Veronika Jarůšková, violin; Marek Zwiebel, violin;
Šimon Truszka, viola; Peter Jarůšek, cello
The Pavel Haas Quartet is revered across the globe for its richness of timbre, infectious passion and intuitive rapport. Having performed at the world’s most prestigious concert halls and won five Gramophone Awards and numerous others for recordings, the Quartet is firmly established as one of the world’s foremost chamber ensembles.
The Quartet appears at major venues including Wigmore Hall, London; Philharmonie and Konzerthaus, Berlin; Musikverein, Vienna; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam; Tonhalle, Zürich; Théâtre de la Ville, Paris; Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome; BOZAR, Brussels; NCPA, Beijing; LG Arts Centre, Seoul and Carnegie Hall, New York. In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the Quartet was featured on the cover of The Strad’s June 2022 issue and was the featured interview in BBC Music Magazine the same month The ensemble was included in the latter’s 10 greatest string quartet ensembles of all time and described as “stylistically powerful and richly sonorous, [and] known for its passionate and fearless performances.”
In the 2024-2025 season, the Quartet returns to Carnegie Hall for an all-Czech program honoring the centennial of the Year of Czech Music, initiated in 1924 to acknowledge the contributions of Czech composers. Other North American performances this season include Chamber Music Houston; Ensemble Music Society in Indianapolis; Calgary Pro Musica; Artis Naples with pianist Milana Strezeva; San Francisco Performances; Chamber Music in Napa Valley; and Friends of Chamber Music Vancouver. Internationally, the Pavel Haas Quartet returns to London’s Wigmore Hall and performs in the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, and Belgium.
Since September 2022, the Pavel Haas Quartet has been Artist-in-Residence at the Dvořák Prague Festival and curates the chamber music concerts, including programming all the Dvořák String Quartets and chamber music works over the three seasons.
The Pavel Haas Quartet records exclusively for Supraphon. Its recording of the Brahms Viola and Piano Quintets with pianist Boris Giltburg and the group’s former violist, Pavel Nikl, was released to critical acclaim in May 2022. The album was described as “radiant and vivacious” by The Strad and was Presto Classical’s Recording of the Week. A previous album of Shostakovich String Quartets (2019) was named Recording of the Year by Classic Prague Awards, and one of the 100 best records of the year by The Times.
The Quartet has received five Gramophone Awards for recordings of Dvořák, Smetana, Schubert, Janáček and Haas, as well as Dvořák’s String Quartets No.12 ‘American’ and No. 13, which was awarded the coveted Gramophone Recording of the Year in 2011. The Sunday Times commented: “their account of the ‘American’ Quartet belongs alongside the greatest performances on disc.” Further accolades include BBC Music Magazine Awards and the Diapason d’Or de l’Année in 2010 for a recording of Prokofiev String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2.
Since winning the Paolo Borciani competition in Italy in 2005, subsequent career highlights have included a nomination as ECHO Rising Stars in 2007, participation in the BBC New Generation Artists scheme between 2007-2009 and a Special Ensemble Scholarship awarded by the Borletti-Buitoni Trust in 2010. The Quartet is based in Prague and studied with the late Milan Skampa, legendary violist of the Smetana Quartet. The ensemble takes its name from the Czech-Jewish composer Pavel Haas (1899-1944) who was imprisoned at Theresienstadt in 1941 and tragically died at Auschwitz three years later. His legacy includes three wonderful string quartets.
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