Edward Dusinberre, violin
Károly Schranz, violin
Geraldine Walther, viola
András Fejér, cello
Recognized as one of the world's premier string ensembles, the Takács Quartet has performed repertoire ranging from Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert to Bartók, Britten, Dutilleux, Janácek, and Sheng in virtually every music capital in the world. In residence at the University of Colorado-Boulder since 1983, the ensemble is known for its award-winning recordings on the Decca label, including its recordings of the complete Beethoven quartet cycle in three sets. Of the quartet's performances and recordings of the late quartets, the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote, "The Takács might play this repertoire better than any quartet of the past or present."
The quartet performs 90 concerts a year worldwide. Its members are associate artists at the South Bank Centre in London, performing several concerts there each year. This last season the group performed more than 40 concerts in North America and appeared in St. Petersburg, Madrid, and Amsterdam. At Carnegie's Zankel Hall the quartet performed three concerts featuring the Schumann Quartets and works composed for the Takács by Wolfgang Rihm, James Macmillan, and John Psathas.
The Takács was formed in 1975 at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest by Gabor Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gabor Ormai, and András Fejér while all four were students. Violinist Edward Dusinberre joined the quartet in 1993 and violist Geraldine Walther joined in 2005. In addition to its residency at the University of Colorado, the ensemble is a resident quartet at the Aspen Music Festival and School. They are also visiting fellows at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
Please note that second violinist Karoly Schranz is recovering from rotator cuff surgery and will not perform this summer. Replacing him is violinist Lina Bahn, an esteemed colleague of the Takács at UC Boulder. Mr. Schranz will resume performances with the quartet in September.
The Takács were guest artists at the Music Academy in 2002 and from 2006 to 2009.