Change in the Kairos Quartet

Founding member Wolfang Bender has decided to leave the quartet in order to pursue other interests and projects. We wish him all the best for his future endeavours and thank him for 25 years of dedicated music-making.

We are happy to welcome violinist Daniella Strasfogel to the Kairos Quartet! Born in New York, she has lived in Berlin for over 18 years and is a founding member of the Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop.
We are looking forward to the collaboration and to starting the next 25 years with renewed energy.

REMEMBER

Unser letztes Konzert REMEMBER aus der Sachsen-Anhaltinischen Landesvertretung in Berlin ist noch bis Ende des Jahres in der Mediathek des Offenen Kanals Magdeburg anzuhören und zu sehen - für all diejenigen, die den Live-Stream verpasst haben.

All those who have missed the live transmission of our latest recital REMEMBER can view it here.

New Book Release: Mediating Contemporary Music

Edited by Simone Heilgendorff, the violist of the Kairos Quartet, together with Katarzyna Grebosz-Haring and Martin Losert this book contains on 304 pages contributions in German and English separated into the areas Practice, Reflection, and Documentation. It was published by Schott 2020 in the series "üben und musizieren – texte zur instrumentalpädagogik".

In his practice-article Claudius v. Wrochem presents "Essenzen aus Neuer Musik" as two examples of a mediative approach which has emanated from his work as a chamber musician. Simone Heilgendorff sums up five years of mediation and lecturing work at the university focus area "Wissenschaft & Kunst" in Salzburg and throws in an interview with the Austrian composer Christian Ofenbauer.

Every article is followed by an abstract both in English and German regardless of the language of the preceding article.

Concerts in Darmstadt at the Akademie für Tonkunst

Eröffnungskonzert - Kairos Quartett I
Kairos Quartett II
Both concerts are performed without audiences but streamed live.

Saitenweise von Barbara Maurer

Hier ist einmal ein Buch für Komponisten und Streicher von der Bratschistin und Ensemble-Recherche-Mitgründerin Barbara Maurer, was umfangreich informiert und mit vielen Mythen aufräumt. Jeder Komponierende, die/der für Streicher schreibt, besonders wenn selbst nicht Streicher, sollte dieses Buch kennen.

Verlagsseite/Publisher

Here comes a book, written by the violist and co-founder of Ensemble Recherche Barbara Maurer, which informs thoroughly, puts away with a lot of myths and should be on the bookshelf of every composer writing for strings - especially of those who are not string players themselves.

Ostasientournee mit Unterstützung des Goethe Instituts

The Goethe-Institut Malaysia is very glad to be invited to cooperate with the SoundBridge Festival yet again. With pleasure we have been cooperating with the festival right from its first edition in 2013. SoundBridge stands for contemporary and new music, innovation, cross-media approaches and intercultural exchange between artists from East and West. We are particularly happy that with the Kairos Quartet from Germany we have one of the most prolific string quartets in the area of new music at the festival this year. The quartet is specialized in compositions after 1950 and in premieres. In Greek mythology Kairos is the god of fortunate opportunities and the right moment. Also Berlin-based artist Ya-ou Xie will enrich the festival together with musicians from other parts of the world. Together with their Malaysian colleague musicians and composers they all will develop contemporary music and help to further establish its place in society.

I congratulate the organizers of the SoundBridge Festival 2019, Studio C, Taylor's University and SMCC,  wish the festival great success and the participants and visitors challenging events and an enriching festival experience.

Rolf Stehle

Director of Goethe-Institut Malaysia

Feature inkl. Sendung des Live-Mitschnitts vom 11.12.2018 in Erlangen: BR Sendereihe Horizonte

Das Kairos Quartett spielt Georg Friedrich Haas

Wir freuen uns über diese Feature-Sendung der Reihe Horizonte beim Bayerischen Rundfunk vom 16.5.2019, gestaltet vom Musikredakteur Dr. Thorsten Preuß.

Sie enthält die Ursendung unserer Aufführung von Haas' drittem Quartett bei kompletter Dunkelheit am 11.12.2018 in Erlangen.

Auch Ausschnitte eines Interviews sind enthalten, das Preuß mit Simone Heilgendorff und Claudius von Wrochem zu diesem Thema Ende Februar 2019 führte.

Bis Mitte Juni kann die Sendung hier noch nachgehört werden:

https://www.br-klassik.de/audio/das-kairos-quartett-spielt-georg-friedrich-haas-faszination-neue-musik-102.html

New CD...

Sometimes you make a CD without even knowing it. Only by chance came our violist across this Double-CD containing live recordings from 2010 to 2015; we are represented by no less than five string quartet / piano quintet student compositions. The concerts took place in 2012 and 2015.

Can it be possible that the students were also not informed about their compositions' immortalization when the performers clearly weren't?

