One of the most interesting complete recordings of the infinitely incredible (Beethoven) string quartets, which in the hands of an outstanding ensemble always seem startlingly new and freshly invented.“
Harald Eggebrecht, Süddeutsche Zeitung, July 2020

The Kuss Quartet has been set­ting new stan­dards for many years with its ambi­tious con­cept-based pro­gramming. Its mis­si­on is to offer uni­que expe­ri­en­ces to tra­di­tio­nal audi­en­ces and new lis­ten­ers alike. 

Leader Jana Kuss and second vio­li­nist Oliver Wille have been play­ing side by side for over 30 years. With curio­si­ty, they and their long-stan­ding col­le­agues, William Coleman and Mikayel Hakhnazaryan, seek con­fir­ma­ti­on of the eter­nal “muss es sein” of string quar­tet playing.

Thanks to a grant from the sta­te of Lower Saxony and Musik 21, the quar­tet has been able to com­mis­si­on seve­ral new works for string quar­tet over the past years by Enno Poppe, Aribert Reimann, Manfred Trojahn, Bruno Mantovani, Iris ter Schiphorst Johannes Fischer and Mark Andre. This has attrac­ted coope­ra­ti­ons with the Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Paris Biennale, Wigmore Hall London and Suntory Hall Tokyo. In the coming years, Sara Glojnarić and Francisco Coll will com­po­se new works for the Kuss Quartet.

The CD “FREIzeit”, released in November 2021, is dedi­ca­ted to the works of Poppe, Reimann, Trojahn. It is a crea­ti­ve col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with per­cus­sio­nist and com­po­ser Johannes Fischer, who­se work “Duft” also appears on the album, tog­e­ther with sopra­no Sarah Maria Sun and slam poet Bas Böttcher. “The result is an upbeat and humo­rous CD (…) The who­le thing sounds fresh and quir­ky.” (SZ)

These musi­cal part­ners join the long list of artists with whom the Kuss Quartett enjoys regu­lar col­la­bo­ra­ti­on, inclu­ding Miklós Perényi, Dénes Várjon, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and Maurice Steger.

The next album, entit­led “KRISE” (Crisis), will be released in November 2022 and explo­res this sub­ject from dif­fe­rent per­spec­ti­ves through both well-known quar­tet reper­toire and spe­ci­al­ly com­mis­sio­ned works.

In the coming sea­son, the ensem­ble will pre­sent a pro­gram­me of Carter and Mozart with Pierre-Laurent Aimard and will also per­form with pia­nist Alexander Lonquich. 

They are alre­a­dy expe­ri­men­ting with a pro­ject plan­ned for 2024 cal­led “LISTENING SESSIONS”. In col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with Sara Glojnarić and Sarah Maria Sun, this high-tech explo­ra­ti­on of sound exists some­whe­re bet­ween Lieder reci­tal, pop cul­tu­re and string quar­tet, freed from its his­to­ri­cal context.

A fur­ther high­ly inno­va­ti­ve pro­ject was “KUSS@KOKON”. During the Corona pan­de­mic, an artist coll­ec­ti­ve con­sis­ting of dancers Yui Kawaguchi and Ruben Reniers, per­cus­sio­nist Johannes Fischer and slam poet Bas Böttcher deve­lo­ped new modu­lar con­certs with the Kuss Quartet, assis­ted by a “Reload” grant from the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Free from inhi­bi­ti­ons, the­se modu­les break the boun­da­ries of their respec­ti­ve fields and expand them into new forms.

In 2019, the Kuss Quartet was the first German string quar­tet to be lent the legen­da­ry Stradivari “Paganini Quartet” by the Nippon Music Foundation. On the­se instru­ments, the quar­tet play­ed the com­ple­te string quar­tets of Beethoven in June 2019 at the invi­ta­ti­on of Suntory Hall Tokyo. The resul­ting live recor­ding was released in spring 2020 on the British label Rubicon Classics with the sup­port of G. Henle Verlag. 

The cross-gen­re Beethoven pro­gram­me “Force and Freedom” was deve­lo­ped tog­e­ther with direc­tor Nicola Hümpel and her music and dance theat­re “Nico and The Navigators”. Delayed by the pan­de­mic, the world pre­mie­re took place in November 2021 at the Konzerthaus Dortmund and was sub­se­quent­ly per­for­med at the Schwetzinger Festspiele and Radialsystem Berlin in 2022. The pro­duc­tion was film­ed by ARTE TV.

At the begin­ning of its care­er, the quar­tet was award­ed first pri­zes by the German Music Council and at the Borciani Competition. It also recei­ved a Borletti-Buitoni Award and was a “Rising Star” of the European Concert Hall Organisation. 

Today, the Kuss Quartet inspi­res the next gene­ra­ti­on in fre­quent mas­ter clas­ses. William Coleman (Salzburg) and Oliver Wille (Hanover, Birmingham, Biella) are pro­fes­sors at European uni­ver­si­ties, while Mikayel Hakhnazaryan tea­ches cham­ber music at the Hochschule in Karlsruhe and Jana Kuss at the Accademia Perosi in Biella (Italy).

The Kuss Quartet plays on Evah Pirazzi/Perpetual strings and would like to thank Pirastro warm­ly for their many years of support!

Season 2022 – 2023

We ask you kind­ly to print, repro­du­ce or publish this bio­gra­phy wit­hout making any chan­ges. Omissions and modi­fi­ca­ti­ons are per­mit­ted only after con­sul­ta­ti­on with the Konzertdirektion Goette. 

