University of York Music Press

Commissioned jointly by the Insomnio Ensemble and the Deutschlandfunk Radio, the world première was given at the Deutschlandfunk Forum für Neuer Musik in Cologne on 24th March 2007.

Earlier this summer, the Kreutzer Quartet gave the British premières of his Radius - String Quartet No 2, and Voci Velesti - String Quartet No 3 at the St. Bartholomew's the Great in London. Kenneth Carter of Classical Source wrote: "Thomas Simaku's string quartets have much to commend them... Simaku has a keen ear for the texture of sounds. He writes sympathetically and perceptively for strings, taking full advantage of the varying timbres in their individual sonorities. His collective, co-operative statements could be loud and stern or soft and laid-back. An inner core of firmness, self-acceptance and repose underpin a series of animated explorations, almost imperceptively. This stability renders sound free to soar and experiment... These 'voices from heaven' have an animated serenity, quite secular, outside time."

Simaku has received a DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst) award in Berlin this autumn, where he will be working on a new piece to be premièred in Venice in April 2008 by former members of the Arditti Quartet Garth Knox and Rohan de Saram. To mark Simaku's 50th birthday a number a performances of his works are scheduled for 2008, including the launch of his solo CD with Naxos in a concert at the Spring festival in York.