“In terms of the future of Australian chamber music, the real deal.”

“beautifully calculated and co-ordinated, time and motion seemed to defy the laws of physics”

“On this occasion, CIMF featured the young Orava String Quartet who have gradually ascended the ladder of chamber music stardom. When they first appeared at CIMF in 2018, I predicted that they were “destined to become one of Australia’s proudest cultural exports”. And so, they have, with international touring, competition-winning and recordings. In 2018 the Brisbane-based quartet issued their first recording release on Deutsche Grammophon with a prize-winning program of Russian music, including a breath-taking reading of Shostakovich’s String Quartet No 8. A week before their CIMF appearance this week they recorded Shostakovich’s String Quartet No 6. They hardly needed reference to their parts; they had internalized this quirky and unsettled music deeply. Their Shostakovich performances are more energized, more contrasted in moods and colours, more compelling and edge-of-seat than any I have heard in recent years…

For the Oravas, there must surely be a complete Shostakovich cycle for DG in the works?”

“Orava played with incredible passion, fire and intensity, combined with assurity and conviction. The first movement, marked “Moderato molto espressivo” began with a tentative, pianissimo opening which exploded into massive dynamics….
Once again, the audience erupted in thunderous applause and cheers. It was an electric and enthralling evening of the finest music making.”

“The final work on their program was a work called Orawa, by Wojciech Kilar They played this piece with great tenderness and passion, just as we all imagine that famous Polish exile, Chopin, playing the mazurkas of his homeland.

After this piece the audience demanded an encore”

“The Oravas gave each harmony a different colour, so the harmonic changes became meaningful and profound ... they achieved a great clarity of voices, which is no mean feat in the Hobart Town Hall. ... For me, the jewel in the evening came from the two Schulhoff works, his Five Pieces for String Quartet and String Quartet No 1. …

The wonderful array of colours produced by the performers gave full credit to the emotional depth of the music.”

“Sharply-dressed and full of interpretive insight, the Orava Quartet has earned its emerging reputation as one of Australia’s most exciting ensembles… It is difficult to see these still relatively young performers slowing down any time soon, and Australian classical music is all the better for it. […]

The quartet displayed precise melodic balance and precision, and a smattering of tasteful dynamic flair, which made their Debussy finale an especially beautiful, richly atmospheric affair. Their interpretation was expansive, and they seemed to delight in the spaces between notes, as Debussy would have put it … Where the quartet fully excelled, however, was in the Schulhoff... an ideal vehicle for the Orava Quartet to showcase its technical and artistic mastery…”

“As much-hyped as the ensemble has been, they didn’t disappoint... this is quartet playing that’s vibrant, exciting and that demonstrates an impressive commitment to a unified concept of sound and musical expression.”
“The highlight of the concert, however, was a stunning performance of Debussy’s 1893 String Quartet...If the Orava Quartet didn’t already have every audience member eating out of their hands with the snowballing vibrancy of Debussy’s finale, their encore ... sealed the deal.”

“While there was no ginger at the Buderim War Memorial Hall, there was plenty of spice in a testosterone-charged concert by the Orava Quartet. … But it was not bull-at-a-gate testosterone; it was exceptional musicality, supported by abundant energy in a demanding program, and delivered with intensity, precision and incredible teamwork.
These four young men have taken the string quartet configuration, given it better than a good shake, and thrown the boundaries away. Their performance was nothing short of brilliant, delivering an edge-of-the-seat experience for the audience.
It was, without doubt, a highlight of the festival.”

“In his review of From Russia with Love at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville, Clive Paget described the Orava Quartet as “the most exciting young quartet on the block” – and hearing them perform several times over the course of the AFCM’s final weekend, it’s not hard to see why.Joined by cellist Francis Gouton, they took to Schubert’s D956 Quintet in C Major on Day 8 like trouts to water, bringing colour, focus and loads of energy to the mammoth work that spans almost an hour… the ensemble sustained a remarkable level of intensity that had the audience hanging on every note.”

“The Orava Quartet – currently the most exciting young quartet on the block – really do breathe as one, an intense togetherness allowing them to indulge a winning delicacy of touch with each player given his moment to sparkle in the sunlight. The Orava sound is rather special. Daniel Kowalik’s lean, clean first violin shimmers away on top, gently complemented by David Dalseno’s discreetly supportive second violin. Underneath sits Thomas Chawner – a violist of much flair and warm tone – and Karol Kowalik, whose impassioned cello is a pleasure to watch as well as a joy to hear.”

“warmth of sound, sublime inner voicing and spontaneity”

“world class”

“elegant style and musical maturity… an engaging sweetness of tone. That ease, of course, only comes with time and effort, and their impeccable balance and pinpoint intonation is clearly a product of intense listening… The hymn-like Adagio with its radiant tonal explorations found the group at their very finest... The Minuet with its softly chuntering cello solo (magical playing from Karol Kowalik) was a gas, the finale a riot of rip-roaring musical japery.”

“The Orava quartet ... showed with this performance that they have arrived, not merely on the international scene, but somewhere near its apex. I have known and loved this quartet [Schubert D minor string quartet] for 60 years, and I have never heard a better performance of it. From the uncompromising non-vibrato of the opening phrase to the ineffable sweeties of the close of the slow movement; from the commitment to every note in the score to the tightness of the ensemble playing, which made the whole even greater than the sum of its brilliant parts; from the deep seriousness with which they approached the piece to the risks they successfully took with the terrifying textures of the tarantella finale – this was a complete performance, of one of the towering works in the entire string quartet genre. No-one who heard this performance will ever forget it.”

“In their sharp suits and designer mop-tops the four look like a boy band but play with the intensity of their mentors the Takacs Quartet. They are deadly serious in artistic purpose but oh-so-marketable commercially, and their jaw-dropping take on Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in F minor, Op 80, had audience members four times their age hooting and hollering at what is, in terms of the future of Australian chamber music, the real deal.”