One of the longest celebrated established chamber music ensembles in the world, the Janáček Quartet was formed in 1947 by the students of the Conservatory of Brno, originally under the name JAMU Quartet. In 1949, the ensemble changed its name to Janáček Quartet, honouring the Moravian composer Leoš Janáček and their close musical ties. One of the founding players, first violin Jiří Trávníček, was a student of František Kudláček, a distinguished member of the Moravian Quartet that premiered Janáček’s String Quartet No.2 "Intimate Letters" and edited the work in association with the composer. The Quartet initially concentrated mainly on Janáček's chamber works, gradually expanding their repertoire to Dvořák, Smetana, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Shostakovitch, Martinů and Erwín Schulhoff, often collaborating with the renowned peers Smetana Quartet when playing octets.
In 1956 Janáček Quartet gave their first performance in then West Berlin, gaining instant international recognition that opened the door to renowned concert halls and recordings on all continents. For more than 70 years the Janáček Quartet successfully presented the Czech-Moravian interpretative tradition at prestigious international festivals in 55 countries, consistently preserving their distinctive style in performance and recordings with Deutsche Grammophon, Supraphon, Eterna, Decca and others.
In 2017 Deutsche Grammophon released a CD box JANÁČEK QUARTET: The Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, marking the ensemble’s 70 years of music making. Their Janáček’s string quartets’ recordings in particular have met with high critical acclaim and have won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix of the Charles Cros Academy, and Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
Highlights of past and recent concert engagements include performances at the Edinburgh Festival, Wigmore Hall, Bologna‘s Teatro Manzoni, Palau de la Música in Valencia, Tokyo Metropolitan Festival Hall and Seoul Arts Centre among others. The ensemble often works in collaboration with renowned artists such as Boris Berezovský, Raphael Wallfisch, Ivo Kahánek and Josef Špaček. Their future projects involve a tour to South Korea, as well as concert appearences in Italy, Spain, Brazil and the US.
The current members of the quartet are: Miloš Vacek, Richard Kružík, Jan Řezníček and Břetislav Vybíral.
www.janacekquartet.com
Season 2021/22
