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ARMIDA QUARTET Martin Funda, violin Johanna Staemmler violin Teresa Schwamm Peter-Philipp Staemmler

2019/20 SEASON

Winning the ARD International Competition in 2012 (also sweeping all other prizes including the audience prize) propelled the Armida Quartet on to the international concert platform. Between 2016-2018 they participated on the BBC New Generation Artists Scheme, during which the Armida Quartet gave its’ BBC Proms debut and celebrated its’ tenth anniversary. In 2017 the Quartet completed a season as ECHO (European Concert Hall Organisation) “Rising Stars” as their fourth disc was released. 2018 saw them make their debut in the USA, and in 2019 they took on their first orchestral residency with Duisburger Philharmoniker.

Founded in Berlin in 2006, the Armida Quartet took its’ name from a Haydn opera, the “father of the ”. They have studied with members of the and Rainer Schmidt (), also drawing musical inspiration from Alfred Brendel, Reinhard Goebel, Eberhard Feltz, , Natalia Prischepenko and . The quartet has participated in masterclasses with the Arditti, Alban Berg and Guarneri Quartets.

The 2019/20 season sees the quartet as guest artists in major european cities including the Louvre, , Mozarteum in Salzburg, Barcelona, Zaragoza and Bilbao - the latter with pianist Pavel Kolesnikov. In Barcelona the quartet will give the world premiere of new work for quartet and electronics by Ramon Humet. Joining the Beethoven anniversary celebrations they are guests of the Beethoven Haus Bonn, joined by their mentor and colleague, Tabea Zimmerman in an all-Beethoven programme.

Leading towards a CD release of the complete Mozart quartets (CAvi records) in 2021, the Quartet’s unique editing project working alongside G Henle Verlag publishers on a new edition of the Mozart quartets continues. The Quartet established its own Berlin concert series, “Mozart Exploded”, in 2016. The series explores Mozart as an avant garde of his time and each programme juxtaposes a new composition currently including works by Jörg Widmann, Frangis Ali-Sade and Marco Nicodijevic.

Other recent highlights have included tours to USA and in Europe they were guest artists at the Mecklenberg Vorpommern Festival where they premiered and performed a new quintet by pianist Kit Armstrong as well as collaborating with include Daniel Müeller-Schott and the . In 2018/19 season their first orchestral residency as Artists in Residence with the Duisburger Philharmonicker saw them performing Daniel Schnyder’s concerto, “Impetus” for String Quartet and Orchestra alongside chamber and education concerts. As guests of the 2019 Vale of Glamorgan festival they performed three programmes entirely of living composers including a world premiere of Robert Fokkens and works of Dobrinka Tabakova, Sofia Gubaidulina, Arvo Pärt, Petris Vasks, Steve Riech and Johannes Fischer.

The ensemble’s debut CD for CAvi in 2013, featuring works by Bartók, Ligeti and Kurtág, was selected by the German Record Critics’ Award for its critics’ choice list. Their next disc of Mozart quartets (2016) won equally high praise and 2019 has recently seen the release of their next Mozart disc in a project that will see the complete Mozart quartets recording released in 2021. Beethoven, Shostakovich and a disc exploring their fascination in the fugue, “Fuga Magna” (2017) have all received notable praise.

Working with chamber partners is an inspiration for the Armida Quartet – they have additionally worked with Raphael Alpermann, Thomas Hampson, Ewa Kupiec, Maximilian Hornung, and Jörg Widmann and fellow BBC NGA alumni including Pavel Kolesnikov, Lise Berthaud, French horn player Alec Frank- Gemill and Quatour Van Kuijk. The Armida Quartet are represented by www.ej-arts.com in collaboration with www.kdschmid.co.uk If you wish to change this biography in any way please contact [email protected] for final approval The Armida Quartet are represented by www.ej-arts.com in collaboration with www.kdschmid.co.uk If you wish to change this biography in any way please contact [email protected] for final approval