Hugo-Wolf-Quartet

Within just a few short years the Hugo Wolf Quartett has developed from a chamber music lover’s insider tip to one of the most sought after string quartets of its generation.

The International Hugo Wolf Society of Vienna allowed this ensemble, founded in 1993 at the Vienna University for Music, to use the composer’s name. The group’s current members are the violinists Sebastian Gürtler and Régis Bringolf, the violist Gertrud Weinmeister and the cellist Florian Berner.

Shortly thereafter, the quartet won the Fifth Int. String Quartet Competition in Cremona, took first prize at the 45th International G.B. Viotti Chamber Music Competition, the European Chamber Music Prize and Special Prize of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and were elected Rising Stars.

On international stages, the Hugo Wolf Quartett has appeared in prominent concert halls and concert series such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie Berlin and Cologne, Wigmore Hall London, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Symphony Hall in Birmingham, Tonhalle Zurich, Carnegie Hall and Frick Collection in New York, Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Herkulessaal Munich, Rudolfinum in Prague, Mozarteum Salzburg, Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna. The festival circuit includes the renowned Edinburgh Festival, Gidon Kremer’s Lockenhaus Festival, Schubertiade, Colmar Festival Carinthian Summer, L'été musical dans la vallée du Lot, and the Caramoor Festival.

Extensive concert tours regularly take the ensemble to South America, Mexico, Canada, Japan and during the last two seasons they returned for five highly acclaimed tours in the USA and Canada with concerts coast to coast. Prestigious chamber music series included the Frick Collection in New York, National Gallery and Kreeger Museum in Washington, DC, and in Los Angeles, Boston, La Jolla, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Chicago and Ottawa. Recently, the Hugo Wolf Quartett performed live for the second time on WGBH Radio, Boston for “Performance Today”. In 2007, already an ambassador for the Lockenhaus Festival, Gidon Kremer appointed the Hugo Wolf Quartett the permanent ensemble in Residence.

What sets this quartet apart is it’s keen and insightful programming the Viennese Schools which include such contemporary composers as Friedrich Cerha, Dirk D’Ase, Otto M. Zykan, Zbigniew Bargielski and a dedicated work by Erich Urbanner, and the quartet has included compositions by jazz musicians Kenny Wheeler and Wolfgang Muthspiel.

The most recent CD releases of Franz Mittler‘s two string quartets for the CPO Label and a CAM Jazz production called  „Other People“ with Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor received critical acclaim. A Schubert CD is scheduled for a spring 2009 release by the VMS Label.

The Hugo Wolf Quartett, American universities and students alike are thrilled with the master classes and chamber music coaching, which prompted a second invitation to Northwestern and includes De Paul University, Chicago, Urbana, San Diego and UNC.