The Pavel Haas Quartet stands as one of the world’s premier chamber ensembles, commanding the most prestigious concert stages globally. Its recordings have earned it five Gramophone Awards, along with a multitude of other significant accolades. In 2022, BBC Music Magazine ranked the ensemble among the top 10 greatest string quartets of all time.

The Quartet’s performances regularly grace revered venues such as Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, NCPA in Beijing, the Philharmonie and Konzerthaus in Berlin, Queen's Hall in Edinburgh, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Wigmore Hall in London, Philharmonie in Luxembourg, Carnegie Hall in New York, Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, LG Arts Centre in Seoul, Musikverein in Vienna, and Tonhalle in Zürich, etc.

In the 2024/2025 concert season, the Pavel Haas Quartet will once again return to illustrious Carnegie Hall and London’s Wigmore Hall. The ensemble will embark on a European tour during the first half of the season, visiting Austria, Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. It will close out 2024 with a tour across the United States. Audiences in the Czech Republic can look forward to several performances at the Dvořák Prague Festival, where the Quartet has served as an artist-in-residence and curator of chamber concerts since September 2022, including a three-season exploration of Dvořák’s string quartets and chamber works.

The Pavel Haas Quartet records exclusively for Supraphon. Its most recent album, *Brahms Viola and Piano Quintets* (2022), featuring Boris Giltburg and former member Pavel Nikl, met with widespread acclaim. The Quartet’s prior release, *Shostakovich String Quartets* (2019), garnered the Recording of the Year prize at the Classic Prague Awards, and The Times hailed it as one of the 100 best recordings of the year.

The ensemble has received five Gramophone Awards for its recordings of Dvořák, Smetana, Schubert, Janáček, and Haas as well as for Dvořák’s String Quartets No. 12 “American” and No. 13, which also took the 2011  Gramophone Recording of the Year award. Additional honours include a BBC Music Magazine Award and the 2010 Diapason d’Or de l’Année for the ensemble’s recording of Prokofiev’s String Quartets No. 1 and No. 2.

A victory at the Paolo Borciani Competition in Italy in 2005 marked the first milestone of the Pavel Haas Quartet’s career. A nomination for ECHO Rising Stars in 2007 followed, along with participation in the BBC New Generation Artists program from 2007-2009, and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Special Ensemble Scholarship in 2010.

The Pavel Haas Quartet was founded in 2002 by Veronika Jarůšková, and violist Pavel Nikl, who remained a member until 2016 and who continues to be a frequent guest performer at string quintet concerts. The ensemble’s members studied under the legendary violist Milan Škampa of the Smetana Quartet. The Quartet takes its name from the Czech composer Pavel Haas (1899–1944), Janáček’s most promising pupil, who was imprisoned by the Nazis in the Terezín ghetto in 1941 and tortured to death three years later in the Auschwitz concentration camp. His musical legacy includes three exquisite string quartets.

source: artevisio

Named one of the greatest string quartets of the last 100 years by BBC Music Magazine, the two-time GRAMMY-nominated Dover Quartet is one of the world’s most in-demand chamber ensembles. The Dover Quartet is the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music and holds additional residencies at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University and the Walton Arts Center’s Artosphere festival. The group’s awards include a stunning sweep of all prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, grand and first prizes at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. Its honors include the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award, and Lincoln Center’s Hunt Family Award.

The Dover Quartet’s 2023-24 season includes a North American tour with Leif Ove Andsnes, performances with Haochen Zhang and David Shifrin. A sought-after ensemble, recent collaborators include Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnaton, Ray Chen, the Escher String Quartet, Bridget Kibbey, Anthony McGill, Edgar Meyer, the Pavel Haas Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, and Davóne Tines. In 2022, the quartet premiered Steven Mackey’s theatrical-musical work Memoir, alongside arx duo and actor-narrator Natalie Christa. They also recently premiered works by Mason Bates, Marc Neikrug, and Chris Rogerson.

The Dover Quartet’s highly acclaimed three-volume recording, Beethoven Complete String Quartets (Cedille Records), was hailed as “meticulously balanced, technically clean-as-a-whistle and intonationally immaculate” (The Strad). The quartet’s discography also includes Encores (Brooklyn Classical), a recording of 10 popular movements from the string quartet repertoire; The Schumann Quartets (Azica Records), which was nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance; Voices of Defiance: 1943, 1944, 1945 (Cedille Records); and an all-Mozart debut recording (Cedille Records), featuring the late Michael Tree — long-time violist of the Guarneri Quartet. Voices of Defiance, which explores works written during World War II by Viktor Ullman, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Simon Laks, was lauded as “undoubtedly one of the most compelling discs released this year” (The Wall Street Journal).

The Dover Quartet draws from the lineage of the distinguished Guarneri, Cleveland, and Vermeer quartets. Its members studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, the New England Conservatory, and the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. They were mentored extensively by Shmuel Ashkenasi, James Dunham, Norman Fischer, Kenneth Goldsmith, Joseph Silverstein, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, and Peter Wiley. The Dover Quartet was formed at Curtis in 2008; its name pays tribute to Dover Beach by fellow Curtis alumnus Samuel Barber.

The Dover Quartet’s faculty residency at Curtis integrates teaching and mentorship, a robust international performance career, and a cutting-edge digital presence. The innovative residency allows Curtis to reinvigorate its tradition of maintaining a top-quality professional string quartet on its faculty, while providing resources for the ensemble to experiment with new technologies and engage audiences digitally. Working closely with students in the Nina von Maltzahn String Quartet Program, the Dover Quartet coaches and mentors the most promising young string quartets to nurture a new generation of leading professional chamber ensembles.

