belcea quartet
Founded in 1994 at the Royal College of Music in London, the Belcea Quartet is among the world’s leading string quartets. Since the beginning of last season, the lineup has included Corina Belcea, Suyeon Kang (violin), Krzysztof Chorzelski (viola), and Antoine Lederlin (cello). The group has been ensemble in residence at the Vienna Konzerthaus for more than 15 years, a role in which the musicians were joined by Quatour Ébène in 2021. Among their many recordings, several of which have been honored with major awards, are the complete quartets of Beethoven, Brahms, Bartók, and Britten, as well as works by Mozart, Schubert, Berg, Dutilleux, Ligeti, and many others. A dedicated champion of contemporary music, the Belcea Quartet in recent years has premiered new works by Mark-Anthony Turnage, Thomas Larcher, Krzysztof Penderecki, Joseph Phibbs, Guillaume Connesson, and most recently Julian Anderson. At the Pierre Boulez Saal, the quartet has presented multiple concerts each season since the hall’s opening in 2017. For its 25th anniversary, which coincided with the Beethoven Year, the ensemble performed a number of the composer’s string quartets here in the 2019–20 season. The cycle remained incomplete due to the pandemic and is now being heard in its entirety over the course of this current season, commemorating the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death. Several years ago the quartet created the Belcea Quartet Trust, which aims to support young string quartets through intensive individual coaching sessions and to commission new works from today’s leading composers.
© Maurice Haas