Biography

Jonathan Schwarz  -  violin             
Amelie Wallner  -  violin 
Mayu Konoe  -  viola        
Lukas Schwarz  -  cello

The Leonkoro Quartet, founded in Berlin in 2019, takes its name from the Esperanto words meaning “lion” and “heart,” and from a children’s book by Astrid Lindgren about two brothers (the Leonkoro’s first violinist and cellist are brothers). The Quartet came to international attention in mid-2021 when, as the youngest ensemble participating, it won second prize (no first prize was offered that year) and the Audience Prize at the renowned Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition. In 2022, barely three years after it was founded, the Quartet won a whole host of prizes and awards, one after the other. Starting in March, it received the Jürgen Ponto Foundation Music Prize. Next month, the ensemble collected not only first prize but nine additional special prizes at the prestigious Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, where it was again the youngest quartet competing. In May it won the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition as well as the Audience Prize. In November the Quartet received the MERITO Award. Also that year the Leonkoro Quartet was invited to join the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists program for a two-year period. As if all this weren’t enough to distinguish this young group, all but the cellist perform standing. Notable mentors include members of the Artemis Quartet, Günter Pichler of the Alban Berg Quartet, and pianist Alfred Brendel with whom the Quartet maintains a regular collaboration. LMMC debut.

Robert Markow

https://leonkoroquartet.com/en/

Notes

Programme notes will be available two weeks before the concert.