2011-2012 Season
Takács Quartet
Wednesday, April 11, 2012, 7:00pm
Recognized as one of the world’s outstanding string quartets, the Takács Quartet plays with a virtuosic technique, intense immediacy and consistently burnished tone. The Quartet has been described as having ‘warmth, exuberance, ... and above all the instinct to play from inside the music’. The Takács Quartet, based in Boulder, Colorado, has been in residence at the University of Colorado since 1983. Pieces for this program include Janacek Quartet No. 2, Britten Quartet No. 3, and Ravel Quartet.
The Takács Quartet was formed in 1975 at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest by Gabor Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gabor Ormai and András Fejér, while all four were students. It first received international attention in 1977, winning First Prize and the Critics’ Prize at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France. The Quartet also won the Gold Medal at the 1978 Portsmouth and Bordeaux Competitions and First Prizes at the Budapest International String Quartet Competition in 1978 and the Bratislava Competition in 1981. The Quartet made its North American debut tour in 1982. Violinist Edward Dusinberre joined the Quartet in 1993 and violist Roger Tapping in 1995. Violist Geraldine Walther replaced Mr. Tapping in 2005. In 2001 the Takács Quartet was awarded the Order of Merit of the Knight’s Cross of the Republic of Hungary.