Jana Vlachová, violin
Karel Stadtherr, viola
Mikael Ericsson, cello
Helena Suchárová-Weiser, piano

Founded in 1982 the Vlach Quartet Prague, in its first thirteen years the New Vlach Quartet, follows the rich tradition of Czech string quartet playing. After having studied with Josef Vlach in Prague they attended a master-class led by the Melos Quartet and soon found their own way into concert life. In 1983 the Quartet was awarded the prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary Czech composition in the Czech String Quartet Competition in Kromĕříž. In 1985 they received an award as the best string quartet in the European competition at the International String Quartet Competition in Portsmouth in England, and in 1991 the prize of the Czech Chamber Music Association followed. In 1992 they received the prize of the Czech Music Fund for a CD of string quartets by Smetana and Janáček. In 2000 the Vlach Quartet Prague and the clarinettist Dieter Klöcker received one of the coveted annual prizes from the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik for their Cpo recording of Esquisses Hébraïques: Clarinet Quintets on Jewish Themes. Their first concert in New York in July 2004 won high critical praise, with the Quartet praised as among the world’s finest. The Vlach Quartet Prague has toured Europe, Japan, New Zealand, the United States and Canada, and held master-classes in Sweden, Japan and the United States.

Photo courtesy of Martin Kabelka