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The Doric String Quartet has quickly established a reputation for quality and versatility, recording both mainstream and contemporary string quartet music and collaborating with other artists beyond the chamber music sphere.

Formed in the late 1990s, the group came under the umbrella of Britain's Young Classical Artists Trust, a charity devoted to nurturing young talent, in 2006. It won several major prizes in the late-2000s decade, including a first-place finish at the 2008 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, and made the first of many appearances at London's Wigmore Hall, where its performances of three Haydn quartets was released on the hall's own label in 2009. The following year, the Doric String Quartet released its debut on the Chandos label, an album of quartets by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and since then, it has recorded prolifically for that label. The group has performed in top European concert halls: the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, and De Singel in Antwerp, among others. In the U.S., likewise, the quartet has appeared in choice venues: New York's Frick Museum and the Library of Congress in Washington. It is a fixture of festivals in a number of European countries.

The quartet's recordings on Chandos -- among them those of Walton's cycle, of Schumann's string quartets, and of a Janácek-Martinu album -- earned strong critical praise. In 2017, the Doric String Quartet released a recording of Elgar's Introduction and Allegro for String Quartet and Orchestra, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Edward Gardner. The group has taken up several compositions for the unusual combination of string quartet and orchestra. It has performed John Adams' Absolute Jest with the Vienna Symphony at the Vienna Konzerthaus with Adams conducting, with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw, and with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; the quartet recorded the work with the latter group in 2018. The Doric String Quartet recorded the string quartets of Mendelssohn in two volumes in 2018 and 2021, and the latter year saw the release of two more albums by the group, the first in a cycle of Mozart quartets, and an album of British oboe quintets featuring Nicholas Daniel. By that time, the quartet's Chandos catalog included more than 20 items. ~ James Manheim

Pianist Kathryn Stott has specialized in the music of her native Britain but is a versatile artist with a wide repertory of solo and chamber music. She is well known as a frequent duet partner of cellist Yo-Yo Ma. In addition to performing, Stott is active with various festivals and concert series as an artistic director. She has a substantial recording catalog, much of it with Ma; in 2024, several of her 1980s recordings of music by George Lloyd were reissued by the Lyrita label.

Stott was born on December 10, 1958, in Nelson in Britain's Lancashire region. She attended the Yehudi Menuhin School as a child, and among her teachers there was the famed pedagogue Nadia Boulanger. Stott attended the Royal College of Music, where her principal teacher was Kendall Taylor. In 1978, at 20, she made it to the finals of the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition, ultimately placing fifth. Later that year, she made her London debut at the Purcell Room, and ever since then, she has had a flourishing concert career. Another significant event occurred in 1978 when Stott returned from a vacation to find a Chinese cellist practicing in her apartment. This was Ma, to whom Stott's flatmate, violinist Nigel Kennedy, had sublet his space without specifying that the apartment was shared. Despite the unorthodox introduction, the two became lifelong creative partners, frequently performing and recording together. In 1986, Stott made her recording debut on the Conifer label with an album of works by Gabriel Fauré.

Fauré became one of her specialties, but she has also become known for her performances of British music. Her interpretations of works by Frank Bridge and William Walton are highly regarded, and she was the dedicatee of Peter Maxwell Davies' 1997 Piano Concerto. Stott has also premiered various other contemporary works, including Michael Nyman's The Piano Concerto and many works by Graham Fitkin. Unusually, she always performs from a score, even when playing solo recitals. In addition to Ma, Stott has other A-level chamber music partners, including trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth, cellist Christian Poltéra, and pianist Noriko Ogawa. Stott's touring schedule has included appearances in many Western European countries, the U.S., and Japan. In Britain, her schedule has included appearances with all the BBC orchestras and ten concerts at the BBC Proms. Stott's recording catalog includes albums on such major labels as Decca, EMI, Philips, and Hyperion. She has recorded often with Ma, and their joint output includes best-selling items such as 1997's The Soul of the Tango; she has also become independently interested in tango music. Stott has remained active into her seventh decade, releasing the album Songs of Comfort & Hope with Ma in 2020. Two albums of reissued Stott performances of solo piano music and concertos by George Lloyd appeared in 2024 on the Lyrita label; by that time, her catalog comprised well over 50 albums. ~ James Manheim