Takács Quartet
A
Full Biography

Edward Dusinberre | 1st violin
Károly Schranz | 2nd violin
Geraldine Walter | Viola
András Fejér | Violoncello

The Takács Quartet is recognised as one of the world's leading string quartets. Formed in 1975 in Budapest by Gabor Takács-Nagy, Karóly Schranz, Gabor Ormai and András Fejer, the Quartet's talent was soon recognised with the award of first prizes at the Evian and Portsmouth (now London) International String Quartet Competitions.

The Quartet records for Hyperion Records and their first release for that label, issued in October 2006, features the string quartets D804 & D810 by Schubert. Future recording plans include works by Brahms and Schumann. The Quartet's multi-award winning recordings for Decca include the late quartets by Beethoven (Classical Brit Award 2006/Disc of the Year and Chamber Award 2005 BBC Music Magazine Awards/2005 Gramophone Award/2005 Japanese Record Academy Award), the quartets Opp. 59 & 74 (2002 Gramophone Award/2003 Japanese Record Academy Award/2003 Grammy Award), the Op 18 quartets (2004 Japanese Record Academy Award/Winner : Chamber category at the 2004 Gramophone Awards)and the six quartets by Béla Bartók (1998 Gramophone Award). In addition the Quartet has recorded works by Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Dvorák, Borodin, Smetana and Chausson.

The Takács Quartet are Artists in Residence at the South Bank Centre in London. They are also Resident Quartet at the Aspen Music Festival.

Future engagements include appearances in Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Geneva, Cologne, Milan, Zurich, Bilbao, Lisbon, New York, Washington, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and at the Aspen Festival. They will return to Australasia in 2008 and to Asia in 2009. They will also collaborate with the Hungarian folk music ensemble Muzsikás and the singer Marta Sebestyen exploring the connections between traditional Hungarian folk melodies and the works of Béla Bartók.

Since 1983 the Quartet has held a Residency at the University of Colorado, USA, and in 1988 the Takács Quartet was appointed Visiting Quartet at the Guildhall School of Music in London.

The Quartet members have been awarded the Knight Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary.

Edward Dusinberre (first violin) was born in 1968 in Leamington Spa, England, and has enjoyed playing and performing the violin from a very young age. His early experiences as concertmaster of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain encouraged him to choose music as a profession. He studied with the Ukrainian violinist Felix Andrievsky at the Royal College of Music in London, where he has won numerous prizes, including a prize for scales (which, unfortunately, no longer form a part of his performance repertoire). Upon graduation in 1990, Mr. Dusinberre was awarded the Tagore Medal for the most outstanding student in his year. During the same year, he won the British Violin Recital Prize and gave his debut recital in London at the Purcell Room, South Bank Centre.
After his graduation from the Royal College of Music, Mr. Dusinberre received scholarships from the Countess of Munster Trust, Martin Scholarship Fund and the Ian Fleming Fund to continue his studies at the Juilliard School with Dorothy Delay. While at Juillard, he was concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra and continued to perform recitals and concertos in England. Upon completion of his studies at Juilliard, Mr. Dusinberre auditioned for the Takács Quartet, which he joined in 1993.
Mr. Dusinberre lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife Beth, an archeologist who teaches at the University of Colorado, and their son Sam. He enjoys hiking in the mountains near Boulder and going to the theatre whenever time permits. He is also greatly interested in chess, although the need for obsessive attention to details tends to deter a very active involvement in the game.

Károly Schranz (second violin) was born in 1952 in Budapest, Hungary. His first musical experiences were listening to the Gypsy bands in restaurants, which he has always admired for their virtuosity and musicianship. Mr. Schranz began playing the violin at the age of four under the very strict supervision of his mother who often resorted to unconventional methods of teaching and encouraging practice. ("To improve my bowing technique, she devised a method of attaching a string to my arm, and pulling in the desired direction. When this approach failed, she spanked me with a wooden spoon, which resulted in my hatred towards practicing.") At the age of fourteen, he entered the Béla Bártok Secondary Music School, where he met his future wife, also a violin student at the school. In 1980, he received his music diploma from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music where he studied with Mihály Szücs, András Mihály, and György Kurtág.
Between 1976 and 1980, Mr. Schranz was co-concertmaster of the Hungarian Opera Orchestra, where his wife was also a member. ("My wife sat at the stand behind me. Every time I turned to look at the ballerina's legs, I felt a sharp knocking on my head—a subtle reminder that she was keeping an eye on me.")

