Eliot Quartet
String Quartet
String Quartet
Biography
Founded in 2014, the Eliot Quartet is one of the most interesting and promising string quartets of the new generation. The international ensemble – with members from Russia, Canada and Germany – has won prizes at numerous competitions. It has won 2nd prize at the Salzburg Mozart Competition, 2nd prize at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and three special prizes at the German Music Competition. It was also awarded 1st prize and the special prize for the best interpretation of a work by Szymanowski at the Karol Szymanowski Competition.
The Eliot Quartet has established itself as an integral part of concert life in its home city of Frankfurt am Main. As the first ‘Quartet in Residence’ at the renowned Holzhausenschlösschen of the Frankfurt Bürgerstiftung, it has been organizing its own concert series since 2019. To mark the 50th anniversary of Dmitri Shostakovich’s death (2025) and its tenth anniversary, the quartet is dedicating itself to a cyclical performance of all 15 of the composer’s string quartets in the twelve-part concert series ‘DSCH & beyond’. The works are deliberately placed in relation to pieces by other composers – from Bach, Haydn and Schubert to Gubaidulina and Pärt. This concept builds new bridges in terms of content, opens up exciting connections and invites the audience on an extraordinary journey of discovery.
Closely related to this cycle is the Eliot Quartet’s latest album on the GENUIN label, which brings together Dmitri Shostakovich’s Quartets No. 3 and No. 8. These are combined with ‘Au-delà d’une absence’ by Krzysztof Meyer, a moving homage to Shostakovich, whose composer still knew the Russian musician personally. The recording reflects the ensemble’s intensive artistic engagement with Shostakovich, which is evident in the ‘DSCH & beyond’ cycle and beyond.
Following the conclusion of the concert series at the Holzhausenschlösschen, the Eliot Quartet will also present the complete Shostakovich cycle on international stages: as part of the Carinthian Summer from 26 July to 2 August 2025 in Carinthia (Austria), at the MITO Festival in Italy with concerts on 6 and 7 September 2025 in Milan and on 13 and 14 September 2025 in Turin and then at a cycle lasting several days in Canada from 25 to 28 September 2025 (exact locations to follow).
The Eliot Quartet has performed at the Bachfest Leipzig, the Kasseler Musiktage, the Styriarte Graz, the Mozartfest Würzburg, the Rheingau Musik Festival, the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg and numerous other festivals. Performances have taken the ensemble to the Schubertiade Hohenems, the Stuttgart Music Festival, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, among others. In 2022, it staged its own festival ‘Eliots am Main’ in Frankfurt, and in autumn 2023, the quartet completed a successful tour of Canada.
The Eliot Quartet studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main with Hubert Buchberger and Tim Vogler and at the Escuela Superior de Musica Madrid in Günter Pichler’s masterclass. The ensemble also received significant impulses from its collaboration with Alfred Brendel and the Belcea Quartet.
The quartet is named after the American writer T. S. Eliot, who was inspired by the innovative, late string quartets of Ludwig van Beethoven to write his poetic masterpiece ‘Four Quartets’. Several recordings by the Eliot Quartet have been released on the Genuin label.
> To the new album DSCH & Beyond (Genuin, Release Date 7 Feb. 2025)
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