New Zealand String Quartet

Over 30 years as New Zealand's only full-time professional string quartet, the New Zealand String Quartet has focused on the music of New Zealand and Asian composers along with Western repertory. The quartet was founded in 1987 by violinists Wilma Smith and Gillian Ansell, violist Sandro Costantino, and cellist Josephine Young; its lineup as of 2018 included violinists Helene Pohl and Monique Lapins, Gillian Ansell on viola (having switched from violin in 1989), and cellist Rolf Gjelsten. Their reach broadened in 1990 as they toured under the auspices of the Musica Viva agency...