Quatuor Apollon Musagète

Paweł Zalejski, violin
Bartosz Zachłod, violin                                 
Piotr Szumieł, viola  
Piotr Skweres, cello

“If Apollo had played the violin instead of the lyre, this is exactly how it would have sounded.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2010)

Winner of first prize and several other awards at the International Music Competition of the ARD in 2008, the Apollon Musagète Quartet has rapidly become an established feature of the European musical scene, captivating public and press alike. The quartet studied with Johannes Meissl at the European Chamber Music Academy and was inspired by the musicians of the Alban Berg Quartet at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

The quartet was nominated ECHO Rising Stars 2010, followed by highly successful performances at prestigious European venues. It was also named BBC New Generation Artist in 2012, leading to extensive touring in the UK and a number of recordings for the BBC. In 2014 the musicians received the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.

Recent engagements have taken the quartet to the Auditori Barcelona, Konzerthaus and Philharmonie Berlin, Edinburgh International Festival, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Gewandhaus Leipzig,...

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Paweł Zalejski, violin
Bartosz Zachłod, violin                                 
Piotr Szumieł, viola  
Piotr Skweres, cello

“If Apollo had played the violin instead of the lyre, this is exactly how it would have sounded.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2010)

Winner of first prize and several other awards at the International Music Competition of the ARD in 2008, the Apollon Musagète Quartet has rapidly become an established feature of the European musical scene, captivating public and press alike. The quartet studied with Johannes Meissl at the European Chamber Music Academy and was inspired by the musicians of the Alban Berg Quartet at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

The quartet was nominated ECHO Rising Stars 2010, followed by highly successful performances at prestigious European venues. It was also named BBC New Generation Artist in 2012, leading to extensive touring in the UK and a number of recordings for the BBC. In 2014 the musicians received the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.

Recent engagements have taken the quartet to the Auditori Barcelona, Konzerthaus and Philharmonie Berlin, Edinburgh International Festival, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Wigmore Hall London, Carnegie Hall New York, Louvre Paris, Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele and to the Tonhalle Zurich.

Highlights for the 2019/20 season include concerts at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and a return to the Chopin and his Europe Festival in Warsaw. They will perform together with the pianist Gabriela Montero at the DeSingel Antwerpen, Heidelberger Frühling and at the Rheingau Musik Festival. In summer 2019 the quartet started its triannual Schubert cycle for the Schubertiade in Austria and will continue in this season. Furthermore, they will especially focus on the works by Dvořák which will be performed during the next seasons at the Kasseler Musiktage, one of the oldest music festivals in Europe. Another highlight is a US tour with the pianists Charles Richard-Hamelin and Kevin Kenner including Boston, Miami and San Francisco.

The Apollon Musagète Quartet collaborates with renowned artists in chamber music such as Martin Fröst, Nils Mönkemeyer, István Várdai and Jörg Widmann. They appeared in several symphonic series with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice.

They welcome collaborations that integrate chamber music into various forms of performing arts and were part of projects such as a staged concert by the Berlin based performance group Nico and the Navigators, a ballet production of the National Theatre in Nuremberg and a world tour with the pop singer Tori Amos. Their own compositions Multitude for String Quartet and A Multitude of Shades, both published by the Viennese publisher Doblinger, are often included in the quartet’s concert repertoire.

Since the debut CD by Oehms Classics in 2010 followed by recordings for the labels such as Decca Classics and Deutsche Grammophon, their discography has grown extensively. In 2018 a disc containing quartets by Andrzej Panufnik was released by the Fryderyk-Chopin-Institute and subsequently the latest recording with works by Karol Szymanowski and Roman Palester by Universal Poland. 

Piotr Skweres plays an ex-André Navarra cello by Gennaro Gagliano dated 1741. The instrument has kindly been provided by Merito String Instruments Trust Vienna. Furthermore, the quartet thanks the Thomastik Infeld for the generous support and the enterprise Stoffwerk for the exclusive and custom-made concert clothes.