František Souček, violin
Petr Střížek, violin
Petr Holman, viola
Vladimír Fortin, cello
Since its formation in 1994, the Zemlinsky Quartet has become the archetypal ensemble demonstrating the continuity of the school and tradition of the string quartet in Bohemia. The ensemble won First Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in 2010, the latest in a series of prizes won in Banff (Canada), at the Prague Spring Festival and in London, where it won the Press Prize. It was also awarded the Alexandre Zemlinsky Foundation Prize, whose name it now bears.
The Quartet has been invited to tour the four continents. Its repertoire already includes more than 200 scores by a host of major composers from the Germanic and Slavic traditions, as well as contemporary works.
Since early 2007, the Quartet has been recording exclusively for the French label Praga Digitals, which has been bringing together Western and Eastern European heritages since 1992. Their first boxed set (4-CD) was awarded a ‘Diapason d’Or’ by France’s leading music magazine. It brings together the early quartets of A.Dvořák. This and subsequent recordings dedicated to Schubert, Zemlinsky, Mendelssohn, Kalabis, Glazunov and Spanish composers have been enthusiastically received internationally in the wake of this brilliant debut.
Having worked with Walter Levin, the founder of the Lasalle Quartet, and then with Josef Klusoň of the Pražák Quartet, the group now also teaches as quartet-in-residence at the Basel Conservatory and conducts master classes for students of all ages. Not long ago, F. Souček and P. Holman became professors at the Prague Conservatory.
