Takács Quartet
A
Short 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.


2007/2008

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