The Dover Quartet plays on the following instruments and proudly endorses Thomastik-Infeld strings:

• Joel Link: a very fine Peter Guarneri of Mantua, 1710–15, on generous loan from Irene R. Miller through the Beare’s International Violin Society

• Bryan Lee: Riccardo Antoniazzi, Milan, 1904; Samuel Zygmuntowicz, Brooklyn, 2020

• Julianne Lee: Robert Brode, 2005

• Camden Shaw: Joseph Hill, London, 1770

source: Konzertdirektion Andrea Hampl

The origins of the Sedlacek Quartet date back to 2007, at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (AMU), following the tradition of the original Sedlacek Quartet in Pilsen (1974–1994), as a family musical ensemble. They continued to develop under the tutelage of many reputable music teachers, such as Jiří Panocha, during their chamber music studies at the AMU. Later, they also took several masterclasses led by members of several renowned string quartets, such as the Keller Quartet, the Artis Quartet Wien, the Tel Aviv Quartet, and the Alban Berg Quartet.

The Sedlacek Quartet has appeared at renowned festivals both in the Czech Republic and abroad, including the isa – International Summer Academy, the International Music Festival Young Prague, the Ludwig von Beethoven Festival Teplice, the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades, and others. The ensemble is the winner of the Czech Chamber Music Society Award (2016), and also won prizes in the Karol Szymanowski International Music Competition in Katowice and the Bohuslav Martinů Music Competition in Prague, both in 2014. They later claimed 3rd prize in the Leoš Janáček and Johannes Brahms International Music Competition.

However, the hallmark of the Sedlacek Quartet is their focus on music which is not a part of any standard chamber music repertoire. This especially includes Czech works (along with other international composers) that were either never published, or rarely performed, so in this way the ensemble makes many unknown compositions come to life. They have already made recordings of K. Slavický, S. Hořínka, B. Martinů, and J. Teml with the support of the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation. With oboist Lukáš Pavlíček, they have also recorded music by F. A. Míča, W. A. Mozart, and A. Dvořák. In 2017, they recorded the complete string quartet works by V. J. Veit (1806-1864). In 2019, they followed with a CD of three of Rafael Kubelík’s (1914-1996) string quartets, which they self-published. Their most recent impressive recording project was the completion of all the string quartets by K. B. Jirák (1891-1972), this time for Czech Radio.

From 2022 to 2024, the ensemble is taking part in the performing of Antonín Dvořák's complete string quartets at the Dvořák Prague Festival.

Source: Sedlacek Quartet

Petr Ries, a double bass player, graduated from the P. J. Vejvanovsky Conservatory in Kroměříž. During his studies at the conservatory, he also studied conducting and composition. In 2003/2004 he participated in a study stay at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Dance in Paris in a class taught by Professor Jean-Paul Celea. He completed his studies at the Music Faculty of the Academy of Music, Drama and Fine Arts in Prague, where he studied under the guidance of Professor Jiří Hudec.

He has won prizes in various competitions, e.g. Competition of Conservatories Teplice (1996, 1st prize), F.Gregora International Competition Kroměříž (1997, 1st prize), the Moravian Autumn International Competition (1998, 2nd prize), Internationale Musikwettbewerb Markneukirchen (1999 7th prize), Internationale J.M. Sperger Musikwettbewerb Michaelstein (2002, 2nd prize), the Moravian Autumn International Competition (2003, 2nd prize) and in the Talent of the Year 2002 Competition Prague, where he played Sergei Koussevitzky’s Concerto in F minor, together with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra. It was broadcast live by the Czech Radio.

In 2003, he earned a post in the Symphony Orchestra of the Czech Radio in an open audition. Half a year later, he became Co-Principal double bass player in the Czech Philharmonic.

Petr Ries also performs as a soloist. He regualarly gives solo recitals and has been accompained by several Czech and foreign orchestras. As a chamber performer, he has cooperated with the Baborak Ensemble, the Pavel Haas Quartet, the Bennewitz Quartet, the Zemlinsky Quartet, the Martinů Quartet, the Kocián Quartet, the Belfiato Quintet, the PhilHarmonia Octet, etc.

He is currently a member of the Prague Chamber Soloist and the Haydn ensemble Prague.

He has been a lecturer at the Masterclass in Litomyšl since 2003 and at the Summer Academy in Kroměříž since 2021. He was a professor at the International Conservatory of Music in Prague from 2009 to 2015.

Source: www.petrries.cz

member of Pavel Haas Quartet

member of Pavel Haas Quartet

Adam Honzírek has been the principal double bass player of the Czech Philharmonic since 2019 and has appeared with the orchestra at many important concert halls around the world including London’s Royal Albert Hall, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. He has performed alongside such leading Czech and foreign artists as Semyon Bychkov, Sir Simon Rattle, Alain Altinoglu, Jakub Hrůša, Yuja Wang, Gautier Capuçon, Josef Špaček, and Jan Martiník.

He also devotes himself to playing solo and chamber music written for the lowest-pitched string instrument, and he does not neglect contemporary compositions (see his collaborations with the Berg Orchestra, Czech Radio, and the composer Ondřej Štochl on one of the projects Music for Sirens). He graduated from the double bass studio of Pavel Klečka at the Jan Deyl Conservatoire in Prague, and he is now studying at the Academy of Performing Arts under the guidance of Radomír Žalud. 

Source: Adam Honzírek