The Holywell String Quartet was formed at the University of Oxford in 2004.
It takes its name from the Holywell Music Room, the first purpose-built concert hall in Britain and the venue of the quartet's first public performance in early 2005 at the finals of the Oxford Chamber Music Prize. During their time in Oxford the quartet performed extensively, and were awarded the Joan Conway Scholarship to further their studies as an ensemble. They have recently premiered new works by composer Julian Dawes, whom they work with often.
Julian Dawes was born in 1942. He began his musical training in Birmingham, continuing at the Royal College of Music in London. He has worked extensively as a composer, accompanist and teacher, holding posts at Drama Centre London, Birmingham University, the The Arts Educational Schools in London, and The Oxford School of Drama. He has directed the music for numerous theatre productions, and was for five years Musical Director of The Cherub Company London.
He has written extensively for the theatre. Credits include Marya by Isaac Babel for the Royal Court Theatre, A Doll’s House by Ibsen and Don Perlimplin by Lorca for the Riverside Studios, The Royal Pardon by John Arden for the Arts Theatre, The Changeling by Middleton for a production in Sydney, Australia, and The Price by Arthur Miller for the Bristol Old Vic. His scores for Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle and Edward ll are both recognised scores for these plays held by the Brecht Estate in Berlin and have provided the music for many productions. His musical The Braddocks Time was a commission from the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, where it was followed by a tour of the north of England. The Sacrifice, a music drama based on a Japanese No play was initially premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, and in a revised version by The Acting Company at the New End Theatre. As Musical Director of The Cherub Theatre Company he composed scores for The Tempest at the European Festival Antwerp, The Merchant of Venice at The Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, , Ten Days A-Maze at the Edinburgh Festival, Edward II at the Battersea Arts Centre, and Kafka’s The Trial at the Riverside Studios. He also composed a score for an adaptation of Twenty thousand leagues under the sea for the Watermill Theatre in Newbury.
In the concert hall he has written a Mandolin Concerto, a commission from the International Music Competition for professional Mandolin players in Schweinfurt, Germany. He has written a large number of sonatas and suites for a variety of combinations of instruments, as well as thirteen song-cycles including ‘Songs of Ashes’, a setting of fifteen poems by the Polish poet, Jerzy Ficowski, about the Holocaust. This work has been broadcast in Israel four times. His output also includes a wide range of other vocal, choral and chamber music.
His cantatas ‘The Death of Moses’ and Shirat Hayam (The Song Of The Sea), a setting of the biblical poem from the book of Exodus, together with the Oratorio ‘Ruth’ were both first performed in London to high acclaim, as was also a recital of his music at the Wigmore Hall. His third oratorio, Shirat Hayam (The Song Of The Sea), a setting of the biblical poem from the book of Exodus, received its first performance in 2013, and his Pesach Cantata was first performed at the New London Synagogue in April 2016.