Widely regarded as the leading interpreter of the Czech and wider Central European quartet repertoire, the quartet was named Ambassador for the Year of Czech Music in 2024. From 2025 until 2027, the Pavel Haas Quartet serves as Artist-in-Residence at Smetana's Litomyšl Festival alongside the Czech Philharmonic.
Highlights of the 26/27 season include returns to the Edinburgh International Festival, Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw, Amici della Musica Firenze, Auditorium de Lyon, Fundación Juan March Madrid and the Schubertiade Festival. These engagements follow a successful 25/26 season, that saw the quartet appear at the Musikverein Vienna, Philharmonie de Paris, Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Konserthuset Stockholm, Seoul Arts Center and Taiwan’s National Concert Hall.
Further afield, the quartet embark on a tour of North America in March 2027, appearing at VIVO Performing Arts (Boston); Cleveland Chamber Music Society; Chamber Music Houston; Chamber Music Cincinnati; Friends of Chamber Music Denver, and Chamber Music in Napa Valley, to name a few.
The Quartet regularly appears at major venues including Wigmore Hall, London; Philharmonie, Berlin; Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Vienna; Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Tonhalle Zürich; Philharmonie de Paris; Accademia di Santa Cecilia; BOZAR, Brussels; NCPA Beijing; LG Arts Centre and Seoul Arts Center, Seoul and Carnegie Hall, New York. In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the Quartet appeared on the cover of The Strad and was the featured interview in BBC Music Magazine. The latter named it among the “10 greatest string quartet ensembles of all time,” describing the Quartet as “stylistically powerful and richly sonorous, [and] known for its passionate and fearless performances.”
The Pavel Haas Quartet records exclusively for Supraphon. In 2025, the Quartet released its latest album of Martinu String Quartets Nos. 2, 3, 5 and 7. The Quartet has received five Gramophone Awards for its recordings of Dvořák, Smetana, Schubert, Janáček, and Haas. For its recording of Dvořák’s String Quartets No.12 “American” and No.13, it 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.”
Since winning the Paolo Borciani competition in Italy in 2005, the quartet has received numerous distinctions, including being nominated as ECHO Rising Stars in 2007, participating in the BBC New Generation Artists scheme between 2007-2009 and being awarded the Special Ensemble Scholarship by the Borletti-Buitoni Trust in 2010. The Quartet is based in Prague and studied with the late Milan Škampa, the legendary violist of the Smetana Quartet. It takes its name from the Czech-Jewish composer Pavel Haas (1899-1944) who was imprisoned at Theresienstadt in 1941 and was tragically killed at Auschwitz three years later. His legacy includes three wonderful string quartets.
2026/27 season / 506 words. Not to be altered without permission.