Haas CD

Unsere preisgekrönte CD  mit den Streichquartetten  Nr. und Nr. 2 von Georg Friedrich Haas (edition zeitklang) ist vergriffen und wird nicht nachgedruckt!

Wer diese Aufnahmen dennoch noch hören möchte, kann dies z.B. auf "spotify" tun:

Wir wünschen allen viel Freude damit!

____________________

Our premiered CD with the String Quartets No.1 and No.2 by Georg Friedrich Haas (edition zeitklang) is sold out and will not be reprinted.

Anyone who wants to listen to it is advised to turn to spotify.

Enjoy it!

Das Kairos Quartett hat einen eigenen Vimeo-Kanal. The Kairos Quartet has its own Vimeo channel.

Wir freuen uns über Besuche auf unsere Vimeo-Seite:

We are  happy to welcome you on our Vimeo website:

https://vimeo.com/user48009415

China-Debüt

Im November 2018 folgte das Kairos Quartett einer Einladung des Shanghai Conservatory of Music (China) für Workshops, einen Vortrag und ein Konzert. Die neun Tage waren sehr spannend, sowohl hinsichtlich der Begegnungen mit den Studierenden aus verschiedensten Teilen Chinas als auch den anderen Lehrkräften, dem Dekan Zhang Wei und dem Leiter der Abteilung für Musiktheorie Hongduo Chen. Unser Aufenthalt wurde von Xiaoyong Chen, dessen Kompositionen wir seit 1998 spielen und der ebenfalls am Konservatorium unterrichtet, ermöglicht.

In November 2018 the Kairos Quartet followed an invitation of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music for workshops, presentations and a recital. Nine intense days awaited us during which we met very interested students, teachers, the dean Zhang Wei and the director of the department of music theory Hongduo Chen.

Visiting the Isle of Møn

Concerts on the isle of Møn / Denmark

Following an invitation of the reknowned galerist and Fluxus sponsor Rene Block and his wife Ursula the Kairos Quartet performed at the Fanefjord church and the Gallery Moen 44.

Auf Einladung des bekannten Galeristen und Fluxus-Förderer Rene Block und seiner Frau Ursula konzertiere das Kairos Quartett in der Fanefjord-Kirche und der Galerie Moen 44.

Kairos Quartet on SOUNDCLOUD

Although a number of people uploaded our stuff in the past - without asking us - we now found time to start our own channel.

HEEEEEERE You GO.

New CD release: mientras

A long, long time after our recording sessions at the great studios of Nalepastr. in Berlin (East) our Cd has been issued by Edition Zeitklang. This project was initiated and made possible by the composer Sabine Panzer.

For Arnold Schoenberg's Second String Quartet and Sabine Panzer's mientras we were joined by the singer Angelika Luz; our tonmeister was Dr. Boris Hofmann. mientras reflects Schoenberg's quartet (and Nono's as well) and, therefore, is placed on the CD between the last two Schoenberg movements.

Debut in Moskau

The Kairos Quartet travels to Russia for the 2nd time to perform their debut on the occasion of the El-Lissitzky-Exihibition opening at the Tretjakov Galleries. This will be November 13 and 14.

It is the first time one of Sergej Newski's string quartets is being performed in his country of origin.

Sergej Newski (*1972)  •  Fotografie und Berührung. String Quartet No. 1 [2000] Russian Premiere
Morton Feldman (1926-1987) • Structures [1951]
Igor Strawinsky (1882-1971) •Three  Pieces for String Quartet [1918]

Kairos Quartett bei den Kammermusiktagen Varel

The Kairos Quartet's summer escapade to the North Sea coast is accompanied by a string quartet competition; the three winners will get to work with the quartet. The news have traveled to Austria ...

Kammermusiktage Varel Homepage

Ausschreibungen für Streichquartette

In diesem Jahr werden Mitglieder des Kairos Quartetts bei zwei Vorhaben sowohl in der Jury sitzen als auch die ausgewählten Kompositionen aufführen:
This year members of the Kairos Quartet will on two occasions serve on juries as well as perform the selected compositions:

Sonifikation - Datenströme 27.-29.10.2017 ____ DEADLINE 1. April 2017

Vareler Kompositionspreis 2017 ___________ DEADLINE 31. März 2017

Auf den Titel klicken, um die Details und Bedingungen zu sehen.
Please click on the title to see the specs and conditions (sorry, only in German...).

Salzburg reloaded

Salzburg seems to have become another Kairos Quartet hotspot: following two recitals and two workshops last year the 9th Salzburg event since 2002 just took place in Oct 16 featuring Simone and Claudius with Visual Artist Astrid Rieger at trans-Art supported by ConTempOhr and Campus Musick.

Have a look at the YouTube-Video!

