Bennewitz Quartet
Jakub Fišer - Violin
Štěpán Ježek - Violin
Jiří Pinkas - Viola
Štěpán Doležal - Violoncello
www.bennewitzquartet.com
www.bennewitzquartet.com
The quartet currently performs at major venues both in the Czech Republic and abroad (Wigmore Hall London, Musikverein Wien, Konzerthaus Berlin, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées Paris, The Frick Collection New York, Seoul Art Center, Rudolfinum and others), and is regularly invited to festivals such as the Salzburger Festspiele, Luzerne Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus, and the Prague Spring. The group has had the privilege of working with the outstanding artists: Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Alexander Melnikov, Vadim Gluzman, Isabel Charisius, Pietro de Maria, Reto Bieri, Danjulo Ishizaka and others.
The Bennewitz Quartet especially enjoys playing and performing on the Czech domestic music scene. Particular highlights have included their cooperation with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and its conductor Jiří Bělohlávek for a performance of Bohuslav Martinů’s Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra. The group has made a recording of both quartets by Leoš Janáček for Czech Television in the unique space of Villa Tugendhat in Brno. The Czech Radio regularly records major concerts of the quartet.
The fruits of their long-term cooperation with the Coviello Classics label include a recording of Leoš Janáček’s two string quartets and Béla Bartók’s fourth. The critics’ response was very positive. The magazine Fono Forum was impressed by the "fiery temperament". The second recording in the series, released in spring 2010, contains both of Bedřich Smetana’s quartets. The website Klassik.com called it "simply phenomenal". Their next project was the recording of Antonín Dvořák’s complete Cypresses cycle, on the Hänssler Classic label, followed by the recording of quartets op.51 and op.106 on the SWR music label. At present the quartet is working on the edition of a new CD with string quartets by Joseph Haydn.
The members of the quartet put a lot of stress on the inspiring and sometimes challenging choice of their concert repertoire. In 2012 and 2015, the ensemble performed in a sole evening the complete of Bartók's six string quartets in Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and in Swedish Upsala. In 2014, the four presented a premiere of The Songs of Immigrants by Slavomír Hořínka in Konzerthaus Berlin. In 2019 the quartet added a new CD in its discography featuring the music of the persecuted Jewish composers H. Krása, V. Ullmann, E. Schulhoff and P. Haas on the Supraphon label.
In the 2022/23 season the Bennewitz Quartet will return to Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Mozartfest Würzburg, Wigmore Hall London, Stadtcasino Basel, and many other concert venues. The ensemble will represent the Czech Republic in Madrid at the closing ceremony marking the end of its presidency of the Council of the European Union. In 2022 the quartet will take part in the complete performance of the six quartets by Béla Bartok in Leuven and will continue its engagement in Dvořák’s integral string quartet performance within the Dvořák’s Prague Festival in 2023. During the 2023 tour in the United States of America the Bennewitz Quartet will reappear in Cleveland and Washington DC and will make its debut in Boston. The ensemble is currently preparing the release of its new CD featuring middle period string quartets of Joseph Haydn.
Since 1998 the quartet bears the name of the violinist and director of a music conservatory in Prague, Antonín Bennewitz (1833-1926) who contributed greatly to the establishment of the Czech violin school. The most significant musicians who count among his disciples are Otakar Ševčík and František Ondříček and above all Karel Hoffman, Josef Suk and Oskar Nedbal who, under Bennewitz's influence, formed the famous Bohemian Quartet.