ZehetmairQuartet

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String Quartet
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Contact

For availability and general enquiries:

Melanie Moult

Melanie Moult

Associate Director

For contracts, logistics and press:

Fiona Russell

Fiona Russell

Senior Assistant Manager

Representation

General management with Askonas Holt

Partner managers:
Germany and Austria: Astrid Schoerke Kunstlersekretariat
Japan: Chikako Itagaki, Novellette Arts

Follow Zehetmair Quartet

About Zehetmair Quartet

Thomas Zehetmair, violin
Jakub Jakowicz, violin
Ruth Killius, viola
Christian Elliott, cello

Founded in 1994 by Austrian violinist and conductor Thomas Zehetmair, the Zehetmair Quartet ranks among the world’s finest string quartets.

Highlights of previous seasons include a complete Schumann Cycle at Wigmore Hall, the premiere of Heinz Holliger’s string quartet, commissioned by Köln Musik for the Zehetmair Quartet; performances at major venues and festivals throughout Europe including Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Salzburg Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Palau de la Musica Barcelona, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and a performance at Elliot Carter’s 100th birthday commemoration in New York.

Their discography for ECM is varied and highly acclaimed, including Schumann Quartet (Gramophone Record of the Year), Hindemith and Bartok (“playing of huge finesse in both pieces” – The Sunday Times, “a real benchmark” The Guardian) and Holliger, Hartmann and Beethoven; demonstrating their prowess in mainstream repertoire as well as the challenging works of the twentieth century. Their next highly anticipated release for ECM will be the Brahms Quartets.

In November 2014, the Zehetmair Quartet was awarded the Paul Hindemith Prize by the city of Hanau for outstanding musical achievement.

Download programme biography   

Representation

General management with Askonas Holt

Partner managers:
Germany and Austria: Astrid Schoerke Kunstlersekretariat
Japan: Chikako Itagaki, Novellette Arts

Follow Zehetmair Quartet

Season Highlights

Feb 2025
Glasshouse, Gateshead
Brahms: String Quartet in Cm Op.51/1 Webern: Sechs Bagatellen, Op.0 Sibelius Voces Intimae

Audio

  • Schumann String Quartet No. 1 in Am Op.41
    Credit: ECM
  • Bruckner: String Quartet in C minor
    Credit: ECM

Photos

Download high resolution images

Sample Programmes

  • Brahms: String Quartet in C minor, Op.51 / 1 Webern: Sechs Bagatellen Op.9 or Sibelius: Voces intimae interval Brahms: String Quartet in A minor, Op.51 /2

Press

  • Edinburgh Festival

    Queens' Hall
    Aug 2017

    • The Zehetmair Quartet gave one of the International Festival’s freshest, most bracing recitals so far, with each musical gesture – and there were plenty of flamboyant ones – seeming to come from an inner impulse, as though the music simply had to be like that.

      • The Scotsman
      • 28 August 2015

    • The Zehetmair Quartet often performs from memory — the players learn their parts by heart before they even start to rehearse, and tend to unleash thrilling levels of musical insight and expressive freedom accordingly. There were music stands on stage at this Queen’s Hall morning recital, but the capacity to react to each other and take the music in new directions was there from note one. The quartet’s leader is the Austrian violinist and conductor Thomas Zehetmair, until last year music director of the Royal Northern Sinfonia and a superb all-round musician, simultaneously assertive and attentive, acutely detailed and instinctive.

Discography