Belcea Quartet

Corina Belcea, violin
Suyeon Kang, violin
Krzysztof Chorzelski, viola
Antoine Lederlin, cello

“The Belcea Quartet plays concerts for eternity.” (Hamburger Abendblatt, March 2023)

Passion, coupled with precision, unheard-of expressivity, and pure emotion characterize the concerts of the Belcea Quartet. With the Romanian violinist Corina Belcea, the Korean-Australian Suyeon Kang on second violin, the Polish violist Krzysztof Chorzelski and the French cellist Antoine Lederlin, four different artistic provenances meet and unite to create unique excellence.

The ensemble’s repertoire spans Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven to Bartok, Janacek to Szymanowski. They also continue to introduce new works by current composers to the audience such as Guillaume Connesson (2023), Joseph Phibbs (2018), Krzysztof Penderecki (2016), Thomas Larcher (2015), and Mark-Anthony Turnage (2014 & 2010). A new work by Julian Anderson will be premiered this season. These commissioned works are created in association with the Belcea Quartet Trust, the quartet’s own foundation, whose aim is to continually broaden the string quartet literature as well as to support young quartets through concentrated joint coaching sessions. In this way they can also pass on to the next generation the experience they gained as students of the Amadeus and Alban Berg Quartet.

In addition to the complete recordings of the String Quartets by Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms (Diapason d’or de l’année 2016), and Britten, the quartet’s wide-ranging discography includes works by Berg, Dutilleux, Mozart, Schoenberg, Schubert, Shostakovich, Janáček, and Ligeti (among others). In spring 2022, Alpha Classics released the two String Sextets by Brahms performed with Tabea Zimmermann and Jean-Guihen Queyras. Their performances of all Beethoven String Quartets at the Konzerthaus Vienna in 2012 were released on DVD by EuroArts in 2014, followed by the release of a recording of Britten’s three String Quartets in 2015.

From 2017 to 2020, the quartet held the prestigious position of Ensemble in Residence at the Pierre Boulez Hall in Berlin. Since then, they have performed there regularly. In addition, the Belcea Quartet has been part of a shared String Quartet series at the Vienna Konzerthaus since 2010. Beginning last season, Quatuor Ébène became their partner ensemble here.

This season, the Belcea Quartet will be making guest appearances at the three prominent European String Quartet biennials in Paris, Lisbon, and Amsterdam. In addition, they will be performing at various esteemed venues including Carnegie Hall New York City, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Flagey Brussels, National Concert Hall Dublin, Tonhalle Zurich, and Toppan Hall Tokyo.