“beautifully calculated and co-ordinated, time and motion seemed to defy the laws of physics”
The Orava Quartet, founded in 2007 by brothers Daniel Kowalik (violin) and Karol Kowalik (cello), Thomas Chawner (viola), and David Dalseno (violin), is one of the most exciting string quartets of its generation. Known for their passionate and engaging performances, they have been hailed by The Australian as, “the future of Australian Chamber Music, the real deal.”
In 2018 Orava Quartet was the first ever Australian string quartet to release an album under the prestigious label Deutsche Grammophon - produced and distributed worldwide by Universal Music Australia. Their first album, featuring music by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Shostakovch and a collaboration with Australian Soprano Greta Bradman, was recieved to great acclaim, and in 2023 Orava Quartet will release their second album under the same label.
Orava Quartet has toured throughout Canada, the United States, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Philippines. Performing for Queen Sofia of Spain and Pope Benedict XVI. As graduate Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Colorado (USA), they had the privilege of working closely with the world-renowned Takács Quartet from 2012-2014. During this time the Quartet were selected to be part of the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar in New York City, and toured extensively in the US including at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. The Quartet also made their debut at the Sydney Opera House for VIVID Festival (in PLANETARIUM: Sufjan Stevans, Bryce Dessner and Nico Muhly) and won two major awards at the 2013 Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition in Melbourne, including the Musica Viva Australia Tony Berg Award for ‘Most Outstanding Australian Ensemble’.
Since returning to Australia, the Orava Quartet has continued its impressive and rapid rise to national attention, earning a reputation for consistently excellent and thrilling performances. Alongside performances for Camerata - Queensland's Chamber Orchestra, where they are Quartet-in-Residence; they are also quartet in residence for the Orange Chamber Music Festival, Blackheath Chamber Music Festival and the Bangalow Music Festival. Orava Quartet has performed at many major festivals which include return engagements at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music and Huntington Estate Music Festival; Canberra International Chamber Music Festival; Tasmanian Chamber Music Festival; the BBC Proms Melbourne (for which they were named one of the ‘2016 Arts Highlights of the Year’ by arts luminary, Robyn Archer); Queensland Music Festival, Melbourne Festival (where they were again one of the ‘Top 10 Picks’ of the Festival, in the Herald Sun), the Musica Viva Festival, Brisbane Baroque, among others. Orava Quartet regularly performs and is commisioned new works by contemporary and Australian composers including Elena Kats-Chernin, Paul Dean and more.
In addition to the University of Colorado, and Camerata, the quartet has held residencies at the Banff Arts Centre in Canada, the Bundanon Trust in Australia, and studied with members of the Jerusalem, Emerson, St Lawrence, Schoenberg, Juilliard, Brentano and Goldner String Quartets. Mentored during their undergraduate studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music by Uzi Wiesel, Janet Davies and Ole Böhn, the quartet regularly collaborate with musicians such as harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, trumpet soloist Paul Merkel, pianists Piers Lane, Simon Tedeschi, Olga Kern; singers Katie Noonan, Wolfgang Holzmair, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, and guitarists Slava Grigoryan and Karin Schaupp.
Orava Quartet is grateful for the generous support of Bruce and Angela Annabel, the Australian Cultural Fund and many other private sponsors and supporters. They are also recipients of various arts and cultural grants through the Australia Council for the Arts, Australian Music Foundation, Musica Viva, Ian Potter Cultural Trust Dame Joan Sutherland Fund, PPCA Performers’ Trust Foundation, Ernest Llewellyn Scholarship and Ars Musica. Daniel, David and Thomas play on instruments by contemporary American luthiers David Gusset and Ryan Soltis, and Karol on an unknown, 19th century cello. In 2023, the Orava Quartet was announced as Larsen Strings Artists, working as ambassadors of the brand.
Photographs by Dylan Evans Photography