In these difficult times for the recording industry it is exciting that the Emperor Quartet and BIS Records are looking forward to continuing their relationship.

In June '04 the Quartet met up with producer Rob Suff, recording engineer Jeff Ginn and composer Sally Beamish to record a disc of two Quartets by Sally Beamish and Beethoven's c minor Quartet opus 18/4. The summer also saw the release of the first volume of their Martinu series and future releases in this series, which uses a new critical edition provided by the Martinu Foundation in Prague, will alternate with a Britten series in a project starting in 2005.

Black Box acheived their first Grammy nomination with the Emperor String Quartet recording of Walton. Now part of the Sanctuary Group it would be wonderful if that success could be repeated with the plan to record a chamber version of the C.P.E. Bach flute concertos with flautist Karen Jones.

To date the Quartet has worked on five projects with ECAT. These have ranged from working with young composers - from school age to post graduate - to performing modern classics such as Ligeti's second string Quartet alongside premieres of works by emerging talents.

The latest venture included performances of works by local composers Edward McGuire and Georgian born Marina Adamia (world premiere) programmed with the Latvian composer Peteris Vasks and Lithuanian Anatolijus Senderovas (world premiere). An idea mooted for a future project is Harrison Birtwistle's "Pulse Shadows" which, ideally, would be taken on tour.

The Quartet will be returning to Cardiff this autumn and again in the new year. A key part of this innovative partnership is the focus on outreach work - now such an important part of the modern working musicians' life.

The Quartet offer workshop recitals with an emphasis on participation as well as listening and also demonstrations in composition technique via a unique interactive decontruction of short pieces and extracts from the mainstream repertoire. These are presented to the students in seminars and in live events

On their last visit the Quartet spent three days coaching chamber groups, many of whom were preparing for the Cavatina Chamber Music Prize, and also offered the opportunity for students to observe the Quartet in action at Schools in the Methyr Tydfil area.