Gringolts Quartet

The Gringolts String Quartet, which has also used the name Gringolts Quartet, has emerged as one of western Europe's most acclaimed young chamber ensembles. The group is led by violinist <a href="spotify:artist:0gr5W6FgzzoMwp7PhpMRqD">Ilya Gringolts</a>.

The group was formed in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2008, but none of its four members is Swiss; the musicians were acquainted and knew that they all enjoyed making music together. The quartet takes its name from violinist <a href="spotify:artist:0gr5W6FgzzoMwp7PhpMRqD">Ilya Gringolts</a>, but all of its other members have flourishing solo careers as well: violinist Anahit Kurtikyan and cellist Claudius Herrmann had performed together in the <a href="spotify:artist:1lNEOMlnzQfqscVYgaqmyE">Amati Quartet</a>, while Kurtikyan and violist Silvia Simionescu had played together in chamber groups at various festivals. Those connections enabled the new quartet to land prestigious festival appearances soon after its formation, including those at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the Salzburg Festival, and the Lucerne Festival. The Gringolts String Quartet has appeared at Wigmore Hall in London, the Louisiana Museum in Copenhagen, L'Auditori in Barcelona, and the Sociedad Filarmónica de Bilbao, and the group has toured Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.

The group landed a top-level recording contract with unusual speed, releasing an album of Schumann string quartets on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Onyx%22">Onyx</a> label in 2011. That was followed by further recordings on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Onyx%22">Onyx</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Profil%22">Profil</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Orchid+Classics%22">Orchid Classics</a>, and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22BIS%22">BIS</a>, mostly centering on Romantic repertory. The quartet's recordings of Schoenberg's String Quartets Nos. 2 and 4, however, appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22BIS%22">BIS</a> in 2017, and in concert, the group has championed quartets by contemporary composers such as <a href="spotify:artist:19e7eVWmqRIa3Z0OSUEy8n">Marc-André Dalbavie</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0IJdRrrK8p8saJ4lUL1knH">Jens Joneleit</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7drHkRrCNABV4BkAuVF6nu">Jörg Widmann</a>. A recording of quintets by Glazunov and Taneyev with <a href="spotify:artist:5FWi6V1af7luTXsANm1Jb3">Christian Poltéra</a> earned a Diapason d'Or award. Besides <a href="spotify:artist:5FWi6V1af7luTXsANm1Jb3">Poltéra</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7drHkRrCNABV4BkAuVF6nu">Widmann</a>, the quartet's collaborators have included <a href="spotify:artist:1YZbTL8pA4Xe9Ha7V4tLBu">Eduard Brunner</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6ncNdxBc8zVWMOF7nJ5Pgy">Leon Fleisher</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0IUadvrKl6WZy7wn5Pd8li">David Geringas</a>, and Malin Hartelius. All four members of the quartet play instruments from the 17th and 18th centuries; Herrmann's cello was the same one used in the premiere performances of Beethoven's late string quartets by their dedicatee, Prince Nikolas Golitsin of St. Petersburg. The Gringolts String Quartet returned in 2020 on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22BIS%22">BIS</a>, joining the quartet <a href="spotify:artist:13yzeXd0EvtviKntQcFBq1">Meta4</a> for a recording of octets by Mendelssohn and Enescu. In 2022, the Gringolts String Quartet completed its <a href="spotify:artist:5U827e4jbYz6EjtN0fIDt9">Schoenberg</a> cycle with a recording of String Quartets Nos. 1 and 3. ~ James Manheim, Rovi