The UK's Maggini Quartet Names New Cellist

Will Schofield, principal cello of the City of London Sinfonia, will join the ensemble

The Maggini Quartet has been without a cellist since the death of its founder member Michal Kaznowski in May of 2023. The group recently announced that cellist Will Schofield will join the ensemble.

Presently the principal cello of the City of London Sinfonia and associate principal cello of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Schofield has prior experience in a quartet. For twenty years he was a member of the Emperor Quartet, that performed at festivals around the world and collaborated with artists such as Julian Bream, Michael Collins, Ian Bostridge, Philip Langridge, Ian Fountain, and Isabelle Faust.

Schofield studied at Edinburgh University and then pursued further study with Steven Isserlis and Radu Aldulescu.

Also comprising Julian Leaper and Ciaran McCabe (violins) and Martin Outram (viola), the Maggini Quartet was formed in 1988. The group's recordings have garnered the Gramophone Chamber Music Award of the Year, Diapason d’Or of the Year, a Cannes Classical Award, and two nominations for GRAMMY Awards.

The quartet particularly champions contemporary repertoire and under-appreciated British repertoire. They have commissioned works from James MacMillan, Robert Simpson, Eleanor Alberga, and Roxanna Panufnik, and recorded the ten "Naxos Quartets" of Peter Maxwell Davies.