Basel String Quartet

Susanne Mathé and Hyunjong Renes-Kang, violins; Teodor Dimitrov, viola; Alexandre Foster, cello . A Basel string quartet has existed since 1926. In 1996, it reformed at the Basel Academy of Music with violinist Susanne Mathé. The current lineup, featuring Hyunjong Renes-Kang (violin), Teodor Dimitrov (viola), and Alexandre Foster (cello), comprises four internationally acclaimed chamber musicians with extensive concert experience. Their teachers and mentors have included Walter Levin, the Alban Berg Quartet, György Sebök, György Kurtág, Isaac Stern, and Ferenc Rados. With its thematic programs, often in interdisciplinary collaborations with directors, actors, visual artists, dancers, and writers (including Franz Hohler, Urs Widmer, Peter Schweiger, Wolfgang Beuschel, and Matthias Schuppli), the quartet has established a reputation both in Switzerland and internationally. In its early years, the Basel String Quartet won several international prizes, including at the International Max Reger Quartet Competition in Weimar. It received awards from the Basel Orchestral Society (BOG) and the Canton of Basel-Landschaft. Soon after, its first CD, featuring works by Haydn, Beethoven, Wolf, and Kurtág, was released by Amphion Records. The Basel String Quartet performed at international festivals in Paris, Jerusalem, and Schleswig-Holstein, where its concerts were enthusiastically received by both audiences and the press. Invitations to the International Music Month Basel, the Davos Festival, and from the ISCM Basel and ISCM Bern followed. A lecture-recital with Walter Levin was given in conjunction with the Schoenberg exhibition at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. In 2006, the Basel String Quartet made its debut at the Tonhalle Zurich. Highlights in recent years have included a tour of Romania, concerts at the Veress Festival in Bern, at the Schubertiade of Espace 2, the composition workshop at the Ernen Music Village Festival, and a Swiss tour as a quintet with Thomas Demenga . In 2014, the Basel String Quartet performed at the Hans Huber Festival, among other venues. In 2015, they appeared at the International Scelsi Festival. During the 2016/2017 season, the Basel String Quartet performed at the Murten Classics Festival and with the Basel Chamber Music Society, among others. Invitations to the Meiringen International Music Festival and the Sine Nomine Festival in Lausanne followed in 2019. A CD featuring the two string quartets by Sándor Veress, as well as his Concerto for String Quartet and Symphony Orchestra (world premiere recording with the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra under Jan Schultsz), was released in October 2013 by Toccata Classics (London) in collaboration with Radio DRS. In 2015, the two piano quintets by Hans Huber were recorded with pianist Jan Schultsz. In recent years, the quartet has premiered works by Charles Koechlin (Freiburg/Albert concerts), Daniel Glaus, Daniel Biro, Gustav Friedrichson, Mathias Ruegg, Chris Weinheimer (in collaboration with Saarländischer Rundfunk), and Martin Derungs, among others. In 2009, the Basel String Quartet premiered "Zweigung," a work dedicated to the quartet. In 2012, the Basel String Quartet commissioned a new composition from Cécile Marti. The string quartet "Wanderer" by Andreas Pflüger premiered in 2019.