Pavel Haas Quartet

In the 20/21 season the Quartet will return to major venues including Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Wigmore Hall London, Amici della Music Firenze, BOZAR, Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Konzert Theater Bern, and festivals such as the Schubertiade, Hindsgavl and Festival Musique & Neige. Throughout the season, they will tour all seven Martinů String Quartets in a series of six concerts at the Wigmore Hall London, amongst other venues. Further tours will be to the East Coast of United States which will include returns and debuts in New York, Washington, Cleveland, Florida and Atlanta.

The Pavel Haas Quartet record exclusively for Supraphon. Their recent recording of Shostakovich String Quartets was released in 2019 and received outstanding acclaim including being named as one of The 100 best records of the year by The Times and Recording of the Year by Classic Prague Award. Their disc of Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2 and String Quintet No. 3 with Boris Giltburg and their former member, Pavel Nikl, was released in 2017 and earned them their fifth Gramophone Chamber Music Award in 2018. Diapason d’Or chose the disc as Album of the Month and commented: “It is difficult to overestimate their expressive intensity and opulent sound production.” The Quartet received further Gramophone Awards for their recordings of Smetana’s String Quartets, Schubert’s String Quartet ‘Death and the Maiden’ and the String Quintet with Danjulo Ishizaka, Janáček’s Quartet No.2 ‘Intimate Letters’ and Haas’s Quartet No.2 ‘From the Monkey Mountains’, as well as Dvořák’s String Quartets No.12 ‘American’ and No.13, for which the Quartet was also awarded the most coveted prize, 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 their recording of Prokofiev String Quartets Nos 1 & 2. In May 2020, the Quartet were invited to perform at the Gramophone Charity Online Gala featuring former Gramophone award winners.  

In spring 2005, the Quartet won the Paolo Borciani competition in Italy. Further highlights early on in their career were the nomination as ECHO Rising Stars in 2007, the participation in the BBC New Generation Artists scheme between 2007-2009 and the Special Ensemble Scholarship the Borletti-Buitoni Trust awarded them in 2010. The Quartet are based in Prague and studied with the late Milan Skampa, the legendary violist of the Smetana Quartet. They take their name from the Czech 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.

2020/21 season / 487 words. Not to be altered without permission.