The Takács Quartet

The Takács Quartet is today recognised as one of the world's leading string quartets. Formed in 1975 in Budapest, acknowledgment of the Quartet's talent was quickly recognised with the award of first prizes at the Evian and Portsmouth International String Quartet Competitions.

The Quartet signed an exclusive recording contract with Decca in 1988, and has since recorded works by Haydn, Mozart, Brahms, Schubert, Dvoràk, Borodin, Smetana and Chausson. Their recording of the six quartets by Bela Bartók, was released in 1998 and is dedicated to the memory of the Quartet's founder viola player, Gàbor Ormai. The set has received universal critical acclaim and collected both a 1999 Grammy Nomination and the 1998 Gramophone Chamber Music Award. The magazine summed up the Quartet's achievement: "The new Takács recording communicates Bartók's all-embracing humanity, and if the greatest string quartets after Beethoven are still unknown to you, then this set may well prove the musical journey of a lifetime." Amongst other accolades, The Guardian described the performances as "Exceptional by any standards" and The New York Times said: "To put it simply, the Takács plays Bartók with passion...all six quartets receive revelatory performances."

The Quartet's other recent release on Decca includes Schubert's Trout Quintet (with Andreas Haefliger), Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik and Wolf's Italian Serenade. Their latest release, also with Haefliger, is of Dvoràk's Piano Quintet, Op.81 and his Quartet, Op.51.

The Takács Quartet appears regularly in most major cities each season and has been re-invited to many prestigious festivals including Salzburg, Berlin, Mostly Mozart and Ravinia. Recent engagements have included appearances at the Bregenz Festival in Austria, at the Tanglewood Festival in Boston and at the Wigmore Hall Schubert Gala in 1997. The Quartet has also recorded for video works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Bartók, as well as the Brahms string quintets with Nobuko Imai. They returned to Japan in 1998 and toured Australasia earlier in 1999.

In the season 1999/2000, they will give a series of Beethoven concerts in London, Birmingham, Paris, Madrid and in Vermont, USA. In 2000, they will give the World Première of a work for string quartet and baritone by Wolfgang Rihm. Other future engagements include appearances in Brussels, The Hague, Geneva, Berlin, Vienna, Lisbon, New York, Boston, Cleveland, Washington, Pittsburgh, Montreal and at the Aspen Festival.

Since 1983 the Quartet has held a Residency at the University of Colorado, USA. The four members and their families live and work in Boulder which András Fejér describes as a lovely place, "like Switzerland crossed with Austria". In 1988 the Takács Quartet was appointed Visiting Quartet at the Guildhall School of Music in London where they come for regular tutorial visits.