‘In an era in which young string quartets seem to be springing out of the ground in large numbers, the Malion Quartet occupies an exceptional position’ - these are the words with which the legendary pianist Alfred Brendel chose to describe the Malion Quartet. Founded in Frankfurt am Main in 2018, the quartet has now firmly established itself as one of the most versatile ensembles on the international music scene. Within a very short space of time, they won many prizes and awards at prestigious competitions such as the Deutsche Musikwettbewerb, the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition and the Irene Steels-Wilsing Foundation International String Quartet Competition. Alongside their international concert activities, the quartet also pursues new and exciting ways of developing music education.
The young, international ensemble has performed in major concert halls such as Alte Oper Frankfurt, Cologne Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall London, Izumi Hall Osaka and Cité de la musique in Paris and has been invited to established music festivals including Rheingau Music Festival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Heidelberger Frühling, Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker and Podium Esslingen. They have played at string quartet biennials in Paris and Munich and in 2023 were appointed ‘Quartet in Residence’ at the Holzhausenschlösschen Frankfurt. The quartet's special partnerships include its long-standing collaboration with the composer Jörg Widmann as well as joint performances with artists such as Kit Armstrong, Martin Stadtfeld, Christina Daletska, Hariolf Schlichtig, Kaan Bulak and the Vogler Quartet.
The Malion Quartet has initiated a number of its own projects with the aim of making classical music accessible to a wide audience, through innovative concert formats, unusual concert venues and digital media. This includes the special concept of ON/OFFstage concerts, which lead to the creation of both the Malion Music Festival and the concert series ‘What does Beethoven have to do with me?’. The film production ‘Große Fuge’ earned the quartet a nomination for the Opus Klassik. The ensemble has also released two critically acclaimed CDs with the record labels KALEIDOS and Solaire Records.
The Malion Quartet is distinguished by its wide-ranging repertoire, which includes the masterpieces of the classical string quartet tradition as well as rarely performed works by modern and avant-garde composers and musical crossovers. With its love of experimentation, the quartet is also involved in interdisciplinary projects, seeking dialogue with art forms such as dance, theatre, literature, electronic music, video and light installations, even haute cuisine! Over the years, the group has recorded numerous radio productions for SWR, WDR, BR, HR and Deutschlandradio, documenting the vast scope of their artistry.
The ensemble and its projects have been supported by scholarship programmes from the Deutsche Musikrat, the Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz, the European concert initiative MERITA and the #MusikerZukunft programme of the Deutsche Orchester-Stiftung, amongst others. The quartet has received valuable musical inspiration through intensive work with Alfred Brendel, Eberhard Feltz and members of the Alban Berg Quartet, Cuarteto Casals, Cuarteto Quiroga and Meta4. The four musicians studied as a quartet at the universities in Frankfurt am Main with Prof Tim Vogler and in Hanover with Prof Oliver Wille.