casalQuartett
Founded in 1996, the casalQuartet’s formal training took place under the watchful eyes of the Carmina Quartet in Zurich, the Alban Berg in Cologne and Walter Levin in Basel.

The quartet has also benefited greatly from performing with musicians such as Martha Argerich, Clemens Hagen, Sol Gabetta, Emma Kirkby, Benjamin Schmid, Maurice Steger, Marcelo Nisinman, Christoph Prégardien, Khatia Buniatishvili, Nuria Rial, Regula Mühlemann and many others.

In more than 1.500 concerts in many parts of the world and at renowned festivals, the casalQuartet has captivated its audiences with inspired and precise musicianship and at the same time the integration of colleagues from other artistic disciplines. Concept oriented programming is equally important to the quartet’s vision - which it promulgates at several own festivals and concert series in Germany and Switzerland.

The four musicians see the string quartet as one of the most versatile genres in music, equally successful in its journeys from the 17th century to Tango Nuevo, jazz and the newest works of today, and well adapted to extending previous programming boundaries by the inclusion of theatre, dance and literature. Projects for young people, as well as moderated concerts are features of the quartet’s mission, which is to create a lively dialogue between tradition and innovation.

The intensive and substantial work on the ideal period instruments by Jacobus Stainer from around 1650 and the largely unknown music of the 18th century during the last years not only gained many fans for the ensembles mission, but also created an unparalleled quartet-sound and -style, which sheds a new light on the „Golden Period“ of the string quartet. These CDs receieved the ECHO KLASSIK 2010, the Pizzicato Award Luxemburg, the DIAPASON Decouverte and DIAPASON d’Or as well as nominations for the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, twice for the ICMA-Award and the American Grammy. In November 2015, the casalQuartet received the 2nd ECHO CLASSIC in Berlin for its worldpremiere recording of Franz Xaver Richters 7 string quartets.