The Austrian Minetti Quartet has been based in Vienna since its founding in 2003 and has secured a firm place in the international string quartet scene over the years. Since its nomination for the ECHO “Rising Stars” cycle in 2008/09, the quartet has repeatedly performed in Europe’s most prestigious concert halls, including the Vienna Musikverein, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonic, Herkules Saal Munich, Cologne Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Palau de la Música Barcelona, Konserthuset Stockholm, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, and Wigmore Hall London.

Highlights of the recent past include another CD release and repeat invitations to the Vienna Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall London, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Brucknerhaus Linz, Haus der Musik Innsbruck, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, and MuTh Vienna, where they have already organized five concert cycles of their own, an American tour with debuts in Los Angeles and Boston, and the annual summer tour through Austria. Since 2024, they have also been engaged in an inspiring collaboration with the exceptional pianist Kit Armstrong in the “Expedition Mozart” project, with concerts at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Mozart Week Salzburg, the Ruhr Piano Festival, the Mozartfest Würzburg, the Elisabeth Hall in Geneva, and many other venues.

The quartet’s illustrious guest list includes such luminaries as Fazil Say, Till Fellner, Jörg Widmann, Paul Meyer, Sharon Kam, Andreas Ottensamer, Nils Mönkemeyer, Thomas Riebl, István Vardai, Camille Thomas, Alois Posch, the Mandelring Quartet, and soloists from the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. The Minetti Quartet has also performed as soloists with the RSO Vienna and the Bruckner Orchestra Linz. Newer concert formats incorporating literature have led to performances with Klaus M. Brandauer, Martin Schwab, Udo Samel, Hermann Beil, and Chris Pichler.

The Minetti Quartet regularly has pieces dedicated to it and premieres them, most recently the first two string quartets by Austrian composer Àngela Tröndle and, coming soon, a string quartet movement by Matthias Bartolomey. This has been made possible thanks to funding from the Austrian Federal Ministry. The Minetti Quartet achieved its greatest competition successes as prize winners of the international chamber music competitions “Franz Schubert and Modern Music” in 2006 and the International Joseph Haydn Competition in 2007. They were also awarded the “Großer Gradus ad Parnassum Prize,” the start-up scholarship of the Austrian Federal Ministry, and the Karajan Scholarship.

The name “Minetti” refers to a play by the writer Thomas Bernhard, who lived in Ohlsdorf in the Salzkammergut region, where the two violinists of the quartet also grew up. The Austrian National Bank has loaned the Minetti Quartet two violins by G. B. Guadagnini (“Mantegazza” 1774 and the “ex Meinel,” 1770-1775) and a violoncello by G. Tononi (Bologna, 1681). Milan Milojicic plays a viola by Bernd Hiller (2009). The strings are provided by Pirastro. The season sponsor is Dr. Manfred Asamer Management und Beteiligungs GmbH from Ohlsdorf.

Maria Ehmer, violin
Anna Knopp, violin
Milan Milojicic, viola
Leonhard Roczek, cello

Source: https://www.minettiquartett.at/, abridged