SCHUBERT: String Quartet No. 12 in C minor, D. 703, Quartettsatz
BEETHOVEN: String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135
DVOŘÁK: String Quartet No. 13 in G major, Op. 105
The Pavel Haas Quartet, described by The Arts Desk as “life-enhancing”, is acclaimed worldwide for its richness of tone, infectious passion and instinctive rapport. Playing “as if their lives depended on it”, according to The Times, the Pavel Haas Quartet performs in the world’s most prestigious concert halls and has received numerous awards for its recordings, firmly establishing itself as one of the leading string quartets on the international music scene.
Highlights of the Pavel Haas Quartet’s 2025/26 season include returns to the Musikverein in Vienna, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, Konserthuset in Stockholm and Wigmore Hall in London. The Quartet will also return to the National Concert Hall in Taiwan and the Seoul Arts Center, and will tour North America in March 2026.
Renowned as one of the foremost interpreters of the great chamber music masterpieces of Eastern Europe, the Pavel Haas Quartet was named an Ambassador of the Year of Czech Music in 2024. From 2025 to 2027, the ensemble will also be Artist in Residence at the Smetana Litomyšl Festival, alongside the Czech Philharmonic.
The Pavel Haas Quartet regularly performs at major concert halls including Wigmore Hall in London, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna, the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, BOZAR in Brussels, the NCPA in Beijing, LG Arts Centre and Seoul Arts Center in Seoul, and Carnegie Hall in New York.
To mark its twentieth anniversary, the Pavel Haas Quartet appeared on the cover of The Strad and was featured in an interview with BBC Music Magazine. The magazine included the ensemble among its “ten greatest string quartets of all time”, describing it as “stylistically powerful and richly sonorous, and known for its passionate and fearless performances”.
The Pavel Haas Quartet records exclusively for Supraphon. In September 2025, its latest album was released, featuring Martinů’s String Quartets Nos. 2, 3, 5 and 7.
The Quartet has received five Gramophone Awards for its recordings of works by Dvořák, Smetana, Schubert, Janáček and Haas. Its recording of Dvořák’s String Quartets No. 12, American, and No. 13 received the prestigious Gramophone Recording of the Year award in 2011. The Sunday Times commented that its interpretation of the American Quartet ranks among the finest ever recorded.
After winning the Paolo Borciani Competition in Italy in 2005, other highlights from the early years of the Pavel Haas Quartet included being selected as ECHO Rising Stars in 2007, joining the BBC New Generation Artists programme from 2007 to 2009 and receiving an ensemble fellowship from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust in 2010.
Based in Prague, the Pavel Haas Quartet studied with Milan Škampa, the legendary violist of the Smetana Quartet. The ensemble takes its name from Czech Jewish composer Pavel Haas, 1899 to 1944, who was imprisoned in Theresienstadt in 1941 and tragically murdered at Auschwitz three years later. His legacy includes three remarkable string quartets.
Photo © Petra Hajska