 

DOWNLOAD BIOGRAPHY

One of the most interesting complete recordings of the infinitely incredible (Beethoven) string quartets, which in the hands of an outstanding ensemble always seem startlingly new and freshly invented.“
Harald Eggebrecht, Süddeutsche Zeitung, July 2020

The Kuss Quartet has been set­ting new stan­dards for many years with its ambi­tious con­cept-based pro­gramming. Its mis­si­on is to offer uni­que expe­ri­en­ces to tra­di­tio­nal audi­en­ces and new lis­ten­ers alike. 

Leader Jana Kuss and second vio­li­nist Oliver Wille have been play­ing side by side for over 30 years. With curio­si­ty, they and their long-stan­ding col­le­agues, William Coleman and Mikayel Hakhnazaryan, seek con­fir­ma­ti­on of the eter­nal “muss es sein” of string quar­tet playing.

Thanks to a grant from the sta­te of Lower Saxony and Musik 21, the quar­tet has been able to com­mis­si­on seve­ral new works for string quar­tet over the past years by Enno Poppe, Aribert Reimann, Manfred Trojahn, Bruno Mantovani, Iris ter Schiphorst Johannes Fischer and Mark Andre. This has attrac­ted coope­ra­ti­ons with the Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Paris Biennale, Wigmore Hall London and Suntory Hall Tokyo. In the coming years, Sara Glojnarić and Francisco Coll will com­po­se new works for the Kuss Quartet.

The CD “FREIzeit”, released in November 2021, is dedi­ca­ted to the works of Poppe, Reimann, Trojahn. It is a crea­ti­ve col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with per­cus­sio­nist and com­po­ser Johannes Fischer, who­se work “Duft” also appears on the album, tog­e­ther with sopra­no Sarah Maria Sun and slam poet Bas Böttcher. “The result is an upbeat and humo­rous CD (…) The who­le thing sounds fresh and quir­ky.” (SZ)

These musi­cal part­ners join the long list of artists with whom the Kuss Quartett enjoys regu­lar col­la­bo­ra­ti­on, inclu­ding Miklós Perényi, Dénes Várjon, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and Maurice Steger.

The next album, entit­led “KRISE” (Crisis), will be released in November 2022 and explo­res this sub­ject from dif­fe­rent per­spec­ti­ves through both well-known quar­tet reper­toire and spe­ci­al­ly com­mis­sio­ned works.

In the coming sea­son, the ensem­ble will pre­sent a pro­gram­me of Carter and Mozart with Pierre-Laurent Aimard and will also per­form with pia­nist Alexander Lonquich. 

They are alre­a­dy expe­ri­men­ting with a pro­ject plan­ned for 2024 cal­led “LISTENING SESSIONS”. In col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with Sara Glojnarić and Sarah Maria Sun, this high-tech explo­ra­ti­on of sound exists some­whe­re bet­ween Lieder reci­tal, pop cul­tu­re and string quar­tet, freed from its his­to­ri­cal context.

A fur­ther high­ly inno­va­ti­ve pro­ject was “KUSS@KOKON”. During the Corona pan­de­mic, an artist coll­ec­ti­ve con­sis­ting of dancers Yui Kawaguchi and Ruben Reniers, per­cus­sio­nist Johannes Fischer and slam poet Bas Böttcher deve­lo­ped new modu­lar con­certs with the Kuss Quartet, assis­ted by a “Reload” grant from the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Free from inhi­bi­ti­ons, the­se modu­les break the boun­da­ries of their respec­ti­ve fields and expand them into new forms.

In 2019, the Kuss Quartet was the first German string quar­tet to be lent the legen­da­ry Stradivari “Paganini Quartet” by the Nippon Music Foundation. On the­se instru­ments, the quar­tet play­ed the com­ple­te string quar­tets of Beethoven in June 2019 at the invi­ta­ti­on of Suntory Hall Tokyo. The resul­ting live recor­ding was released in spring 2020 on the British label Rubicon Classics with the sup­port of G. Henle Verlag. 

The cross-gen­re Beethoven pro­gram­me “Force and Freedom” was deve­lo­ped tog­e­ther with direc­tor Nicola Hümpel and her music and dance theat­re “Nico and The Navigators”. Delayed by the pan­de­mic, the world pre­mie­re took place in November 2021 at the Konzerthaus Dortmund and was sub­se­quent­ly per­for­med at the Schwetzinger Festspiele and Radialsystem Berlin in 2022. The pro­duc­tion was film­ed by ARTE TV.

At the begin­ning of its care­er, the quar­tet was award­ed first pri­zes by the German Music Council and at the Borciani Competition. It also recei­ved a Borletti-Buitoni Award and was a “Rising Star” of the European Concert Hall Organisation. 

Today, the Kuss Quartet inspi­res the next gene­ra­ti­on in fre­quent mas­ter clas­ses. William Coleman (Salzburg) and Oliver Wille (Hanover, Birmingham, Biella) are pro­fes­sors at European uni­ver­si­ties, while Mikayel Hakhnazaryan tea­ches cham­ber music at the Hochschule in Karlsruhe and Jana Kuss at the Accademia Perosi in Biella (Italy).

The Kuss Quartet plays on Evah Pirazzi/Perpetual strings and would like to thank Pirastro warm­ly for their many years of support!

Season 2022 – 2023

We ask you kind­ly to print, repro­du­ce or publish this bio­gra­phy wit­hout making any chan­ges. Omissions and modi­fi­ca­ti­ons are per­mit­ted only after con­sul­ta­ti­on with the Konzertdirektion Goette. 

 

DOWNLOAD BIOGRAPHY
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