Biographical Notes
The initial, and ultimately most profound influence on the Auryn Quartet´s evolution was the time spent in Cologne studying and playing with members of the Amadeus Quartet. Five years were spent in monthly exchanges with those great masters. A two-semester sabbatical at the University of Maryland, USA (in !987) with the Guarneri Quartet cemented the emerging Auryn style.
Of course, the obligatory competitions (London, Munich ARD, Bratislava (EU)Broadcasting Competition) helped the Quartet gain recognition during the early ´80s, and being signed on for several seasons by Columbia Artists Management (USA) ensured the break-through onto the world´s stages.
Since then, the Auryn Quartet has been ever-present on the international music scene . At this point it seems almost unnecessary to mention the countless festivals to which the Quartet has been invited ( Salzburg, Edinburgh, Lockenhaus, Gstaad, Mondsee, Beethoven-Fest Bonn, Les Arcs, Montepulciano etc.), and the numerous chamber-music partners the group has had over the decades ( Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Christine Schaefer, Peter Orth, Alexander Lonquich, Nobuko Imai, Tabea Zimmermann, Eduard Brunner, Michael Collins, Christian Poltéra, Christian Altenburger, David Soyer and Michael Tree, to name but a few !) but it is interesting nonetheless!
About half the Auryns´ working time is spent travelling abroad, touring Great Britain (memorable concerts at the Wigmore Hall in London, and at the Edinburgh Festival), Italy, Austria, Switzerland and of course Canada and the USA . In Washington, D.C. the Quartet is artistic adviser to the Schubert Festival, an annual event held in Georgetown University´s historic Gaston Hall, and is a regular performer at the Frick Collection series in New York.
Apart from the above mentioned Beethoven and Haydn CD recordings, the recording of the complete Schubert string quartets on cpo also garnered rave reviews, winning the prestigious French award, the Diapason d´Or. The CD of all Schumann string quartets prompted The Strad magazine to remark: "The playing, by a group that has been garnering golden opinions for two decades, is absolutely first rate."
The complete Brahms quartets were released last year, and the Schumann piano quintet/quartet (with Peter Orth) will be on the market later in 2009.
Teaching and coaching has become an integral part of the Quartet´s daily life in latter years. In 2004 and 2008 the Auryns held two-week symposiums in Montepulciano for the European Academy, and the four musicians have been awarded professorships on the string faculty of the Musikhochschule in Detmold, Germany, where they teach a huge variety of chamber-music (by the way: open to non-resident students as well.. please apply!).
