The three brothers, Mark, Erik, and Ken Schumann have been playing together since their earliest childhood. In 2012 they were joined by violist Liisa Randalu who was born in Tallinn, Estonia, and grew up in Karlsruhe, Germany. Those who experience the quartet in performance often remark on the strong connection among its members. The four musicians enjoy the way they communicate without words: how a single look suffices to convey how a particular member wants to play a certain passage. Although the individual personalities clearly manifest themselves, a common space arises in every musical work in a process of spiritual metamorphosis.
A highlight in the 2018-19 season is the Quartet’s three-year residency at the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center in New York City. Furthermore, the quartet will go on tour in Israel, and twice in the U.S., will give guest performances at festivals in Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, and Bulgaria, and will also perform concerts in the musical metropolises of London, Amsterdam, Vienna, Hamburg, and Berlin.
Its current recording “Intermezzo” has been hailed enthusiastically both at home and abroad, and is celebrated as a worthy successor to its award-winning “Landscapes” CD, in which the quartet traces its own roots by combining works of Haydn, Bartok, Takemitsu, and Part.
