Wihan Quartet

The Wihan Quartet has rapidly established itself as one of the elite European quartets of its generation. Recent and coming performances include Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, 92nd Street Y, Wigmore Hall, Opera de Bastille, Musee d'Orsay, the Library of Congress, and the Concertgebouw to name but a few. To date, the Wihan has released over 20 recordings on various record labels.

Success came early for the Wihan when they won the First Prize and the Prize of the Czech Jeunesses Musicales at the 1988 Prague Spring Festival. In 1990, the Wihan won First Prize of the International Chamber Music Competition in Sicily. In 1991, the Wihan won First Prize, the Audience Prize, and the Journalists' Prize of the London International Competition by an unprecedented unanimous vote of the jury, chaired by Lord Menuhin.

Since this early success, the Wihan Quartet has been building a universally acclaimed reputation through performances in Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, Stuttgart, Vienna, Salzburg, Linz, London, Dublin, Paris, Avignon, Lyon, le Mans, Milan, Florence, Barcelona, Lisbon, Brussels, Amsterdam, The Hague, Copenhagen, Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo, Osaka, New York and other musical capitals of the world. They have also become a favorite of major radio outlets including Czech Radio, RAI Rome, Suddeutscher Rundfunk, Radio France, Radio Classique Paris, Deutschland Radio Berlin, the BBC London, and WQXR New York.

Since September 2002, the Wihan Quartet has been Visiting Quartet in Residence of Trinity College of Music, London.

Leos Cepicky and Jan Schulmeister, violins; Jiri Zigmund, viola; Ales Kasprik, cello.

Critical Commentary

"I cannot remember so auspicious a musical discovery since I first heard Yo-Yo Ma." The Strad, 1997

"Given playing of such virtuosic quality it is surely only a matter of time before the Wihan Quartet becomes a household name." The Strad, 1998

"The sound these Czech musicians make--beautifully balanced, centered in warm, dark regions of tone color, musical in every part--is deeply pleasurable and also deeply traditional. Nobody leads. The music leads. These players have very little use for the nods and glances that many quartets use to communicate with their audiences as with one another. When the Wihan musicians need to make a sudden entry together, they just do so: abrupt chords are firmly in place and sonorous from the strength in each note. Yet their performances do not sound at all drilled, but rather thought through and felt through. The Wihan's playing is roomy with rubato, and the musicians regroup with natural ease around whichever of them has the main line at the moment." The New York Times,1998

"CZECH QUARTET DAZZLES (Headline)...[Wihan] had the breadth of expression, harnessed to voluntary discipline, that makes music a mirror of life wherever it can breathe free air." Indianapolis Star, 1999

"Ce tact discret, cette musicalite franche ne sont-ils pas finalement la lecon d'une ecole tcheque du quatour? La tradition remonte en tout cas au celebre Quatour Tcheque. Son fondateur et violoncelliste s'appelait Hanus Wihan. Le rappeler etait le plus bel hommage a rendre aux quartres jeunes musicians qui portent son nom." Le Soir, Bruxelles, 1994

"Vier Musiker als virtuose Erzahler. Bei Suk's Meditation uber St. Wenzels" Choral op. 25 gab es eine Andeutung des hohen Niveaus, auf dem sich die Interpretationen des Wihan-Quartetts" bewegen. ...Spieltechnisch ist nicht nur Cepicky brillant, Jan Schulmeister, Violine, Jiri Zigmund, Viola und insbesbondere Cellist Ales Kasprik sind ihm durchaus ebenburtig." Kolnische Rundshau, 1998

Discography

For Bonton Classics

Paganini String Quartet in E Major, Schubert String Quartet in D minor "Death and the Maiden" Bonton 71 0018-2131

For Popron Records

	Dvorak String Quartet in F Major "American", Janacek String Quartet No. 2 "Intimate Letters", Suk Meditation on St. Wenceclas, Op. 35. Popron 57 001-2
	Ravel String Quartet in F Major, Britten String Quartet No. 2 in C Major Op 35, Popron 57 013-2
	Haydn String Quartets Op 71 Nos 1, 2, 3 Popron 57 025-2
	Haydn String Quartets Op 64 Nos 1, 2, 3 Popron 57 026-2
	Mozart String Quartets B Major (K458), C Major (K465), F Major (K168) Propron 57 028-2
	Schubert Quartet in C minor op. posth., String Quartet in C Major, Op 163 Popron 57 027-2
	Smetana String Quartet No 1 in E minor "From my Life", Dvorak String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op 97 Popron 57 034-2

For Studio Matous Records

	Dvorak String Quartets in E-flat Major, Op 51 "Slavonic", G Major, Op. 106 MK0041-2131
	Janacek String Quartets Nos 1, 2 MK0032-2131

For Lotos Records (complete Beethoven cycle in progress)

	Beethoven (Vol 1) Op 14 No 1 in F Major, Op 59 No 1 in F Major LT0039-2131
	Beethoven (Vol 2) Op 59 No 2 in E Minor, Op 59 No 3 in C Major LT0044-2131
	Beethoven (Vol 3) Op 18 No 5 in A Major, Op 18 No 6 in B Major LT0052-2131
	Beethoven (Vol 4) Op 74 in E-flat Major, Op 95 in F Minor LT0064-2131
	Beethoven (Vol 5) Op 18 No 1 in F Major, Op 18 No 2 in G Major LT0103-2131
	Beethoven (Vol 6) Op 127 in E-flat Major, Op. 135 in F major LT0102-2131

For Arco Diva Records

	Hans Pfitzner Quartet No 2 C-sharp minor Op 36 UP 0028-2 131 Arnold Schoenberg Quartet No 4 Op 37
	Hugo Wolf Quartet in D-minor UP 0028-2 131 Intermezzo Italian Serenade

Sample Programs

Please telephone email or telephone the Stanton office for current program offerings

Program A.

Beethoven, Quartet Op. 18, No. 3 Janacek, Quartet No. 1 - intermission - Schubert, Quartet No. 14, D minor, "Death and the Maiden"

* * * * *

Program B.

Beethoven, Quartet Op. 18, No. 4 Smetana, Quartet No. 2 - intermission - Dvorak, Quartet in F Major, Op. 96, "American"

* * * * *

Program C.

Mozart, Quartet in G Major (K.387) Wolf, Serenade for String Quartet, "Italian" - intermission - Beethoven, Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 127