Interviews zur Neuerscheinung der Khorkova–Proträt–CD

Atelier Neue Musik at Deutschlandfunk presents interviews with
Marina Khorkova, Wolfgang Bender und Claudius von Wrochem
(Leonie Reineke, editor)

August 6, 2016 at 22:05

The Streaming–Link will be active for a limited time beginning August 7
for all those who missed the time.

New Portrait-CD of Marina Khorkova Released

"klangNarbe", the new portrait CD of the Berlin-based russian composer Marina Khorkova has been released by WERGO in April 2016. It contains her first String Quartet which already saw performances by the Kairos Quartett in Berlin and Salzburg; the slovenian premiere takes place in May 2016 (Ljubljana). The Kairos Quartet will also give the world premiere of her second string quartet January 2017 at the Gare du Nord Basle (IGNM).

The CD can be purchased here.

We now have our own video channel on vimeo.com

Here you find video recordings of concerts and rehearsals. So far we have uploaded music by Sampo Haapamäki, Larisa Vrhunc, and Roberto Rusconi.

We also uploaded the trailer of the documentary film "Nocturne" (dir.: Ingo Biermann) about our rehearsals and performances of Dimitri Kourlianski's quartet Night Turn, which we premiered at MaerzMusik in March 2011.

Here is the link: https://vimeo.com/user48009415

Fotos vom Konzert in der Galerie Patrick Ebersperger

Debüt bei den Schwetzinger Festspielen

Proben mit Georg Friedrich Haas

und der Sängerin Sarah Wegener

Die Tenöre ...

London Debut of the Kairos Quartet: On the Sound Path

One might say: Better late than never. Now well in its 17th year the Kairos Quartet finally gave its London debut (only two previous performances on British soil) on April 7 at Kings Place. The recital was preceded by workshop under the direction of Roberto D. Rusconi) and is to be found here. It is the second time the Kairos Quartet cooperates with the EXPERIMENTALSTUDIO of the SWR since its world debut at the Internationale Ferienkursen in Darmstadt in 1996.

The project was made possible by a HKF (Hauptstadtkulturfonds of Berlin) grant.

More to see & read if you click Photos / Press...

New CD Release

with chamber music by the Leipzig composer and visual artist Knut Müller who has been a friend and professional collaborator since 1997.

While ZEUG was newly recorded for this CD (in the "Siemens Villa" in Berlin) the THORN recording is a re-issue of the Edition Zeitklang Performer's Portrait (Interpretenporträt) from 2001. Tonmeister in ZEUG was Boris Hofmann whom the Kairos Quartet had booked for another two recordings soon after...

mehr...

HKF Grant "On The Sound Path"

For the second time since the legendary series Five Windows onto the String Quartet since 1950 the Kairos Quartet is the recipient of a Hauptstadtkulturfonds (HKF) grant.

On The Sound Path was designed by the Kairos Quartet's cellist, and it will be realized in cooperation with the Experimental Studio of the SWR and Intrasonus London. The events (concerts, lectures, and workshops) will take place 2013 in London, Assisi, and Berlin.

The programme consists of three string quartets with live electronics by Georg Friedrich Haas, Marco Stroppa, and Roberto David Rusconi (WP)

Change of Management

As of Sept 2011 Dr. Monika Pirklbauer is no longer representing the Kairos Quartet; the change has been made in mutual consent.

Her place has been taken by Mrs. Barbara Winzer and Mrs. Cornelia Keller-Kirst who are both based in Berlin.

Roberto Rusconi wins Zeitklang-Competition

Tuesday, March 15 at 23:03 you can listen to the recital in „Zeitton“ (Austrian Radio Station Ö1)

Review in "Kleine Zeitung"

Entry in "Standard"

ZEITklang 2011 - International Composers' Competition

Musikfabrik NÖ and the Essl Museum in Klosterneuburg call for entries for ZEITklang, the third international composers' competition, in the Category String Quartet.
The selected pieces will be performed by the Kairos Quartett, which will also delegate one member (Claudius von Wrochem) to sit as juror.

Prize money, jury members, regulations etc. at musikfabrik.at .

Here you can download the call.

New Manager: Dr. Monika Pirklbauer

Since April 2010 Dr. Monika Pirklbauer (Dortmund / Berlin) represents the Kairos Quartett

She studied New German Literature, History of the Arts, Studies of Comparative Literature, Theater, Music, and Journalism in Innsbruck and Vienna.
As a dramaturge and press officer she worked in Vienna, Graz, and Ulm, later as a Vice Intendant of the WLB Esslingen.
For five years she held the post of intendant and director of the theaters "Nordhausen Loh Orchester Sondershausen GmbH".
Since she has been busy as a free-lance festival curator, Company Manager with several major German musical enterprises (e.g. Stage Entertainment) and founded the agency "arthemis cultureservice" in Dortmund as its director.

