©Photo: Giorgia Bertazzi

Tetzlaff Quartet

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“Supremely lyrical, exactingly detailed playing combined with impeccable balance and unanimity, resulting in an overwhelming performance.”
(The New York Times)

Praised by The New York Times for its “dramatic, energetic playing of clean intensity”, the Tetzlaff Quartett is one of today’s leading string quartets. Alongside their successful individual careers, Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff, Hanna Weinmeister and Elisabeth Kufferath have met since 1994 to perform several times each season in concerts that regularly receive great critical acclaim.

They are frequent guests at international festivals such as the Berliner Festwochen, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and Musikfest Bremen. They perform regularly at the famous Wigmore Hall in London. Other highlights include performances at Kölner Philharmonie, the Pierre Boulez Hall in Berlin, the Cité de la Musique in Paris as well as a North America tour with concerts at Carnegie Hall, in San Francisco and Vancouver. The quartet has also performed at Brussels’ BOZAR, Wiener Musikverein, Herkulessaal München, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Gewandhaus Leipzig. Highlights of the 2021/22 season include concerts at Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie Köln, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Konzert Theater Bern, Konzertverein Bozen, Konzerthaus Blaibach and at Princeton University.

The quartet’s first recording with music by Schönberg and Sibelius, was released by CAvi-music in 2010, the second recording with music by Berg and Mendelssohn received the prestigious “Diapason d’or” in 2015. In 2017 Ondine released a CD with music by Haydn and Schubert, followed in 2020 by a CD with two of the late string quartets of Beethoven.

Christian Tetzlaff, violin

Described as “one of the most brilliant and inquisitive artists of the new generation” (The New York Times), Christian Tetzlaff is a regular guest with the world’s leading orchestras and festivals. He also enjoys collaborations with the most distinguished chamber musicians, including recital partners Leif Ove Andsnes and Lars Vogt. He plays a Peter Greiner violin.

Elisabeth Kufferath, violin

Elisabeth Kufferath is a regular guest at international music festivals including Lucerne, Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Ravinia and Aspen. Her regular chamber music partners include Lars Vogt, Antje Weithaas, Isabelle Faust and Jens Peter Maintz. Elisabeth is currently Professor of Violin at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover. She plays a Peter Greiner violin.

Hanna Weinmeister, viola

She is currently First Concertmaster at Opernhaus Zürich. She has worked with, amongst others, Leonidas Kavakos, Heinz Holliger, Gidon Kremer and Benjamin Schmid. She plays a Peter Greiner viola.

Tanja Tetzlaff, cello

Tanja Tetzlaff has appeared with many international orchestras. She is especially dedicated to chamber music and regularly plays with Lars Vogt, Martin Fröst and Carolin Widmann. She plays a violoncello of Giovanni Battista

Guadagnini from 1776.

HarrisonParrott represents Tetzlaff Quartet in the UK.

String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, Op. 161, D. 887: I. Allegro molto moderato © Various Artists - Topic

TETZLAFF QUARTET - Mozart String Quartet # 16 in E flat major © ClassicPerformances2

Tetzlaff Quartet - Beethoven - String quartet No. 15 in A minor - Movement III © medici.tv

“In the fourth movement [of Sibelius’ Voces Intimae Quartet], [Christian] Tetzlaff created a sound of startling sepulchral darkness, but in the scherzo the four players created a deliciously light dancing sound, a reminder that Sibelius could rival Mendelssohn in delicacy.”

(The Telegraph, June 2018)

“The [Tetzlaff Quartet]’s euphonious sound lent warmth to the challenging contrasts of the opening movement [of Beethoven’s A‑minor String Quartet], and the following piece in minuet form (…) was also given without overemphasis: homage to Mozart albeit at a distance.”

(Classical Source, May 2018)

“The members of the quartet go as far as to say, “there is little left here that has to do with musical performance; it has more to do with screaming and whispering. The material — and the emotions too – are taken entirely to the limits.”

(Primephonic, May 2017)

“Christian Tetzlaff and his colleagues offered the same sort of instrumental perfection that has characterised their earlier appearances in this venue, with unanimity of ensemble and tone, as well as musical thinking, lending immense satisfaction to all their performances.”

(Dennis Rooney, The Strad, January 2014)

“Here, and in Mendelssohn’s Quartet in A minor, the Tetzlaff alternated refinement and aggression in dramatic, energetic playing of clean intensity.”

(Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times, April 2013)

“[It was] excellent, how the Tetzlaff Quartet combined the emotional with the structural layers of the piece. Astounding to what kind of blaze the music heightened after the inconspicuous beginning of the Fugato in the slow movement of the Mendelssohn.”

(Thomas Schacher, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, March 2013)