Jonathan Masaki Schwarz, violon
Amelie Cosima Wallner, violon
Mayu Konoe, alto
Lukas Minoru Schwarz, violoncelle
The string quartet, founded in Berlin in 2019, could hardly be described more aptly than in the review published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in January 2022.
The ensemble is framed by brothers Jonathan and Lukas Schwarz on 1st violin and cello, with Amelie Wallner on 2nd violin and Mayu Konoe on viola providing the middle voices. Leonkoro, in Esperanto: Lionheart, alludes not coincidentally to Astrid Lindgren’s children’s book about two brothers, a book that juxtaposes the grave fact of dying with a large and heartfelt portion of consolation – a meaning the quartet’s music is also dedicated to in not a few places.
Already in the first half of 2022, the Leonkoro Quartet was crowned with two first prizes: in May 2022, the ensemble was awarded the 1st prize at the Quatuor à Bordeaux competition. They were able to convince not only the top-class jury, but also the audience, who awarded them the Audience Prize as well as the Young Audience Prize. In April 2022 the four musicians won 1st prize at the International String Quartet Competition of the Wigmore Hall London and were also honored with no less than 9 of the 12 special prizes. These included among others the prize for the best interpretation of a Haydn String Quartet, the prize for the best performance of a 19th century work, the Britten Pears Young Artists Programme Prize, the Leeds International Concert Series Prize as well as the prize of the Esterházy Foundation.
This was followed at the end of May 2022 by their appointment to the prestigious BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists program, of which the Quartet will be a part from 2022 – 2024. In March 2022, the ensemble was honored with the coveted and highly endowed Jürgen Ponto Foundation Music Prize, which is awarded every two years to an outstanding string quartet.
In the summer of 2021, the Leonkoro Quartet got off to a brilliant start on the international stage when it became the youngest formation to be awarded 2nd prize (the 1st prize was not awarded) and the coveted Audience Prize at the highly renowned international string quartet competition Premio Paolo Borciani.
In the same year, the ensemble won 1st prize in the Chamber Music Competition of the Alice Samter Foundation and was awarded 2nd prize in the Ton und Erklärung competition of the Kulturkreis der Deutschen Wirtschaft.
In addition to studying chamber music with Heime Müller at the Musikhochschule Lübeck, the quartet has been studying with Günter Pichler (Primarius Alban Berg Quartet) at the Chamber Music Institute of the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía Madrid since 2020 with the generous support of Santander Consumer Bank AG. The Leonkoro Quartet is fostered intensively by members of the Artemis Quartet at the Berlin University of the Arts. The four musicians received further artistic impulses from Alfred Brendel, Reinhard Göbel, Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet), Oliver Wille (Kuss Quartet) and Luc-Marie Aguera (Quatuor Ysaye).
In the 2021/2022 season, the Leonkoro Quartet will play at the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the String Quartet Biennale of the Philharmonie de Paris, the String Quartet Festival in Heidelberg and the Rheingau Music Festival, among others.
The Leonkoro Quartet is a Pirastro Artist.
