The UK’s Heath Quartet Appoints New Violinist 

Violinist Maja Horvat will succeed Juliette Roos, who joined the group in 2023

Formed in 2002 at Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music, the UK-based Heath Quartet has welcomed Maja Horvat as a new member, joining violinist Sara Wolstenholme, violist Gary Pomeroy, and cellist Christopher Murray.

Horvat debuted at Wigmore Hall in 2021 as first violinist of the Brompton Quartet, of which she is a founding member. Among her chamber music collaborators are Sir Andras Schiff, Steven Isserlis, Tabea Zimmerman, Christian Tetzlaff, and David Cohen.

She is a Tillett Debut Scheme Artist, and in 2019, was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Emily Anderson Prize. As a soloist, she has appeared with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra Mladi Solisti, and the Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra.

Horvat has also been concertmaster of the Royal College of Music’s (RCM) Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestra, Fidelio Symphony Orchestra, and the Echo Ensemble. Other engagements have involved playing with Symphonisches Orchester der Jeunesse Leibnitz and the Ljubljana International Orchestra.

A graduate of the Music School Jesenice in Slovenia, Conservatory for Music and Ballet Ljubljana, and RCM, Horvat’s teachers were Bojan Ristić, Blanka Piotrovska, Volodja Balžalorsky, Daniel Rowland, and Leonid Kerbel.

In masterclasses, her mentors included Maxim Vengerov, Nicola Benedetti, Ivry Gitlis, Saewon Suh, Anton Martynov, Vasilij Meljnikov, Igor Ozim, and Wonji Kim Ozim. In 2022, she completed her Artist Diploma studies at the RCM with Alina Ibragimova.

Horvat recently performed with the Heath Quartet at the Pierre Boulez Saal in a program featuring Czech composers. She also joins the group as it begins its role as String Quartet in Residence at Middlesex University.

Chosen for representation by YCAT, the Heath Quartet won the 2008 TROMP competition and the 2012 Ensemble Prize at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The following year, they became the first ensemble in 15 years to win the RPS Young Artists Award.

Season highlights have included a US tour, a live BBC Proms broadcast, and giving the inaugural concert at the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange, and working with Tom Poster, Ben Goldscheider, and the Elias String Quartet.