The Allegri Quartet is one of the oldest British Chamber ensembles in existence, going back to its foundation in the 1953 by Eli Goren, William Pleeth, Patrick Ireland and James Barton.

With a packed schedule for the coming season 2008/9, highlights include a Premier of Matthew Taylor's Seventh Quartet, a commission for the Little Missenden Festival. The Quartet has invitations to Turkey and Canada, and has been invited to Wigmore Hall to participate in a Coffee Concert later on in the season.

The Allegris' have recently released  the Mozart Quintets in G Minor and C Major with ex-Allegri Violist Prunella Pacey, and this year are awaiting the immanent release of  Peter Fribbins' Clarinet Quintet with James Campbell, and two works by Michael Stimpson: Robben Island (written to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela), and a piece for piano quintet and tenor based on As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee. These recordings of new works reflect an ongoing commitment to contemporary music that has led the Quartet to première more than 60 works since 1964, including pieces by well-known composers such as Alexander Goehr, Jonathan Harvey, James Macmillan, Colin Matthews, Edmund Rubbra and John Woolrich.

The Quartet enjoys collaborating with other artists, and has worked with outstanding concert performers such as Jack Brymer, Clifford Curzon, Annie Fischer, Dame Thea King, John Ogden and Gervase de Peyer at international festivals that include Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Prague Spring, Berlin, Hong Kong, and Stavanger. In 2006-07 they were joined by Canadian clarinettist James Campbell for quintets by Brahms and Mozart.

The members of the Allegri Quartet are increasingly in demand for their teaching, with residencies at Middlesex University, the University of East Anglia,  Bangor, Durham, Nottingham, Oxford, and Southampton, with whom the Quartet has enjoyed long-standing relationships thanks to the generous support of the Radcliffe Trust. The Quartet also has an interesting association with the Newark School of Violin Making, giving feedback to young luthiers on their work and performing on a selection of the finest instruments produced each year.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH LATEST VIDEO OF THE ALLEGRI PLAYING MOZART'S Bb QUINTET K174 1st MOVEMENT