The Goldner Quartet is unique in the history of String Quartets in Australia, in that it has maintained the same four members throughout its existence.  The Quartet has widespread recognition as not only Australia’s pre-eminent string quartet, but as an ensemble of international significance, favourably compared with the best in the world. Their performances have been acclaimed throughout Australia, UK, Europe, USA, the Asia-Pacific and New Zealand. They have also regularly appeared at major festivals at home and abroad and have been Quartet-in-Residence at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music for many years. The Goldners curated their own Music in the Hunter Festival for almost three decades.

The old adage of a string quartet being like a marriage, or at least a family, has extra meaning for the Goldners. Consisting of two married couples and working so closely as one musical family, they have lived through the highs and lows that any family experiences and have shared both joys and profound challenges throughout their 30 years together.

Special projects have included a ten concert retrospective of 20th century quartets for the Adelaide Festival in 2000, Sydney’s Sister Cities project and the complete cycle of Beethoven’s string quartets. The cycle performances were recorded live over three weeks by ABC Classics and the 6 volume CD set won the 2009 Limelight ‘Best Classical Recording’ Award. The recordings of the complete Quartets of Peter Sculthorpe and of Carl Vine in the presence of the composers is another important legacy.

Numerous other CDs have been released - mostly on the Hyperion label (11 CDs featuring long-time collaborator Piers Lane, piano) and also on ABC Classics, Tall Poppies and Naxos labels. Rave reviews including the Diapason D’Or, Editor’s Choice in Gramophone Magazine, BBC Music Magazine and in Limelight magazine followed. The Goldners’ own DVD Documentary entitled “The Quartets” (released by ABC Classics) about renowned composer Peter Sculthorpe, recorded live with the composer's participation in 2012, is an important historical document.

The Goldner String Quartet has had many happy collaborations with international artists such as Piers Lane, Kathryn Stott, Nicholas Daniel, Michael Collins, Boris Berman, Torleif Thedeen, Dong Suk Kang, Alexander Ivashkin, Rainer Moog, Katia Buniatishvili, James Crabb, Roderick Williams, Katya Apekisheva, Jack Liebeck, William Barton, Edgar Meyer and numerous other noteworthy artists. As Quartet-in-Residence at AFCM Townsville, the Goldners have formed the backbone of many Festival programs, performing there almost every year since the mid-1990s.

The Goldners have often collaborated with other String Quartets and have performed the Octet repertoire with international ensembles such as Tokyo String Quartet, the Dover, Danish, Elias, Vertavo, and New Zealand String Quartets, and closer to home, the Australian, TinAlley, Orava and Flinders Quartets.

The Quartet has been featured as chamber soloists with orchestras such as the Sydney, Queensland and Canberra Symphony Orchestras and the Brisbane-based chamber orchestra, Camerata.

Throughout the years, the Goldners have mentored many young musicians through programs of the Australian Youth Orchestra, Musica Viva Australia, Australian National Academy of Music, AFCM Townsville and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

The Goldner String Quartet has a strong history of regularly premiering new works, commissioned from many of Australia’s leading composers, and has enjoyed particularly close working relationships with Peter Sculthorpe, Ross Edwards, Carl Vine, Nigel Westlake, Paul Stanhope and Matthew Hindson.

In recognition of the Goldners’ 25th Anniversary the 2020 AFCM commissioned the Goldner Variations : 25 Australian composers, chosen by the Goldners, each wrote a short Variation on Beethoven’s theme Ode to Joy from his Ninth Symphony.

As the string members of the Australia Ensemble (Resident at UNSW since 1980) they have enjoyed an even longer shared musical history, together with colleagues such as David Bollard and Ian Munro (piano), Geoffrey Collins (flute), Nigel Westlake, Alan Vivian, Catherine McCorkill, and David Griffiths (Clarinet).

Whilst the Quartet’s individual members believe they still have much to contribute, they feel 2024 is the right time to bring their 30-year Goldner String Quartet journey to a close.

Hear the announcement live from the Goldners on the Closing Night of the 2023 Australian Festival of Chamber Music