Artist description One of the leading string quartets of the Czech Republic. Based in the capital city of Prague.

Music Style String Quartet

Musical Influences Bartok, Bach, Martinu, Prokofieff, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, McKinley, Brahms

Similar Artists Bartok, Bach, Martinu, Prokofieff, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, McKinley, Brahms

Artist History The Stamic Quartet of Prague were formed in 1985 and first came to international notice when they won the EBU-sponsored International String Quartet Competition in Salzburg in 1986. They have benefitted from the personal guidance of their fellow countryman, the Smetana Quartet and are now established as worthy members of this great Czech tradition. Their repertoire includes the works of Janacek, Smetana, Borodin, Dvorak and Martinu, as well as Haydn, Mazart, Shostakovich, Schnittke and Haba. The Stamic Quartet travel extensively throughout the USA, Japan, Indonesia and Europe, where they appear in all the major capitals. Their festival appearances have included the Prague Spring, Carinthian Summer, Gstaad, Kuhmo Chamber Music, Helsinki and Montpellier festivals. Recent engagements have included a tour of the USA with concerts at the Kennedy Center, Washington and the Metropolitan Museum, New York, as well as concerts in Canada, Mexico, Israel, the UK (Wigmore Hal1), Germany (Beethoven Halle, Bonn), Spain, Macao, Taiwan and Japan. They gave three concerts at the 1997 Praguc Spring Festival, playing the complete works for string quartet by Alois Haba. During 1998 the Quartet toured Canada, Sweden, Italy, France and Madrid. In the UK the group appeared at the Wigmore Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and other major venues, including a residency at Bromsgrove, playing five concerts with particular emphasis on the Terezin composers. In 1998 they returned to the United Kingdom giving performances at the Barbican Centre London for the BBC, Oxford, Warwick in addition to a tour of Northern England. The Stamic Quartet have an extensive discography including the major quartets of Shostakovich, Mozart and Schnittke, the complete string quartets of Dvorak, Martinu and Haba and works by Haydn, Vanhal, Roesler and Vranicky. Their most recent releases bave been of the Dvorak Sextet with Josef Suk and Ant.Meneses in addition to the complete String Quartets of the contemporary Czech composer Klusak. In February 1998 the Stamic recorded the Vranicky Sextets. The Stamic Quartet were awarded the Academie Charles Cros Grand Prix du Disque for their interpretations of the complete Martinu and Dvorak String Quartets Opus 96 and 106.

Group Members Vitezslav Cernoch, first violin; Josef Kekula, second violin; Jan Peruska, viola; Vladimir Leixner, violoncello.

Instruments 2 violins, viola, violoncello

Press Reviews A rigorously polished technique is put at the service of a cultivated misicality. - The Times of London ...a collective tone of seamless beauty...a monicured sheen. - The Washington Post

Location Prague - Czech Republic

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).