The callino quartet was formed at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival in 1999. They felt a deep musical affinity and their debut performance at the festival was an instant success. Following on from that they embarked on a concert career, their fresh and enthusiastic approach impressing audiences both at home and abroad. They endeavour to retain this freshness in their performances through a thoughtful and considered approach to the traditional quartet repertoire as well as collaborating closely with composers and other artists.
They have performed with many diverse musicians including the Vogler and Belcea string quartets, double bassist Edgar Meyer, pianist Barry Douglas, rock band The Arcade Fire and jazz guitarist John Abercrombie. The Quartet has commissioned and premiered new works by Ian Wilson, Raymond Deane, Ronan Guilfoyle, Kimmo Hakola and they have also worked closely with Edgar Meyer, Peteris Vasks and Franghiz Ali-Zadeh on their works for string quartet. Last year they released their first commercial CD of works by Ian Wilson on the Riverrun label.
They have toured extensively from Canada to the Czech Republic and regularly broadcast on RTE Lyric FM, BBC Radio 3 as well as several appearances on RTE television. They have performed to critical acclaim at major festivals and concert halls including the Cheltenham festival and Wigmore Hall. The quartet is particulary proud of their own annual festival which takes place in Cork. This forthcoming festival in 2008 will see an exciting collaboration between them and the T'ang Quartet from Singapore.
They are currently studying with Professors Walter Levine (La Salle quartet) and Rainer Schmidt (Hagen quartet) at the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland.
The Callino Quartet take their name from the Irish air " Cailin cois tSuir a me" which means Girl by the River Suir. This song was the first Irish air to be notated and became known as the Callino manuscript. It is now on display in Trinity College library, Dublin.

Sarah Sexton
Violin
.

Michaela Girardi
Violin
.

Rebecca Jones
Viola
.

Sarah McMahon
Cello
.