When It All Started...
The Mozaik Guitar Quartet was founded when four of Europe's most promising young guitarists met at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg in September 2017. The Quartet consists of Michael Lochery (Scotland), Hannelore Vander Elst (Belgium), Alvaro García Peón (Spain) and Utkan Aslan (Turkey).
With the name “Mozaik” they refer to the Mozarteum University, where it all started, and to a mosaic, because their four different backgrounds and personalities allow them to form one complimentary whole.
Since the start, the ensemble has worked together under the guidance of renowned Canadian guitarist and chamber musician Laura Young, guitar and chamber music professor at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and at ESMUC in Barcelona.
They are performing concerts and participating in competitions throughout Europe. In May, they made their German debut at the Nah Dran concert series as a part of the Nürnberg Chamber Music Festival. In June 2019, they were awarded 1st prize at the X. Savarez-Corelli Chamber Music Competition in Salzburg.
In August 2019, they won 1st prize at the International Paola Ruminelli Chamber Music Competition in Domodossola, Italy. In October 2019, they were finalists at the International Young Talents Competition in Uppsala, Sweden. In April 2022, they toured throughout Belgium for 11 concerts in the MUSICA et POETICA series. Later that same year, they recorded their first album, which will be published in 2023.
The quartet's ambition is to surprise their audience with refreshing repertoire: they present new original music for guitar quartet while also developing the available repertoire through their own arrangements of other composers. Each of the pieces in their programme aims to highlight the unique qualities which only a guitar quartet can provide.