Takács Quartet


The Takács Quartet is a string quartet founded in Budapest, Hungary, and now based in Boulder, Colorado, United States.
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History

In 1975, four students at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gábor Ormai, and András Fejér formed the Takács Quartet. Takács-Nagy, Ormai and Fejér had been playing trios together for several months when they met Schranz during a pickup soccer game after classes. With his immediate addition to the group, the trio became a quartet.
The quartet first received international attention in 1977, winning the First Prize and the Critics' Prize at the International String Quartet Competition in Évian-les-Bains, France. After that, the quartet won the Gold Medal at the 1979 Portsmouth and Bordeaux Competitions and First Prizes at the Budapest International String Quartet Competition in 1978 and the Bratislava Competition in 1981. The quartet made its first North American tour in 1982.
In 1983, the group decided it would be best for them and their families if they moved to the United States. A colleague offered them a position as quartet-in-residence at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and they accepted the job.
In 1993, Takács-Nagy left the group, and the British violinist Edward Dusinberre replaced him. In 1994, Ormai learned that he had incurable cancer, and was replaced by another British musician, violist Roger Tapping. Following these changes, the quartet embarked on a successful series of recordings: a cycle of all six Béla Bartók quartets and a critically acclaimed complete Ludwig van Beethoven quartet cycle, as well as quartets by Bedřich Smetana and Alexander Borodin.
In 2005, following the completion of the Beethoven cycle, Tapping retired from the group to spend more time with his family. He now teaches chamber music at the New England Conservatory. His replacement was Geraldine Walther, an American violist who until then had been principal violist of the San Francisco Symphony. The quartet's members and critics remarked on how quickly she fitted into the ensemble.
Also in 2005, the quartet became associate artists at the South Bank Centre. In 2006, they released their first recording with Walther, of Franz Schubert's Rosamunde and Death and the Maiden quartets. This was also their first recording with Hyperion Records, after switching from the Decca label.
Schranz retired from the quartet in 2018 and was replaced by University of Colorado faculty member Harumi Rhodes.
In 2019, violist Walther announced her retirement from the quartet. She was replaced in 2020 by American violist Richard O'Neill. In Fall 2025, the last remaining original member of the quartet, cellist Andras Fejer, announced his retirement at the end of the 2025-2026 season. He will be replaced by Romanian-born Mihai Merica.

Current members

Past members

Awards and recognition

Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance: Andrew Keener, Simon Dominic Eadon and the Takács Quartet for Beethoven: String Quartets
Per Alex Ross, the quartet's complete Beethoven quartets "stands as the most richly expressive modern account of this titanic cycle."
The Takács Quartet's interpretation of Bartók's six string quartets has been praised.
The quartet was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for its recording of Johannes Brahms's String Quartet, Op. 51, No. 2, on the Hyperion label.
In 2010, the quartet was honored for Excellence in Research and Creative Work by the Boulder Faculty Assembly at the University of Colorado.

Selected discography

Selected concert reviews

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