Kairos Quartet Concert Broadcast (MDR Figaro)

May 7, 2010    8 pm

works by Agostino di Scipio (WP), Knut Müller, Giorgio Netti, and Dieter Schnebel

Kairos Quartett receives ensemble grant of the City of Berlin

The Kairos Quartett placed a successful bid for a 2009 ensemble grant. In a rare decision the Berlin City government decided to support structural improvements for selected groups rather than concrete projects/concerts.

The funds will go into acquisition, management, and the improvements of the quartet's website.

New CD release

The Kairos Quartett joined by Matthias Bauer (db) contributed to the portrait CD of Jay Schwartz, an American composer who lives in Cologne. The recording was made in Feb. 2008 at the Berlin studio of Deutschlandradio Kultur and has been issued by Deutsche Musikrat / Wergo in April 2009.

John Cage Award for the Interpretation of Contemporary Music

The first John Cage Award for the Interpretation of Contemporary Music has been given to Johannes Haase (violin, from Wolfenbüttel/Bremen) on 9-7-2008 on the occasion of a concert competition.

The Kairos Quartet has been part of the jury. The award will be offered biannually by the John Cage Organ Foundation in Halberstadt (Germany).

Berlin, September 2008

Our new quartet member Stefan Häussler

We are happy to welcome our new quartet member Stefan Häussler! He will join us in June and brings to the Kairos Quartet not only many years of experience as the violinist of the Freiburg ensemble Surplus but also his prowess in the fields of musicology and violin didactics.

His full CV: Stefan Häussler

Susanne Zapf has left the Kairos Quartet in mutual agreement after a few months of membership. Our previous violinist Chatschatur Kanajan has consented to fill in for two concerts this month which we all greatly appreciate.

May 2008

New CD: Fälschung

New CD: Just now Fälschung by Orm Finnendahl for string quartet, laptop, ghetto blaster, and live-electronics (1999-2003) has been published on CD!

November 2007

Change of personnel

For the first time in ten years there has been a change of personnel in the Kairos Quartet: In order to be able to devote more of his time to composing and conducting Chatschatur Kanajan left the quartet on May 1.

Professor of Applied Musicology

Our violist, Simone Heilgendorff, just started as a Professor of Applied Musicology at the Alpen-Adria-University Klagenfurt (Austria, in cooperation with the Landeskonservatorium). She was also nominated a member of the Scholarly and Artistic Council of the John-Cage-Orgelstiftung in Halberstadt (Germany). In the future she will divide her time between Berlin and Klagenfurt. 

Jutta Behrens

Since September 2006 Jutta Behrens joined the Kairos Quartett Team in the fields of management and organization.

Jutta Behrens studied the violin and instrumental pedagogy at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold and Elementary Music Pedagogy at the University of the Arts Berlin.
Aside her activities as violinist she teaches the violin at the music school of Steglitz-Zehlendorf. As a member of Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, as a management assistant of ensemble mosaik and with Klangwerkstatt Berlin 2006 she acquired experience in the field of contemporary music. Since September 2006 she is enjoying excellent team work with the Kairos Quartett in the fields of management, PR, and concert manager.
She lives with the trumpet player Ulf Behrens and her two children in Berlin.

Jutta Behrens
+49 (0)30 42 089 389
jb [at] kairosquartett [dot] de

We mourn the death of Ramón Montes de Oca

The Mexikanische composer and university teacher died on 11-10-2006. He leaves us shocked and deeply touched. We got to know him in March 2003 in Mexico City and performed in his series of contemporary music in the Festival Cervantino in Guanajuato in October 2005.

It was Evangelina Osio, director of programming of the Festival Cervantino, who brought us the sad message.
November 2006

Grant in Aid from the Ernst-von-Siemens-Stiftung

In 2006 the Kairos Quartet for the second time received the Grant in Aid from the Ernst-von-Siemens-Stiftung for its tours with concerts and workshops in Poland (May 2006).

New CD at Edition Zeitklang

We are happy to finally announce the upcoming release (September 2004) of our new CD at Edition Zeitklang. It contains the String Quartets No. 1 and 2 by Georg Friedrich Haas. An informative booklet with texts (in German and English) by Simone Heilgendorff accompanies the CD.

If you are interested in this new release please send an email with the header "Haas-CD" to our address info [at] kairosquartett [dot] de.
The new CD and our CD "Interpretenportrait" will be available for purchase at our next concerts. At our concert on August 17 (Darmstadt Ferienkurse) a subscription list and more information will be distributed.
Berlin/Germany, August 10 2004

We mourn the death of our close friend

On October 1, 2002, Dr. Mark Osborn was killed in a senseless accident in Malibu, California.
We mourn the death of our close friend. It was wonderful to be with him, to enjoy his great sense of understanding, his dry humor, and the sharpness of his mind.
It is infinitely sad that he was not allowed to continue on his journey.
Farewell, our friend.

www.randallosborn.com