One of Mr. Schranz' childhood passions was playing soccer. Perhaps it was no coincidence then, that he met András Fejér, Gábor Ormai, and Gábor Takács-Nagy with whom he formed the Takács Quartet in 1975, on a soccer field.
Since 1986, Mr. Schranz, his wife and three daughters have made their home in Boulder, Colorado, where they often go hiking. He also loves to play tennis as often as his very busy schedule permits. Mr. Schranz is the recipient of the Franz Liszt Prize in 1983.

Geraldine Walther, recently appointed violist of the Takács String Quartet (starting in the 2005-06 season), has been Principal Violist of the San Francisco Symphony since 1976, having previously served as assistant principal of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Miami Philharmonic, and the Baltimore Symphony. Among the many works Ms. Walther has performed as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony are Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, Telemann's Concerto in G major, Berlioz's Harold in Italy, Hindemith's Trauermusik, Der Schwanendreher, and Kammermusiken Nos. 5 and 6, Tippett's Triple Concerto, Martinu's Rhapsody-Concerto, and the viola concertos of William Walton, Walter Piston, Thea Musgrave, Béla Bartók, Alfred Schnittke, and Krzysztof Penderecki. She has given the US premieres of several important works with the Orchestra, including Toru Takemitsu's A String Around Autumn, Peter Lieberson's Viola Concerto, and George Benjamin's Viola, (together with SFS Associate Principal Violist Yun Jie Liu). In May 2002 she was soloist in William Schuman's Concerto on Old English Rounds, the American premiere of the Robin Holloway Viola Concerto, and the Britten Double Concerto for violin and viola.
In 1995 Ms. Walther was selected by Sir Georg Solti as a member of his Musicians of the World, an orchestra composed of leading musicians from around the globe, for concerts in Geneva to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. She has also served as principal violist with the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego and has performed as soloist with other Bay Area orchestras. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Walther regularly participates in leading chamber music festivals, including Marlboro, Santa Fe, Tanglewood, Bridgehampton, and, most recently, the Telluride, Seattle, and Ruby Mountain festivals, Music at Kohl Mansion, Green Music Festival in Sonoma, and the inaugural season of Music@Menlo two summers ago. She has collaborated with such artists as Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, and Jaime Laredo, and has appeared as a guest artist with some of the world's most renowned string quartets, including the Vermeer, Guarneri, Lindsay, Cypress, and St. Lawrence quartets. In 2001 she joined the Tokyo Quartet on a tour of Spain and Italy.

András Fejér (cello) was born in 1955 into a musical family. His father was a cellist and conductor, and his mother was a pianist. He began playing the cello at the age of seven, because as legend has it, his father was unwilling to listen to a violin-upstart practicing. Since an early age, his parents have held string quartet weekends, which, for the young cellist were the most memorable of occasions, if not for the music, then for the glorious desserts his mother used to prepare for those sessions.

After attending a music high school, Mr. Fejér was admitted to the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in 1975, where he was a pupil of Ede Banda, András Mihály, Ferenc Rados and György Kurtág. That same year he founded the Takács String Quartet with three fellow classmates. Although the quartet has been his sole professional focus since then, he does perform as a soloist occasionally as well.
Mr. Fejér is married to a literature teacher. They have three children and live in the Rocky Mountains, where they enjoy year-round sunshine in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. When he is not on tour, he enjoys reading, photography, tennis and hiking.


2007/2008

If you wish to revise this biography, please contact Mark Stephan Buhl Artists Management. Please use material of the current season only.