Enigma Quartet

“An ensemble needs that impossible-to-describe extra ingredient… and this group has it in spades.” (Steve Moffatt, News Limited)


Enigma Quartet is an intrepid Sydney-based string quartet acclaimed for its vibrant and dynamic performance style. Their typically 60 minute programs are characterised by an eclectic mix of classic & contemporary music, appealing to audiences both young and old alike.

After welcoming cellist Rowena Macneish in 2011, the quartet won second prize in the prestigious Musica Viva Chamber Music Competition and were selected as Musica Viva Rising Stars in 2012, launching their performing career & introducing them to the St. Lawrence, Goldner, Enso and Tacaks Quartets for invaluable masterclass opportunities.

Fascinated equally by interpreting the well-loved canon of quartet music or exploring yet unknown works, with each performance the quartet aims to grasp the composer’s kernel of truth and express this authentically to the audience.

2013 heralds the world premiere of a new work by Lachlan Skipworth and Gerard Brophy’s ‘Magnificat’ for quartet, saxophone and chorus. Enigma are also giving a Musica Viva Coffee Concert in Sydney and appearing at the Bellingen Music Festival and Blue Mountains Concert Society this year.

The quartet is eagerly anticipating collaborating with shakuhachi legend Riley Lee, tabla master Bobby Singh and leading Sydney saxophonist Christina Leonard this year with more exciting joint ventures in the pipeline.

Keen to explore new performance spaces, the quartet have played in a variety of venues, from the hallowed acoustic of the Newcastle Cathedral to the beer-stained stage of alternative live music venue, The Standard, in Taylor’s Square.

In addition to their own concert series at the Sydney Conservatorium, Turramurra Uniting Church and The Glasshouse in Port Macquarie, Enigma have delighted audiences at Vivid Live 2012 in Sydney and at the idyllic Pearl Beach Music Festival.

Familiar to radio audiences, Enigma have been broadcast across Australia for Sunday Live on ABC Classic FM in 2008 and 2012, and enjoyed meeting and chatting with the indomitable Emma Ayres on the Classic Breakfast show.

The quartet are passionate about the power of music and love playing for patrons of the Wayside Chapel who live on and around the streets of Kings Cross, and for patients and staff at Sacred Heart in St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst.