The members of the Artea Quartet met whilst studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London in 2001. After studies with the Amadeus, Alberni and Wihan quartets they went on to forge a successful career, winning many awards and performing at festivals throughout the UK including the BBC Proms, and at venues such as the Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room as well as live broadcasts for BBC Radio 3.

In addition to their obvious love for quartet-playing the members of the Artea Quartet enjoy a diverse range of music-making on an individual level. Thomas Gould is a soloist and leader of Britten Sinfonia. Rhys Watkins is a member of the first violin section of the London Symphony Orchestra. Benjamin Roskams is the violist of the London Conchord Ensemble and a member of the first violin section of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Ashok Klouda is a member of cello octet Cellophony and is also Co-Founder/Director of the Highgate International Chamber Music Festival.

The quartet received critical acclaim for their 2014 recording of Mendelssohn’s Four Pieces for String Quartet for Champs Hill Records.

Thomas Gould performs as soloist with orchestras worldwide including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, LA Phil New Music Group, Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne and West Australian Symphony Orchestra, collaborating with conductors such as John Adams, Nicholas Collon, Paul Daniel and Robin Ticciati. Leader of Aurora Orchestra and associate leader of Britten Sinfonia, Gould appears as soloist and director with both groups and also collaborates regularly with Sinfonietta Riga. Thomas is a guest concertmaster of London Sinfonietta and Mahler Chamber Orchestra, also appearing in the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The dedicatee of Nico Muhly’s concerto for six string electric violin Seeing is Believing, Thomas's recording of this work for Decca Classics received widespread critical acclaim. His other releases on Champs Hill Records include two albums with his swing band Man Overboard Quintet and one with the Artea Quartet. For Harmonia Mundi, Thomas has recorded Bach’s The Goldberg Variations (in Dmitry Sitkovetsky’s transcription) directing Britten Sinfonia. In 2014 he signed a four- album contract with Edition Classics. Thomas is an associate of the Royal Academy of Music where he studied with György Pauk, and a former Young Concert Artists Trust (YCAT) winner. He plays a 1782 J.B. Guadagnini violin.