Melbourne-based Affinity Quartet earns its place as one of the most outstanding and awarded string quartets of its generation.

At the 2023 Melbourne International String Quartet Competition AQ was awarded the top three prizes - the Monash University Grand Prize, the Robert Salzer String Quartet First Prize, and the Audience Prize – becoming the first Australian ensemble to win the competition in its 32 year history. This milestone followed AQ’s Second Prize awards at the Bad Tölz International String Quartet Competition (Germany) and the Mozart International String Quartet Competition (Austria). At the latter, the group was also awarded the Special Prize for Best Interpretation of a Contemporary Work for their performance of Brett Dean’s String Quartet no.3 ’Hidden Agendas’. In 2022 Affinity Quartet became the first Australian string quartet to reach the Finals of London’s Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition and were awarded Third Prize.  

Committed to accessibility and renewal in the string quartet form, Affinity Quartet celebrates its 10 year anniversary in 2025. Their public programs have become synonymous with excellence in Australian chamber music, earning praise for ‘captivating playing’ (Süddeutsche Zeitung), ‘flawless ensemble’ (Limelight Magazine), ‘highly committed’ (The Age), and ‘first class string playing’ (Classic Melbourne).

Affinity Quartet performs and commissions new Australian works for string quartet. Première performances include works by Australian composers Brett Dean, Darrin Archer, Matt Laing, Tom Misson, Lee Bradshaw, and Sally Beamish (UK). Affinity’s 2024/25 Season includes premières by Alice Chance (AU), Heloise Werner (France), Alexandra Vrebalov (Serbia), Nicole Lizee (Canada) and Fode Lassana Diabate (Mali). Since 2023 Affinity Quartet receives professional mentorship from Günter Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet) during annual residencies at The International Institute of Chamber Music, Madrid, which include live streamed concerts.

From 2025-2028 Affinity Quartet is Artist-in-Residence at Four Winds, an important regional arts site in Australia’s NSW South Coast.

As a not-for-profit cultural organisation based in Melbourne, Affinity Quartet aims to bring Australian chamber music to a wide range of audiences and to shine a bright light on its future. AQ receives support from the Robert Salzer Foundation, Kennedy Nolan, Readings Books, Alex Grant Violins Melbourne, Excelero Solutions, an instrument benefactor, and a growing community of supporters. Its board is chaired by Hilary McPhee AO and comprises six members with backgrounds in the arts, architecture, law and publishing.

Affinity Quartet
Shane Chen, violin
Nicholas Waters, violin
Josef Hanna, viola
Mee Na Lojewski, cello