Takács Quartet
Recognized as one of the world's great ensembles, the Takács Quartet plays with a unique
blend of drama, warmth, and humor, combining four distinct musical personalities to bring
fresh insights to the string quartet repertoire.
Winner of the 2011 Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Chamber Music and Song, the Takács
Quartet is based in Boulder at the University of Colorado. The 2011-2012 season focuses on
the music of Janáček, Britten, Debussy, and Ravel, with performances in major cities across
the US, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. This season also features collaborations with
pianists Garrick Ohlsson and Joyce Yang, and cellist Ralph Kirshbaum.
The quartet's award-winning recordings include the complete Beethoven cycle on the Decca
label. In 2005, the late Beethoven quartets won Disc of the Year from BBC Music
Magazine, a Gramophone Award, and a Japanese Record Academy Award.
The Takács' recordings of the early and middle Beethoven quartets collected a Grammy,
another Gramophone Award, a Chamber Music America Award, and two additional awards
from the Japanese Recording Academy.
In 2006, the Takács Quartet made its first recording for Hyperion Records-Schubert's D.
804 and D. 810. A disc that featured Brahms's piano quintet with Stephen Hough was released
to great acclaim in November 2007 and was subsequently nominated for a Grammy. A recording
of Brahms's Op. 51 and Op. 67 quartets was released in the fall of 2008, and a disc that
featured Schumann's Piano Quintet with Marc-André Hamelin was released in late 2009. The
quartet's recording of the Haydn "Apponyi" Quartets was released in November 2011.
The Takács Quartet is known for its innovative programming. In 2007, it performed
Everyman with Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman at
Carnegie Hall, inspired by the Philip Roth novel. The group collaborates regularly with the
Hungarian folk ensemble Muzsikás, performing a program that explores the folk sources of
Bartók's music. In 2010, the quartet collaborated with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival
and playwright David Morse in a production of Quartet, a play set in Beethoven's
later years when he was writing the A-Minor Quartet, Op. 132.
At the University of Colorado, the Takács Quartet has helped to develop a string program
with a special emphasis on chamber music, where students work in a nurturing environment
designed to help them develop their artistry. The quartet's commitment to teaching is
enhanced by summer residencies at the Aspen Festival and at the Music Academy of the West.
The Takács is also a visiting quartet at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in
London.
The Takács Quartet was formed in 1975 at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest by Gábor
Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gábor Ormai, and András Fejér while all four were students. It
first received international attention in 1977, winning first prize and the critics' prize
at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France. The quartet also won the
gold medal at the 1978 Portsmouth and Bordeaux competitions, and first prizes at the
Budapest International String Quartet Competition in 1978 and the Bratislava Competition in
1981. The Takács made its North American debut tour in 1982. Violinist Edward Dusinberre
joined the quartet in 1993 and violist Roger Tapping in 1995. Violist Geraldine Walther
replaced Mr. Tapping in 2005. In 2001, the Takács Quartet was awarded the Knight's Cross
Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary; in March 2011, each quartet member was awarded
the Commander's Cross Order of Merit by the president of the Republic of Hungary.