'This residency is perfect. You can focus on thinking, breathing, rehearsing, eating, sleeping string quartets.

You cannot find such residencies everywhere in the world. We have the opportunity to build something. We knew there was no music school or professional orchestra or opera company in Galway. You can come here, be creative, like a pioneer.

'The fact that we'd been here before, given a concert before we found out about the residency, meant that we knew the place. We'd had a three-year residency in London, and after London it's difficult to find a place to go for something new. We moved to Madrid, and we saw the opportunity in Galway, and thought, yes, that's the place to go. It's got character, charm. It's not Dublin, it's something totally different. To live here on the west coast and be an artist is very rewarding.

'We've given concerts in Galway, and around Ireland, north and south. We've done concerts in unconventional places - in a pub, in a garage, on the islands. We've been in more than 80 schools in Galway city and county, making as many as six visits to some of them, and having a performance together with the pupils at the end. We've done community workshops, played for people with disabilities. We've brought music to elderly people. We've had an international lecture series. We've invited big-name guests from all over the world to play with us here in Galway.

'We've also interacted with traditional musicians and done a CD together, and done a CD of the work of Brian Boydell. We've played pieces by Irish composers (there's a new work by Jane O'Leary in tomorrow's concert), not only in Ireland but in concerts abroad. We've set up a summer school, we teach privately some of the best students in the area, and we've also worked with amateur and student orchestras in the area.'