Since its formation in 2008, the Cavaleri Quartet has gained a reputation as one of the leading European string quartets. They won First Prize at the 2012 Hamburg International Chamber Music Competition and were awarded additional prizes for their performances of Brahms and Mendelssohn. In 2011 the Cavaleri Quartet won the 'Special Prize' in the Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition.
The Cavaleri Quartet first came to prominence in the UK after winning the Royal Over-Seas League Ensemble Competition in 2011, following their Wigmore Hall London debut in 2010 and Southbank debut at the Purcell Room in 2008 (as Park Lane Group Young Artists). The quartet were “RCM Rising Stars” 2008 and were also selected for the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme and both the Kirckman Concerts Society and Musicians Benevolent Fund Ensembles Awards. They are the current Quartet in Residence at Oxford University and Ambassadors for the European String Teachers' Association.
Highlights of recent seasons include appearances at the Auditorio Nacionale (Madrid), Sony Auditorium (Madrid), Teatro Toniolo (Venice) and Rachmaninov Hall (Moscow). They have also performed at all of the major London concert venues, including the Wigmore, Cadogan, Royal Festival and Queen Elizabeth Halls and Kings Place. In 2011 they performed in the 'Solistas del Siglo XXI' series at the Teatro Monumental, Madrid, which was broadcast live on Radio Clasica, Spain. They have also broadcast live on NDR Kultur, Germany. Festival appearances include Edinburgh Fringe, Harrogate, Salisbury, Brighton and Newbury.
The Latvian pianist Olga Jegunova possesses a remarkable musical imagination combined with a seriousness of purpose and discipline. Her repertoire ranges from Bach to Schnittke, Scarlatti to Bartok and includes much contemporary repertoire, with some new works composed especially for her.
Olga has gained an enviable reputation as soloist and recitalist. She has won many major international piano competitions, including the Ginette Gaubert competition in Paris and the Steinway-Förderpreis in Hamburg. She has been a prize-winner at the Maryse Cheilan competition in France, the Stasys Vainiunas competition in Vilnius, the Animato competition in Zurich, and was a semi-finalist at the prestigious Geza Anda Concours in Zurich.
Beginning her musical studies in her native Latvia, Olga then studied in Hamburg and subsequently under Dmitri Alexeev at the Royal College of Music in London, and also under Norma Fisher at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Her studies have been supported by many scholarships and awards including Socrates Erasmus, Acroyd Trust, LMN, Izglitibas fonds, Kulturkapitala fonds, RCM scholarship and DOM Stiftung
Olga regularly performs at festivals across Europe. These include the Liepaja Star Festival, the Riga J.S. Bach Festival, Spivakov Festival, the L. van Beethoven Festival “Kasseler Musiktage” in Germany, the Deal Festival, the Chilingirian Schumann Fest in London, International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove, and Sounds New Contemporary Music Festival.
Highlights of 2013 include her debut in Flagey hall in Brussels (with Aleksei Kiseliov), participation at Samling masterclasses with Sir Thomas Allen and Caroline Dowdle and becoming a Samling scholar, performances with ENO Artistic Director and Principal Dancer Tamara Rojo in "Noureev and friends" gala in Paris as well as Olga's debut at the Edinburgh International Festival.
Olga has participated in numerous master classes with such luminaries as Andras Schiff, Ferenz Rados, Elisso Virsaladze, Mikhail Voskresensky and Lazar Berman. As a soloist she has worked with conductors such as Saulius Sondeckis, Alexander Soddy, Andres Mustonen and Muhai Tang and appeared with ensembles and orchestras such as the Sinfonia Concertante, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Zürcher Kammerorchester and Manchester Camerata. Her activities as a chamber musician include performing as a pianist, harpsichordist and fortepiano player.