Pavel Haas Quartet

The Quartet appears at major venues including Wigmore Hall, London; Konzerthaus and Philharmonie, Berlin; Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Vienna; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam; Tonhalle, Zürich; Théâtre de la Ville, Paris; Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome; 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 was invited to be on the cover of The Strad’s June 2022 issue and was the featured interview in BBC Music Magazine . It was included in the latter magazine’s 10 greatest string quartet ensembles of all time and described as “stylistically powerful and richly sonorous, [and] known for its passionate and fearless performances”. 

Highlights of the 24/25 season include a return to Carnegie Hall in celebration of the Year of Czech Music in 2024, where the Quartet will play in events alongside the Czech Philharmonic and Prague Philharmonic Choir. Furthermore, the Quartet returns to the Wigmore Hall for three concerts; Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Liederhalle, Stuttgart and Musikverein für Steiermark, Graz. Festival appearances include: Rheingau Music Festival, Schubertiade, Bath Mozartfest and the Dvorák Prague Festival. In December 2024 and March 2025 the quartet will tour North America.  

Since September 2022, the Pavel Haas Quartet has been Curator at the Dvořák Prague Festival where they curate chamber music concerts including programming all the Dvořák String Quartets over three seasons. 

The Pavel Haas Quartet records exclusively for Supraphon. Their recent recording of the Brahms Viola and Piano Quintets with Boris Giltburg and their former member, Pavel Nikl, was released to critical acclaim in May 2022. The recording was described as “radiant and vivacious” by The Strad, and was Presto Classical’s Recording of the Week. For their previous album of Shostakovich String Quartets (2019), they received the Recording of the Year by Classic Prague Awards and were named one of the 100 best records of the year by The Times. 

The Quartet received their five Gramophone Awards for their recordings of Dvořák, Smetana, Schubert, Janáček and Haas, as well as Dvořák’s String Quartets No.12 ‘American’ and No.13, for which they were 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. 

Since winning the Paolo Borciani competition in Italy in 2005, further highlights early on in their career have included 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 to them in 2010. The Quartet is based in Prague and studied with the late Milan Skampa, the legendary violist of the Smetana Quartet. They take their 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. 

2024/25 season / 560 words. Not to be altered without permission.