MALION QUARTETT

Alex Jussow, Violin I

Miki Nagahara, Violin II

Lilya Tymchyshyn, Viola

Bettina Kessler, Cello

Biography

The Malion Quartet is considered to be one of the most versatile quartets of the young, up-and-coming generation. Shortly after the quartet was founded in 2018, they became scholarship holders in the Foundation Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz, as well as winning the Competition of the Polytechnic Society in Frankfurt. Further successes followed, including receiving the very generous Chamber Music Scholarship of the Friends and Fellows of the HfMDK Frankfurt, and as finalists of the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb 2022, they were taken on as fellows of the competition’s concert programme, in addition to receiving a special prize from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben. Recently they won 3rd prize at the International String Quartet Competition of the Irene Steels-Wilsing-Foundation in Heidelberg.

The quartet’s busy concert schedule has included concerts in the Alte Oper Frankfurt, Cologne Philharmonic Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Beethovenfest in Bonn, and Cité de la Musique, Paris, as part of the String Quartet Biennale 2022. The ensemble was selected as “Quartet in Residence” at the Holzhausenschlösschen in Frankfurt for 2023, following internationally established quartets such as the Aris Quartet and the Eliot Quartet. Special artistic collaborations include working together with the composer Jörg Widmann as part of „Kosmos Widmann“ in the Heidelberger Frühling Festival 2021, along with chamber music collaborations with Martin Stadtfeld, Hariolf Schlichtig and the Vogler Quartet.

A passionate advocate of music education, the Malion Quartet is the founder of many of its own projects, such as the Malion Music Festival and a concert series called “What has Beethoven got to do with me?”. Their music video of Beethoven’s “Große Fuge” was nominated for an Opus Klassik 2022 award. The ensemble’s diverse projects have also included numerous recordings for SWR and WDR, as well as performing as guests on the “Einstand” radio show on Deutschlandradio Kultur.

The young quartet is generously supported by the Deutsche Musikrat, GVL, Deutsche Orchester-Stiftung, PE-Förderungen Mannheim and Freunde der Villa Musica. In addition, the ensemble was given the honour of being accepted into the scholarship programme of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben as well as the European MERITA Platform.

The quartet has received essential musical guidance, working intensively with Prof. Eberhard Feltz, as well as members of the Alban Berg Quartet and Cuarteto Casals. They receive regular lessons from Prof. Tim Vogler at the HfMDK Frankfurt and Prof. Oliver Wille at the HMTM Hannover.