The five anniversary programmes

In 2001 the Schoenberg Quartet celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary. The musicians of the Quartet (Janneke van der Meer and Wim de Jong, violins; Henk Guittart, viola; Viola de Hoog, cello) share a common interest in the composers of the Second Viennese School – Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Anton Webern and Alexander von Zemlinsky, and the complete works for strings by these composers form the heart of their repertoire. However, their programmes range from the works of Debussy and Brahms to those of composers of the present day, highlighting the music of the first three decades of the twentieth century.
Between 1983 and 1991 the Quartet worked frequently in Boston, studying with the violist and quartet coach Eugene Lehner, formerly a member of the renowned Kolisch Quartet, which in the 1920s and ’30s worked closely with Schoenberg, Webern, Berg and Bartók. Besides concerts and broadcasts in The Netherlands, the Schoenberg Quartet has performed in most European countries as well as Canada and the United States. Its performances for Dutch television of Schoenberg’s eight works for strings were broadcast worldwide and the Quartet appears on the Rhombus film My War Years about the life of Arnold Schoenberg. The Friends of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute in Los Angeles awarded the Schoenberg Quartet Honorary Life Membership in 1989, an honour previously accorded to artists such as Pierre Boulez, Felix Galimir and Eugene Lehner.
Up until now the Schoenberg Quartet has issued fourteen CDs with works by Louis Andriessen, Berg, Brahms, Chausson, Dutilleux, Pijper, Reger, Roussel, Schoenberg, Schulhoff, Shostakovich, Van Vlijmen, Vermeulen, Webern and Zemlinsky. Their recording of Erwin Schulhoff’s complete works for strings earned the Quartet the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 1994. In addition, the complete works for strings by Schoenberg, Webern, Berg and Zemlinsky have been recorded for Chandos, a unique event in recording history.