Wednesday 3rd February 2010: Kuss Quartet

Programme:

Mozart: Hunt Quartet K 458
Bartok: Quartet No 2
Brahms: Quartet in B flat major Op.67

From the Carnegie Hall in New York to Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, from the Wigmore Hall in London to the Berlin Philharmonie, the four musicians of the Kuss Quartet have been invited not only to the most celebrated international concert halls but also to the most prestigious festivals, among them the Salzburg Festival, the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg and the Edinburgh Festival.

In 2006 the quartet signed a long-term exclusive contract with Sony BMG, and a Haydn CD was released as an introduction to this new relationship. In Autumn 2007 a CD called “Bridges” was released, an exciting and experimental programme spanning works from Orlando di Lasso and Dowland, to Ades, Kurtag and Stravinsky. Highly acclaimed by audiences in the concert hall, this has now also been uniformly praised by the critics.

The Berlin-based Kuss Quartet has won a number of first prizes, including the Borciani competition and the Deutschen Musikrat both in 2002, and in 2003 was chosen by the European Concert Hall Organsiation for the "Rising Stars" series.

Reviews:

"..provocative, driving, impassioned playing...the purity of sound was almost heavenly.."
- Houston Chronicle

“ Off to a good start the first day with an exquisitely delicate Beethoven Op. 18 No. 2; on day two an equally fine account of Schumann's Op. 41 No. 3, and on the second to the last day, Mozart's difficult “cello” Quartet, KV 589. The Kuss quartet well deserved being finalists.” - International Quartet Competition – David Stewart

“The Kuss Quartet is a young ensemble, but it already possesses everything a good quartet needs — stunning technique, virtuosity, remarkable musicianship and impeccable interpretative skills, along with the ability to engage its audience…The only question left unanswered at the end of the concert was, "When will the Kuss return to Salt Lake City?"” - Deseret News, Salt Lake City

“The young Berlin Kuss Quartet is the talk of the music world – like hardly any other newcomer quartet before. At home in the classic-romantic standard repertoire as well as when playing new and ‘newest' music … they have filled international chamber music audiences with enthusiasm.” - CD Review