East London, William began his musical education with Havering Music School and received formative teaching from Susan Sheppard. He studied with renowned chamber musicians Krysia Osostowicz and Alexander Janiczek at the Guildhall School from 2012-2017, where won the Sheriff's Prize for Music upon graduating.
Stephen Upshaw
American violist Stephen Upshaw regularly appears in festivals around the world including the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Lucerne, Huddersfield, Aix-en-Provence, Wien Modern and Glastonbury, where he recently collaborated with Max Richter and Tilda Swinton.
Much in demand as a chamber musician, he has shared the stage with artists such as Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Tai Murray, the JACK Quartet, Gary Hoffman, Jess Gillam, Elena Urioste, Jennifer Stumm and Garth Knox. Recent engagements have taken him to The Paris Philharmonie, London’s Barbican, Wigmore and Royal Festival Halls, Tokyo Opera City, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw and Concertgebouw.
A noted interpreter of contemporary music, Stephen is also a member of London’s Riot Ensemble, winners of the inaugural Ernst von Siemens Foundation Ensemble Prize. He has worked closely with many of today’s leading composers, including John Adams, Thomas Adès, George Benjamin and Helmut Lachenmann. Expanding the repertoire of the viola through the commissioning of new music has always been a feature of Stephen’s work. He has taken part in over 300 world premieres including chamber music of Georg Haas and Sally Beamish (alongside the composer) and solo works of Mark Simpson, Michael Finnissy and Errollyn Wallen.
Stephen has recently appeared as soloist with the Vaasa City Orchestra (Finland) and in recital at the Time of Music, Brighton and Little Missenden Festivals, Kettle’s Yard, and the National Gallery.
He has also toured to the USA, Europe and Asia with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and its music director, Joshua Bell and is regularly invited to play guest principal viola with ensembles including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Klangforum Wien, Britten Sinfonia, Norrbotten Chamber Orchestra (Sweden), Aurora Orchestra, Chineke!, Royal Northern Sinfonia, The Ulster Orchestra and Manchester Camerata.
Stephen serves on the faculty at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Junior Department, Switzerland’s Lucerne Festival Academy and has been invited to adjudicate past editions of the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards and the Royal Over-Seas League Competition. He has published pedagogical articles in The Strad magazine and is invited to give masterclasses across the UK, US and Europe.
Stephanie Tress
Stephanie Tress, a founding member of the Solem Quartet, is a leading chamber musician and champion of contemporary music.
Aside from the quartet, she is a member of the House of Bedlam, an experimental ensemble who have recently appeared at Kings Place and Aldeburgh Festival. Their concerts often involve improvisation and performance art (highlights have included jumping on a trampoline while trying to sing a Latin text, and consuming a graphic score made of marshmallows). Steph is also a member of the newly-formed ECCE, a cello trio set to give its debut at Wigmore Hall and release an album of mostly renaissance choral music with Delphian in 2026. Elsewhere recent performance highlights include Michael Gordon’s ‘Industry’ for solo cello and live electronics at Hidden Notes Festival with Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood on distortion pedal.
In December 2024 Steph was awarded a job with Manchester Camerata, often playing Principal or Co-Principal. She has also been Guest Principal with London Contemporary Orchestra and Sinfonia Cymru.
Steph enjoys session work for film and TV; highlights have included recording the score for Charli XCX’s upcoming soundtrack to Wuthering Heights and meeting Danny Boyle after recording 28 Years Later.
Originally from Kingston-upon-Thames, Steph studied in Bremen, Germany, and then in Manchester. She graduated from the Joint Course at Manchester University and the Royal Northern College of Music in 2014 with Distinction, winning a number of academic and performance awards including the Sir John Barbarolli Cello Competition.
Since September 2023 Steph has been a teacher of cello and chamber music at the Royal College of Music Junior Department. She plays a Thomas Kennedy cello from 1820, generously loaned to her by the family of her late teacher Michal Kaznowski.