NORTH SEA
STRING QUARTET

OUT NOW!

"Splunge" is available in all streaming platforms and physical stores.

Listen Now

Classical Roots,
Bold Improvisations

The North Sea String Quartet is one of the most versatile string quartets of the Netherlands. Combining their own compositions with improvisation, their music could be defined as a mixture of jazz, classical and world music.

These are strings that will make you move!

"This quartet performs its own music with playful virtuosity and profound and vicious improvisations. Their ability to create an uplifting inspirational dynamic within the group, balancing mutual respect with challenging teasers was made palpable in a very sincere way throughout the evening. […] They left me very fulfilled with everything this unmatched group had to offer."

David Faber

Cellist of Dudok Quartet

"What makes the multifaceted Splunge unified are the improvisations that run as a thread through the album. These are virtuoso and demonstrate knowledge of a broad musical idiom: from modern jazz to Argentine tango. What the quartet especially excels at is its sense of rhythm and timing. In pieces like Roller and Mojito, the group grooves exceptionally well – no string quartet imitates them."

Dennis Weijers

De Volkskrant (NL)

"Splunge is a bold, innovative album that redefines the boundaries of the string quartet while also keeping an eye on groove and swing. This is how contemporary music can and should sound, which fearlessly opens up to the range of contemporary musical reality without forgetting its own roots."

Stefan Pieper

Orchestergraben (DE)

"With ‘Splunge,’ NSSQ makes a full-fledged album debut of their own, full of surprising compositions and remarkable improvisations. […] A true and unique discovery!"

Bernard Lefèvre

Jazzhalo (BE)

NEWS

Summer vibes!

Radar Festival in Varna

We are invited to play in Bulgaria for the first time! The Radar Festival takes place from the 3rd to the 6th of August in the beautiful city of Varna. We are invited to perform on August 4th as well as to give a masterclass, followed by another concert, at Ethno Fusion Fest in Veliko Tarnovo on the 6th of August.

NSSQ at Concertgebouw Amsterdam 

We are honored to be invited to perform in the prestigious Concertgebouw Amsterdam as part of the Basement Sessions concert series. We’ll perform two concerts with music from our upcoming album. We can’t wait to see you in the audience!

North Sea Jazz meets North Sea String Quartet

We are thrilled to bring two exciting collaborations to the renowned North Sea Jazz Festival. On July 7th, we’ll join forces again with our friends from Trio Da Kali to perform music from their “Ladilikan” project. You can catch us at the “Madeira” stage at 15.30h. (If you can’t make it, another chance to hear us play together is the next day at the Brosella Festival in Brussels at 16:45h.)

Furthermore, we are delighted to announce that we’ll be collaborating with the incredibly talented Samora Pinderhughes, known for his soul-stirring compositions and dynamic performances. This concert will take place on July 9th at the “Missouri” stage at 15:30h. Here’s a taste of his music: Samora Pinderhughes: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

Recording our debut album

We continue to be absorbed in our creative process towards the recording of our first album. A process that started early 2022 with our first artistic residency since George joined the quartet, and which bore fruit at our concert on the island of La Palma. We plan to do the recording at the end of this year and are very happy to do so with 7 Mountain Records, a label with a wonderfully selected unique catalog. The album will be presented in a Dutch tour in May-June 2024.

To finance the album, we will launch a crowdfunding campaign in November. The following newsletters will tell you more about this.

We invite you to our concerts at Klooster Klassiek (Woerden) on 19 March (tomorrow!) and Plus Etage (Baarle-Nassau) on 2 April, where you can get a taste of what the album will be like.

Autumn newsletter

Dear music lover,

We hope you have been enjoying a fantastic summer. We have certainly been a bit quieter than usual but we have a lot of news to share with you nonetheless.

Electric Amazigh Canarias Tour

For our fans in the Canary Islands, we have very good news. This month we will be presenting – together with Javier Infante – our work Electric Amazigh at the Festival de Música Visual de Lanzarote. The concert will take place at the fantastic auditorium of the Jameos del Agua: a volcanic cave turned into a concert hall.

Furthermore, the tour will take us to the islands of Tenerife and La Palma. More information and ticket links can be found on our website. We hope to see you all again! In the meantime you can listen to the album on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming platforms, or get a physical copy here.

Artist residency on La Palma & upcoming album

Last January we started the path towards our next album which we hope to record and present in 2023. While on tour in the Canary Islands, we will have the opportunity to further develop our creative process inspired by the magical nature of the island of La Palma, which will end with a concert at the Casa del Maestro in a familiar and intimate atmosphere.

Due to the limited capacity of the venue we recommend booking in advance here.

Trio Da Kali and November Music

We’ll meet again in Den Bosch with our friends from Mali to perform music from the album Ladilikan as part of the November Music festival. A great opportunity to enjoy the energy and vibes of this fantastic trio and our contribution. More information here.

What we’ve been up to

inJazz & Fira B!

Last June we presented our quartet at Bimhuis to a large crowd of music industry professionals as a showcase artist of the inJazz fair. After our performance we were invited to represent inJazz at the Fira B! fair in Palma de Mallorca. The fire started spreading, because at Fira B! we got invited to play a showcase at So What’s Next in Eindhoven later this month. Here you can watch the whole performance. 

Trio Da Kali and Wonderfeel 

We met up again with our friends of Trio Da Kali for a magical performance on the main stage of the Wonderfeel festival. We are looking forward to reunite with them in November!

We hope to see you again soon!

The North Sea String Quartet,
Yanna, George, Pablo & Thomas

Stay in the loop

Videos

Videos

6 Videos
Info
Info

Youtube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ4iPWDvY74

One of our tightest tunes that we ever released, composed by our talented violinist, George Dumitriu! We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the wonderful audience that surrounded us and filled the atmosphere with their incredible energy.

Recorded at Batavierhuis on May 13, 2023 Special thanks to all the Batavierhuis crew.

Camera and editing by Felipe Pipi. 2nd Camera by Tijmen de Vries Sound mixing by Pablo Rodríguez.

Tour Dates

July 10, 2025

Ambrose Akinmusire ft. North Sea String Quartet

Funchal Jazz 2025

Funchal

Portugal

+ Tickets

July 13, 2025

Ambrose Akinmusire ft. North Sea String Quartet

North Sea Jazz Festival

Rotterdam

The Netherlands

+ Tickets

July 23, 2025

NSSQ Workshop @ Jonge Strijkers Zomerkamp 2025

Nyenrode Business Universiteit

Breukelen

The Netherlands

+ Tickets

January 30, 2026

North Sea String Quartet ft. Engegård Quartet

String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam

Amsterdam

The Netherlands

+ Tickets