United Strings of Europe
We are a multinational string ensemble united by a curiosity for music across cultures, traditions and generations, and a desire to explore what live performance can be.
Led by Artistic Director Julian Azkoul, our guiding principle is to find connections between different works and musical worlds, blending the familiar with the new to create performances that move, surprise and encourage audiences to listen differently.
Heralded as one of ‘the leading string ensembles of its era’ (Gramophone) and praised for our ‘virtuosically expressive’ playing (The Times), we bring together established repertoire, new commissions and bespoke arrangements, collaborating with artists whose perspectives challenge and enrich our own. Recent appearances include London's Southbank Centre, Antwerp's De Singel, Snape Maltings, West Wicklow Festival, Canterbury Festival and Two Moors Festival, with forthcoming returns to Wigmore Hall, the Barbican Centre and Geneva's Victoria Hall.
We are continually seeking ways to reimagine string playing and the concert experience.
Our interdisciplinary projects take us beyond the conventions of the concert hall, bringing music into dialogue with theatre, movement and other art forms. Working with Gandini Juggling and Concert Theatre Works, we have created productions combining music with juggling, mime and dance, including Renewal: The Lark Ascending, featuring our commission Another Eden by Joanna Marsh.
Our project send back the echo began as a lockdown film with Deaf actor Vilma Jackson, exploring disability and social exclusion. It has since evolved into a live performance exploring deafness and the many ways of experiencing music. Following our Southbank Centre debut in 2026, the project will tour internationally in 2027, deepening our collaboration with Deaf-led charity Audiovisability and placing accessibility at the heart of the artistic experience.
We are passionate about creating new music and bringing fresh perspectives to existing repertoire.
Our collaborations span classical, contemporary, folk and other musical traditions, with artists including Colin Currie, Sharon Bezaly, George Fu, Itamar Zorman, Lodestar Trio and Gwilym Simcock. Recent highlights include the world premiere of Erkki-Sven Tüür's Memoirs with Tamsin Waley-Cohen and Colin Currie at the Two Moors Festival.
Since 2020, we have released six critically acclaimed albums through our recording partnership with BIS Records/Apple, praised for their ‘compelling programmes’ (BBC Music Magazine) and ‘superb performances’ (The Strad). Two albums have featured in Apple Music's ‘10 Classical Albums You Must Hear this Month’, and our recordings have attracted over four million streams. Recent projects include Tangofonus with composer and bandoneonist JP Jofre, and Inheriting the Earth, a forthcoming album with soprano Ruby Hughes exploring the natural world and our place within it through music by women composers across generations.
We believe in music's power to connect people, bridge divides and foster understanding.
This conviction shapes both our artistic work and our engagement with communities. In 2024, we partnered with SANSARA Choir and Syrian musician Basel Saleh for a Barbican Centre concert exploring themes of sanctuary and solidarity, accompanied by an album release on Platoon/Apple. Our wider outreach programme brings us into sustained collaboration with refugees and marginalised communities, using music to explore social issues, foster dialogue and build meaningful connections.
Across everything we do, we hope to spark curiosity, challenge expectations and create moments of connection through music.