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About


The Apollon Quartet is one of the leading representatives of the illustrious Czech quartet school. The tradition that it follows was created by ensembles such as the Vlach, Janáček, and Smetana Quartets.

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About


The Apollon Quartet is one of the leading representatives of the illustrious Czech quartet school. The tradition that it follows was created by ensembles such as the Vlach, Janáček, and Smetana Quartets.

Štěpán Pražák

After studying under members of the Smetana Quartet and attending prestigious master classes in Holland (with the Fine Arts Quartet) and Germany (with the Alban Berg Quartet) the Apollon Quartet competed successfully in a number of prestigious international competitions, including the International Ludwig van Beethoven Competition (first prize and prize for the best performance of a work by Beethoven), and taking part in the final of the international competition in Düsseldorf. 


Radek Křižanovský

With these successes the Apollon Quartet began its concert activities in 1993, which were to see further encounters with outstanding figures from the chamber music scene (such as Viktor Moučka from the Vlach Quartet or Jan Kvapil and Petr Messieureur from the Talich Quartet). From the beginning of its career the Quartet has included jazz compositions in its repertoire, in addition to classical works. We can thus hear them play outstanding and very original arrangements by the American string ensemble Turtle Island Quartet of pieces by leading jazz composers and interpreters (such as Chick Corea, Miles Davis, and Leonard Bernstein).

 


Pavel Ciprys

The Apollon Quartet works with a number of Czech composers, both in the field of classical music (Z. Lukáš, P. Trojan, O.Kvěch, and M.Knížák), and of jazz (K.Růžička, E.Viklický, V.Eckert, and Z.Zdeněk). In many cases these composers have dedicated works to the Quartet. Thanks to their wide-ranging repertoire, combining these two differing genres, the Apollon Quartet has captivated audiences in many concert halls. 


Pavel Verner

The ensemble makes regular appearances at prestigious festivals both in the Czech Republic and elsewhere, including the Bruckner Festival in Karlsruhe, the Chamber Music Festival in Bolzano, the Mitte Europa Festival, the Contemporary Music Festival in Bregenz, the Chamber Music Festival in Bergamo, and the Jazz Festival in Salzburg. They have also made concert tours of England, Japan, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Turkey, Sweden, France, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries.

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Discography


Czech Television has already broadcast several programmes dedicated solely to the Apollon Quartet, and regularly works closely together with the ensemble. As a result of their extremely successfully work with Czech Radio, a contract on cooperation was signed between the Apollon Quartet and Czech Radio in 1997, enabling them to use the title "Czech Radio Ensemble".

Discography


Czech Television has already broadcast several programmes dedicated solely to the Apollon Quartet, and regularly works closely together with the ensemble. As a result of their extremely successfully work with Czech Radio, a contract on cooperation was signed between the Apollon Quartet and Czech Radio in 1997, enabling them to use the title "Czech Radio Ensemble".

Since 1993, the Apollon Quartet has now released ten solo CDs of classical music (Dusík, Ravel, Janáček, Brahms, Schubert, Dvořák, Smetana, Chevalier de Saint-George, Rejcha, Haydn, Husa, Gemrot, and Knížák) and three solo jazz CDs (Apollon in Jazz, A Night in Tunisia, and Klangburg Concertino). Since 2001 the ensemble has worked closely with the recording company Cube Bohemia (their first joint project being a CD with quartets by Dvořák), and with the recording company Radioservis, which has released a number of their CDs with works by Schubert, Haydn, Rejcha, Husa, Gemrot, Lukáš, Kvěch, and others. A further interesting recording was a jazz CD, recorded together with the Austrian ensemble Fritz Pauer Trio.