Brunswick String Quartet

Brunswick String Quartet

Brunswick String Quartet. Quartet-in-residence until 1989 at the University of New Brunswick. It was formed in 1970 with the assistance of the Canada Council as the University of New Brunswick Pach String Quartet. Members of the original group were Joseph Pach and Andrew Benac, violins, James Pataki, viola, and Ifan Williams, cello. In 1972, with the departure of Benac and the enlistment of Arlene Pach, it performed for a year as a piano quartet. In 1973 Pach and Pataki, with Paul Campbell, second violin, and Richard Naill, cello, formed the group which came to be known as the Brunswick String Quartet. Paul Pulford replaced Naill in 1983. The quartet toured widely in Canada and the USA, performed and taught at Blue Mountain (Ont) and Courtenay Youth Music camps, gave hundreds of school concerts in New Brunswick, participated annually 1966-83 in the University of New Brunswick's Chamber Music and All That Jazz Festival, and travelled three times to the islands of St Pierre and Miquelon to give concerts for the spring blessing of the fishing fleet. The quartet made its London debut at Wigmore Hall in February 1977 and toured Ireland in the same year. It was broadcast frequently on the CBC, and during its final years conducted residencies at other universities in the Atlantic provinces.