Tak谩cs Quartet
In recognition of its 50th anniversary, the world-renowned Tak谩cs Quartet was recently the subject of an in-depth profile by The New York Times and featured on the cover of Strad magazine. The Tak谩cs released two anniversary season albums in 2025 for Hyperion Records to glowing reviews. 鈥淔low鈥 by Ngwenyama, composed for the ensemble, was followed by an album of piano quintets by Dvo艡谩k and Price with Marc Andr茅 Hamelin. In August 2025 for Musica Viva in Australia, the ensemble plays a new work 鈥淪onnet of an Emigrant鈥 for quartet and narrator by Cathy Milliken with texts by Bertolt Brecht.
Edward Dusinberre, Harumi Rhodes (violins), Richard O鈥橬eill (viola) and Andr谩s Fej茅r (cello) are excited about upcoming projects including performances throughout the USA of Mozart viola quintets with Jordan Bak and a new string quartet, NEXUS, written for them by Clarice Assad, co-commissioned by leading concert organizations throughout North America.听 The group鈥檚 North American engagements include concerts in New York鈥檚 Carnegie Hall, Vancouver, Philadelphia, Boston, Princeton, Ann Arbor, Washington, D.C., Duke University, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Cleveland, Phoenix and Portland.
The Tak谩cs enjoys a busy international touring schedule. As Associate Artists at London鈥檚 Wigmore Hall, the group will present four concerts featuring works by Haydn, Assad, Debussy, Beethoven and two Mozart viola quintets with Timothy Ridout that will also be recorded for Hyperion. Other European appearances include the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Konzerthaus Berlin, Florence, Bologna and Rome.
The members of the Tak谩cs Quartet are Christoffersen Fellows and have been Artists in Residence at the 色戒成人直播 since 1986. During the summer months, the Tak谩cs join the faculty at the Music Academy of the West, running an intensive quartet seminar. This season the ensemble begins a new relationship as Visiting Artists at the University of Maryland.
The Tak谩cs has recorded for Hyperion since 2005 and all their other recordings are available to stream at . In 2021, the Tak谩cs won a Presto Music Recording of the Year Award for their recordings of string quartets by Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, and a Gramophone Award with pianist Garrick Ohlsson for piano quintets by Beach and Elgar. Other releases for Hyperion feature works by Haydn, Schubert, Jan谩膷ek, Smetana, Debussy and Britten, as well as piano quintets by C茅sar Franck and Shostakovich (with Marc-Andr茅 Hamelin), and viola quintets by Brahms and Dvo艡谩k (with Lawrence Power). For their CDs on the Decca/London label, the Quartet has won three Gramophone Awards, a Grammy Award, three Japanese Record Academy Awards, Disc of the Year at the inaugural BBC Music Magazine Awards and Ensemble Album of the Year at the Classical Brits. Full details of all recordings can be found in the .
The Tak谩cs Quartet is known for its innovative programming. In July 2024, the ensemble gave the premiere of 鈥淜achkaniraqmi鈥 by Gabriela Lena Frank, a concerto for solo quartet and string orchestra. Since 2021-22, the ensemble has partnered regularly with bandoneon virtuoso Julien Labro in a program featuring new works by Clarice Assad and Bryce Dessner, commissioned by Music Accord. In 2014, the Tak谩cs performed a program inspired by Philip Roth鈥檚 novel Everyman with Meryl Streep at Princeton, and again with her at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto in 2015. They first performed Everyman at Carnegie Hall in 2007 with Philip Seymour Hoffman. They have toured 14 cities with the poet Robert Pinsky, and played regularly with the Hungarian Folk group Muzsikas.
In 2014, the Tak谩cs became the first string quartet to be awarded the Wigmore Hall Medal. In 2012, Gramophone announced that the Tak谩cs was the first string quartet to be inducted into its Hall of Fame. The ensemble also won the 2011 Award for Chamber Music and Song presented by the Royal Philharmonic Society in London.
The Tak谩cs Quartet was formed in 1975 at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest by Gabor Tak谩cs-Nagy, K谩roly Schranz, Gabor Ormai and Andr谩s Fej茅r, while all four were students. The group received international attention in 1977, winning First Prize and the Critics鈥 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 Quartet made its North American debut tour in 1982. Members of the Tak谩cs Quartet are the grateful beneficiaries of an instrument loan by the Drake Foundation. We are grateful to be Thomastik-Infeld Artists.
June 2025. Please discard any previously posted materials.听
Contact
Harumi Rhodes
Associate Professor of Violin
harumi.rhodes@Colorado.edu
,听N163
Upcoming strings events
Tak谩cs Quartet-in-residence celebrates 50 years (1975-2025)
This video tribute听celebrates the remarkable journey, international impact and renown, and close-to-home mentorship and community engagement of our Grammy Award-winning Tak谩cs Quartet. Congratulations to Edward Dusinberre, Harumi Rhodes, Richard O鈥橬eill and Andr谩s Fej茅r on their 50th anniversary!听
Tiny Desk Concert (NPR, July 2025)
Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in D minor, Op. 42: IV. Finale;
Nokuthula Ngwenyama: "Flow": III. Quark Scherzo;
Maurice Ravel: String Quartet in F major: II. Assez vif鈥攖r猫s rythm茅
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor听5 Fantasiest眉cke, Op. 5: I. Prelude
Fanny Mendelssohn String Quartet in E-flat Major:听II. Allegretto