Since the founding of the Jerusalem Quartet in 1993 and subsequent 1996 stage debut, the four Israeli musicians have embarked on a journey of growth and maturation. This experience has resulted in a wide repertoire and stunning depth of expression, which carries on the string quartet tradition in a distinctive manner.
The ensemble has found its core in a warm, full, human sound and an egalitarian balance between high and low voices. This approach allows the quartet to maintain a healthy relationship between individual expression and a transparent and respectful presentation of the composer’s work. It is also the drive and motivation for the continuing refinement of its interpretations of the classical repertoire as well as exploration of new epochs.
The Jerusalem Quartet is a regular and beloved guest on the world’s great concert stages. Recent appearances include a Beethoven quartet cycle at Wigmore Hall in London; a Bartok cycle at the Salzburg Festival; their third annual string quartet seminar in Crans Montana, Switzerland, and in fall 2022, it began a residency at the Jerusalem Academy of Music. This season, the group will return to the Berlin Philharmonie and embark on a tour of South Korea. North American tours will take the quartet to Philadelphia; Buffalo, NY; Pasadena, Palm Beach, Durham, Charlottesville, New York, Chicago (performing sextets with Pinchas Zukerman and Amanda Forsyth); Dallas, Cleveland and Indianapolis.
The Jerusalem Quartet’s recordings have been honored with many awards, including the Diapason d’Or and the BBC Music Magazine Award for chamber music. The group has recorded the string quartets of Haydn, Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, an album of Dvorak’s String Quintet, Op. 97, and Sextet, Op. 48, and the quartets by Ravel and Debussy.
In 2019, the quartet released an album exploring Jewish music in Central Europe between the wars and its far-reaching influence, featuring a collection of Yiddish cabaret songs from 1920s Warsaw, as well as works by Schulhoff and Korngold. The second installment of its Bartok quartet recording was released in 2020.
2022-23
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
