The quartet first performed at the Royal Academy of Music in 1965 to compete for a prize and set out to make the string quartets of Bartók and Beethoven the centre of their repertoire.
In 1967, the quartet was appointed to be Leverhulme Scholars at Keele University, and in 1970, it changed its name from the Cropper to the Lindsay String Quartet, naming itself after Lord Lindsay, the founder of Keele University.
Roger Bigley left the quartet in 1985 to be replaced by Robin Ireland.
In 1974, they became Quartet-in-Residence at Sheffield University and five years later held a similar position at Manchester University, where they performed a regular concert season, directed seminars, and coached chamber ensembles.
The quartet presented festivals each year at the Studio Theatre in the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, which featured many famous local and international musicians, and travelled widely throughout the world.
Individual members afterwards pursued separate musical ideas.
The quartet produced an extensive list of recordings, including an acclaimed Beethoven cycle, and substantial parts of the Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Dvořák repertoires.
Leader Peter Cropper (19 November 1945 – 29 May 2015) was the founding artistic director of Music in the Round, a charitable organisation he founded in the 1980s, that promotes chamber music concerts in Sheffield and nationally.
The Lindsays formed the core of Music in the Round's activity for over twenty years, until their retirement.
[1][2][3][4][5] Gramophone Award – 1984 Honorary doctorate – Keele University, 1986[6] Honorary doctorate – Sheffield Hallam University, 1990[7] Honorary doctorate – University of Leicester, 1998[8] Honorary doctorate – University of Sheffield, 2001[9] Honorary doctorate – University of Manchester, 2005[10] A Quintessential Quartet: The Story of the Lindsay String Quartet written by Bernard Gregor-Smith[11] The Lindsay String Quartet (Peter Cropper; Ronald Birks; Robin Ireland; Bernard Gregor-Smith)[12] Hanging in The National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom | by György Gordon | oil on canvas, 2003 | Primary Collection | NPG 6649 BEETHOVEN: String Quartets "Rasumovsky" No.
Piano Quintets (with P. Frankl) CD DCA 728 MENDELSSOHN : String Quartet No.
MOZART: Quartet K428 / String Quintet K515 CD DCA 992
MOZART: Quartet K421 / String Quintet K593 CD DCA 1018
MOZART: Quartet K465 / String Quintet K614 CD DCA 1069 RAVEL & DEBUSSY: String Quartets / STRAVINSKY: 3 Pieces CD DCA 930 SCHUBERT:String Quintet (with Douglas Cummings - cello) CD DCA 537
JANACEK: The 2 String Quartets "Kreutzer Sonata" & "Intimate Letters" / DVORAK: Cypresses CD DCA 749
SMETANA: The 2 String Quartets / DVORAK: Romance & 2 Waltzes CD DCA 777
DVORAK: Bagatelles / String Quintet "The American" CD DCA 806
Beethoven String Quartets Op.59 'Razumovsky', CD liner notes.