Bennewitz Quartet
Jakub Fišer – 1st violin
Štěpán Ježek – 2nd violin
Jiří Pinkas – viola
Štěpán Doležal – cello
Program:
Joseph Haydn
String Quartet Op. 77, No. 1 (Hob. III/81)
Bedřich Smetana
String Quartet No. 2
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
String Quartet Op. 80
The Bennewitz Quartet
ranks among the leading chamber ensembles on the international stage, as evidenced not only by its victories in competitions in Osaka in 2005 and Prémio Paolo Borciani in Italy in 2008, but also by critical acclaim. The ensemble has also won many awards on the domestic scene. In 2004, the Bennewitz Quartet was named laureate of the Czech Chamber Music Society at the Czech Philharmonic, and in 2019 it received the Classic Prague Award for the best chamber music performance of the year. Since 1998, the ensemble has borne the name of violinist and director of the Prague Conservatory Antonín Bennewitz (1833–1926), who was instrumental in establishing the Czech violin school. His students included Otakar Ševčík, František Ondříček, as well as Karel Hoffmann, Josef Suk, and Oskar Nedbal, whom he inspired to found the famous Czech Quartet.
The quartet regularly performs abroad (Wigmore Hall London, Musikverein Vienna, Konzerthaus Berlin, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées Paris, The Frick Collection New York, Seoul Art Center, and others), at festivals such as the Salzburger Festspiele, Luzerne Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus, and collaborates with artists such as Alexander Melnikov, Vadim Gluzman, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and others.
The Bennewitz Quartet takes particular pleasure in performing on the domestic music scene. It greatly values its collaboration with the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, Czech Television, and Czech Radio.
The Bennewitz Quartet presents a unique selection of repertoire. At the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival and in Uppsala, Sweden, it performed Béla Bartók's complete quartets, and in 2014, it gave the world premiere of Slavomír Hořínka's Songs of Immigrants at the Berlin Konzerthaus. In 2019, it released a recording on the Supraphon label featuring compositions by persecuted Jewish composers (V. Ullmann, H. Krása, E. Schulhoff, and P. Haas). In the summer of 2025, it toured the United States and Canada, performed at the Dvořák Prague Festival, and continues its recording activities.
