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Tim Vogler, violin --- Frank Reinecke. violin
Stefan Fehlandt, viola --- Stephan Forck, cello

PROGRAM

Haydn: Quartet in g minor, Op. 74, No. 3, "The Rider"
Schulhoff: String Quartet No. 1
Dvořák: Cypresses
Schumann: Quartet in A Major, Op. 41, No. 3

BIOGRAPHY

Founded in East Berlin in January 1985, the Vogler Quartet celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2005 with its members unchanged. They quickly established themselves as one of the finest quartets of their generation. Mastering a repertoire of over 200 works from all periods of music, they are widely characterised by their extraordinary musical intelligence, highly creative playing with homogenous sounds, rich nuances, powerful interpretations and unconventional programming.

The four musicians (unchanged since 1985) studied at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin with Professor Eberhard Feltz as the mentor of their initial quartet playing. In May 1986 they came to international prominence through winning the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, also being awarded the critics’ prize and a special prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary work. They were subsequently invited to study with the renowned LaSalle Quartet in Basel, Switzerland and at the University of Cincinnati, U.S.A. In 1987 they took part in master-classes with Arnold Steinhard (Guarneri Quartet), and Sandor Vegh. György Kurtag continues to be an inspiration to the quartet.

They now combine an extensive schedule of recitals in major music venues all over the world with a busy teaching career which includes masterclasses and individual lessons. In their home city of Berlin, the Vogler Quartet began their own concert series in 1993. The “Konzerthaus” concerts provide a base for performing a comprehensive array of chamber music works to a highly appreciative audience..

In September 1999, the Vogler Quartet was designated “Quartet in Residence” in County Sligo/Ireland. The residency was a pilot project which sees one of the world’s leading string quartets pioneer a dynamic model of musical development in County Sligo. The Vogler Quartet worked closely with local music groups, schools and educational institutions in the key areas of performance, musical education and instrumental tuition. They worked as program advisers for the Sligo Music Series and founded the Vogler Spring Festival, which continues to be an annual event, bringing together international musicians in a high quality chamber music festival during the bank holiday weekend in may.

The Vogler Quartet increases its versatility by collaborating with other distinguished musicians in performing quintets, sextets and octets. Recent artistic partners include David Geringas, Daniel Mueller-Schott, Isabelle van Keulen, Michael Collins, Philippe Cassard and Alfredo Perl.

The quartet also has a keen interest in the performance of contemporary music. They performed Morton Feldman’s 2nd string quartet (that lasts 5 hours!) with tremendous success at the MusikBiennale in Berlin in 1999. At EXPO 2000 all of Wolfgang Rihm’s string quartets were played by the Vogler and Arditti Quartet. The 2005/06 season includes world premieres of quartets by Frank Michael Beyer and Joerg Widmann.

Recordings with BMG/RCA-Classic include works by Bartok, Beethoven, Berg, Debussy, Janacek, Ravel and Shostakovich and the complete string quartets of Brahms and Schumann. Their first CD for Nimbus featured Max Reger’s String Quartet op.109 and Clarinet Quintet (with Karl Leister). This was followed by a disc of two quartets by Karl Amadeus Hartmann coupled with Hanns Eisler’s Quartet Op 73. In March 2005 the CD with works by Mendelssohn (string quartets op. 12 and op. 44,2 as well as early unedited fugues) was released. Future recordings will include Schubert’s String Quintet with Daniel Mueller-Schott (Haenssler) and Thuille piano quintets (CPO)