About us

Since its founding in 1996, the Kairos Quartett has become one of the leading ensembles on the international contemporary music scene. Numerous world premieres of contemporary works as well as careful interpretations of dramaturgically strong programmes, often curated in close collaboration with composers and promoters, have led to, among other things, a German Record Critics' Prize (recordings of Haas Quartets) and the development of a worldwide career (performances at Biennale di Venezia, Cervantino Festival Mexico, Internationale Ferienkursen in Darmstadt, Festival d'Automne á Paris, MaerzMusik, Salzburg Festival, Warsaw Autumn and Wien Modern).

Recently, the quartet had its debut at the “SoundBridge” festival in Malaysia, at Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie in the NDR series “Das Neue Werk” with Unsuk Chin, and travelled to China in 2018 and 2019, and performed last year at the Centro Ricerche Musicali in Rome. In the 2022/23 season, the Kairos Quartet has presented the LUFT I WURZELN event series across Germany with various thematic focuses.

The Kairos Quartet's logo is based on a synchronised drawing by New York artist Morgan O'Hara, which in this case depicts the Kairos Quartet's playing movements during the interpretation of Earle Brown's string quartet on 9 March 1998 in Berlin's Podewil.