Cuarteto Quiroga

Cuarteto Quiroga

Praised by The New York Times for their "exquisite and refreshing performances", the Cuarteto Quiroga has established itself as one of the most dynamic and unique quartets of its generation, internationally acclaimed for its unique personality by critics and audiences alike, as well as for its daring and original approach to string quartet repertoire.

Winners of the 2018 National Music Prize, Spanish National Radio's Ojo Crítico Prize and prize-winners in major international quartet competitions (Bordeaux, Paolo Borciani, Geneva, Beijing, Fnapec-Paris, Palau Barcelona), in 2013 the Quiroga Quartet became the first resident ensemble at the Royal Palace of Madrid, entrusted with the quartet of embellished Stradivarius instruments from the palace collection.

The quartet is currently a resident ensemble at the Cerralbo Museum in Madrid and a regular at the most prestigious venues on the international music scene, such as the Pierre Boulez Saal, Konzerthaus and Philharmonie in Berlin, Wigmore Hall London, The Frick Collection and Lincoln Center in New York, DaCamera in Los Angeles, National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Les Invalides in Paris, Martinu Hall in Prague, Nybrokajen in Stockholm, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Stadtcasino in Basel, Mozarteum in Salzburg, and at festivals such as the Heidelberger Frühling and the Amsterdam String Quartet Biennial.

They frequently share the stage with musicians such as Martha Argerich, Veronika Hagen, Jörg Widmann, Javier Perianes, Valentin Erben, Richard Lester, David Kadouch, Jonathan Brown, Cappella Amsterdam and the string quartets Doric, Meta4, Ardeo and Galatea.

As a passionate supporter of contemporary repertoire, the quartet regularly collaborates with contemporary composers, presenting and recording new works in order to establish a continuous dialogue between tradition and new music. They have premiered pieces by prominent composers such as Peter Eötvös, Cristóbal Halffter, Jose María Sánchez-Verdú, Antón García-Abril, Jesús Villa-Rojo, Marisa Manchado, Narine Khachatryan and Cecilia Díaz, and have performed the complete works of György Kurtág for quartet and, in upcoming seasons, they will premiere works by Jonathan Dove, Jörg Widmann and José Luis Turina.

Since 2012, the Quiroga Quartet has undertaken the ambitious mission of developing an innovative and unique recording catalog with the Dutch independent label Cobra Records. They presented their latest album in 2021, "Und Es Ward Licht. Haydn & Mozart: The Birth of a New Era, in C Major", recorded together with the renowned violist Veronika Hagen and dedicated to the birth and expansion of chamber music and string quartet as offspring genres of the Enlightenment. Their previous album, "Heritage", offers an eloquent anthology of the string quartet music scene in Madrid during Goya's time. Released in 2019, this "much-needed album" (Scherzo) is performed on gut strings and includes two world premiere recordings by Boccherini and Brunetti. Their first album, which brings Haydn and Webern together with Sollima, won the 2012 CD of the Year prize, awarded by the Union of Independent Producers (UFI). Their previous recordings for Cobra, which have been received with critical acclaim, include albums of Schoenberg's earliest, Webern, and Alban Berg's early repertoire; Brahms's Opus 51 quartets; and works by Bartók, Ginastera, and Halffter. In 2016, they released a recording featuring Javier Perianes for Harmonia Mundi that includes rare piano quintet works by Granados and Turina.

Founded in 2003, the Cuarteto Quiroga takes its name from the Galician violinist Manuel Quiroga, one of the most distinguished string players in Spanish musical history. They studied with Rainer Schmidt at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, with Walter Levin at the Musikakademie in Basel and with Hatto Beyerle at the European Academy of Chamber Music. Other important artistic influences are Johannes Meissl, György Kurtág, András Keller, Eberhard Feltz and Ferenc Rados. They are strongly devoted to the teaching of chamber music and are teachers at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Zaragoza, the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, Musikene and the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid, and regularly invited to give masterclasses at universities and music conservatories throughout Europe, the United States and Latin America.

Cuarteto Quiroga and Cibrán Sierra would like to express their gratefulness to the heirs of Paola Modiano for the generous loan of the violin Nicola Amati "Arnold Rosé" (Cremona, 1682).