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Bennewitz Quartet

       Jiři Němeček, violin; Stěpan Ježek, violin: Jiři Pinkas, viola; Stěpan Doležal, violoncello

Bennewitz Quartet founded by young musicians at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in 1998, and named after the famous Czech violinist and teacher Antonin Bennewitz (1833-1926), is todoay one of the leading Czech chamber music ensembles. 
The quartet members were helped in their artistic development by studying with two of the most important personalities of the international quartet scene.   From 2002-2004 they studied at Madrid's Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia with Rainer Schmidt of the Hagen Quartet, and then with  the great pedagogue Walter Levin of the former La Salle Quartet at the Musikakademie Basel where the Bennewitz Quartet was itself  quartet-in- residence.  Already during their studies, the quartet started gathering prizes, among which was the Laureate of the Chamber Music Society of the Czech Philharmonic, the award of the Spanish Queen for best chamber music ensemble of 2002/2003, as well as two special prizes at the ARD Music Competition in 2004. 
 

In 2005 the Bennewitz Quartet was the gold medal winner at the International Chamber Music Competition in Osaka which was followed by a tour of Japan.  In 2008, the tenth anniversary of their founding, the group was given the first prize of the renowned Borciani competition in Italy. The enthusiastically received winner's tour took the four string players to the most important stages in Europe, to the USA, and Japan, including performances in Brussels, Hamburg, Bremen, Stuttgart, Basel, Florence,  Rome, New York and Tokyo.  In addition, the quartet has participated in various international music festivals (Rheingau and Heidelberger Frühling, Lucerne Festival, Orlando Festival of the Netherlands, and the Prague Spring Festival) and performed in prominent European concert halls (Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, Herkulessaal Munich and Rudolfium Prague). In the 10/11 season, the quartet made its debut at Wigmore Hall, London, the Konzerthaus Wien, and the Seoul Arts Center. 
 

Its CD of works by Bartok and Janacek on Coviello Classics appeared in 2008. Fonoforum testified to their "fiery temperament" and found that "the young interpreters thereby showed an extraordinary maturity and a sovereign and balanced sound culture."  In the spring of 2010, the quartet's second CD with the Smetana string quartets was released.   Klassik.com described this recording as "simply phenomenal".  Besides its CD recordings, the Bennewitz Quartet has also made several recordings for Czech Radio and Television, as well as for a number of radio and television companies abroad (SWR, RD and NWR- Germany, Radio 4-Netherlands, ORF-Austria, Radio Clasica-Spain, STV Radio, Yomiuiri TV-Japan). 
Besides its focused, balanced and richly differentiated sound culture, its interesting programming is also characteristic of the quartet.  Although it is still a young ensemble, it has a broad repertoire from Bach fugues to the classical canon to modern works, and includes a long list of lesser-known works - among them those of Czech composers such as Olga Jezkova and Slavomir Horinka  
 

The quartet is supported by the Viennese string maker Thomasik-Infeld.

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