Over more than 35 years of history, the Leipzig String Quartet has established itself as the “best German quartet” (according to Gramophone magazine) and as one of today’s most sought-after and versatile ensembles. Founded in 1988, three of its members were then principal players in the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and in 1993 they decided to devote themselves exclusively to chamber music.

The quartet previously studied with Gerhard Bosse in Leipzig, with the Amadeus Quartet in London and Cologne, with Hatto Beyerle in Hanover, and with Walter Levin. 

The Leipzig String Quartet has received numerous international awards and distinctions. In 1991, it won the prestigious ARD International Competition in Munich, as well as the Gebrüder Busch Prize; the following year, it was awarded the Siemens Music Prize and also received scholarships from the Amadeus Scholarship Fund and the Stiftung Kulturfonds.

Since then, the quartet has performed in more than forty countries across Europe, North and South America, Australia, Japan, Asia, and Africa. At the invitation of Claudio Abbado, the Leipzig String Quartet joined the Lucerne Festival Orchestra for ten years and taught at the Tokyo University of the Arts.

Since 1992, the ensemble has recorded its extensive repertoire exclusively for Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm, including the complete string quartets of Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as well as the complete works of the composers of the Second Viennese School. Musical collaborations with artists such as Alfred Brendel, Sol Gabetta, Christian Zacharias, Andreas Staier, Juliane Banse, Christiane Oelze, Alois Posch, and Giora Feidman have further enriched the ensemble’s vast repertoire.

Their more than 100 CDs have been widely acclaimed by the international music press and awarded numerous prizes, including the Diapason d’Or, CD-Compact Prize, Indie Award, and five ECHO Klassik awards. In recent years, the Leipzig String Quartet completed the complete recording of Joseph Haydn’s string quartets.

Since its foundation, the quartet has maintained a strong commitment to contemporary music, marked by numerous world premieres of works by composers such as Beat Furrer, Jörg Widmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Steffen Schleiermacher, Christian Ofenbauer, Siegfried Thiele, Bernd Franke, and Cristóbal Halffter.