Founded in 1994 by Austrian violinist and conductor Thomas Zehetmair, the Zehetmair Quartet ranks among the world’s finest string quartets.
Highlights of previous seasons include a complete Schumann Cycle at Wigmore Hall, the premiere of Heinz Holliger’s string quartet, commissioned by Köln Musik for the ZehetmairQuartet; performances at major venues and festivals including Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Salzburg Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Palau de la Musica Barcelona, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and a performance at Elliot Carter’s 100th birthday commemoration in New York.
Their discography for ECM is varied and highly acclaimed, including Schumann Quartet (Gramophone Record of the Year, Diapason d’or de l’année and three other prices), Hindemith and Bartok (Diapason d’or de l’année, “playing of huge finesse in both pieces” – The Sunday Times, “a real benchmark” The Guardian) and Holliger, Hartmann and Beethoven; demonstrating their prowess in mainstream repertoire as well as the challenging works of the twentieth century. Their next highly anticipated release for ECM will be the Brahms Quartets, to be published in autumn 2025.
In November 2014, the Zehetmair Quartet was awarded the Paul Hindemith Prize by the city of Hanau for outstanding musical achievement.