The world-renowned Takács Quartet brings its innovative musical thinking to works by Beethoven and Brahms, along with a new string quartet by the acclaimed pianist Stephen Hough. 

The Takács Quartet is known for its innovative programming. In 2015, the Takács performed a program inspired by Philip Roth’s novel Everyman with Meryl Streep at The Royal Conservatory of Music. They have toured 14 cities with the poet Robert Pinsky and played regularly with the Hungarian folk group Muzsikas. 

The Takács Quartet was formed in 1975 at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest by Gábor Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gabor Ormai, and András Fejér, while all four were students. The group received international attention in 1977, winning First Prize and the Critics’ Prize at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France. 

One of the most distinctive artists of his generation, Sir Stephen Hough combines a distinguished career as a pianist with those of composer and writer. Named by The Economist as one of Twenty Living Polymaths, Hough was the first classical performer to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship (2001). In 2014, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2022.

Program:

Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet No. 1 in F Major, op. 18, no. 1 Stephen Hough: String Quartet No. 1 (Les Six Rencontres) (composed for the Takács Quartet) Johannes Brahms: Piano Quintet in F Minor, op. 34