"Passionate, uninhibited and spellbinding" – The Independent   "luxuriously warm sound [and] yearning lyricism" – The New York Times "the Brentanos are a magnificent string quartet...This was wonderful, selfless music-making." - The Times, London 

Founded in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has appeared throughout the world to great acclaim.  Within a few years of its formation, the Quartet received the first Cleveland Quartet Award, the Naumburg Chamber Music Award, and in 1996 was invited by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to be the inaugural members of Chamber Music Society Two.  In 1997, they were honoured with the Royal Philharmonic Award for Most Outstanding Debut in the United Kingdom after a recital at the Wigmore Hall, which they have since regularly visited and where they were resident in the 2000/2001 season. Since 1999, they have been the first Resident String Quartet at Princeton University, where their duties include recitals, workshops with composers and masterclasses.

The Quartet performs extensively, both in North America where all its members reside, as well as in Europe, Japan and Australia.  It has appeared at the Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York, Library of Congress in Washington, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Köln Philharmonie, St Luke’s in London, Konzerthaus in Vienna, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and Sydney Opera House and at the Aspen, Edinburgh, Kuhmo and Caramoor festivals.

Their eclecticism and wish to go beyond the boundaries of the standard string quartet repertoire have led the quartet to perform both Renaissance and early music pieces with transcriptions of, for example, Gesualdo and Monteverdi’s Madrigals, Fantasias of Purcell and secular works by Josquin des Prés.   In the contemporary field, the Brentanos regularly collaborate with living composers including Elliot Carter and György Kurtág and have commissioned and premiered an impressive list of new works. To commemorate their tenth anniversary, the quartet commissioned ten composers to write a piece inspired by and to be interwoven with excerpts of Bach’s Art of Fugue. The Quartet has also worked with the celebrated poet Mark Strand, commissioning poetry from him to accompany works of Haydn and Webern.

The Quartet enjoys an especially close relationship with Mitsuko Uchida with whom they regularly appear in the United States, Europe and Japan.  Other prestigious artists they have worked with include the soprano Jessye Norman and pianist Richard Goode. 

The Brentano Quartet has recently signed with the Paris-based discographic label, AEON, and released their first commercial CD featuring Mozart’s quartet K. 464 and his Quintet K. 593 recorded with viola player Hsin-Yun Huang.   Prior to this, the quartet had released a CD with Haydn’s Op 71 as well as a recording of Steven Mackey’s music, the latter for Albany records.

In 1998, cellist Nina Lee joined the Quartet, taking the place of founding member Michael Kannen. The Quartet is named after Antonie Brentano, whom many scholars consider to be Beethoven's "Immortal Beloved", the intended recipient of his famous love confession.

July 2008