Asasello Quartett

Following completion of a course of study in Basel with the focal point on chamber music and quartet training under the tuition of Walter Levin and Hatto Beyerle, the Asasello Quartett moved to Cologne in 2003 in order to learn for a further three years from the Alban Berg Quartett. In the same year Rostislav Kojevnikov, Barbara Kuster, Justyna Sliwa and Andreas Müller entered the Swiss concert scene after winning the first prize at the competition of the Migros-Kulturprozent, Zurich. In addition to the 40 concerts given in Switzerland there are added numerous others performed in Hungary, Serbia, Germany (Museum Insel Hombroich), Vienna, Brussels (Palais des Beaux Arts) and the Netherlands (Museum Kröller Müller) sponsored by the Ernst Göhner Foundation, Migros Kulturprozent, the Swiss culture foundation Pro Helvetia and the Kunststiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen. RSR Espace 2, Radio DRS 2, the Hungarian Magyar Rádió and WDR Rundfunk have all broadcast concerts by the Asasello Quartett. The musicians received the second prize at the Wettbewerb der Deutschen Hochschulen, Frankfurt 2004. They also received the renowned Swiss Rentsch Foundation's tribute prize. In 2004 the quartet received another stipend from the Kunststiftung NRW for participation at the Lucerne Festival Academy with Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble Intercontemporain. In Lucerne they became acquainted with the violist Christophe Desjardins, who has since acted as their friendly mentor.
The Quartet's first CD was released in 2005 and contains works from Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Kojevnikov, the next CD will be released in 2007.
On its second tour of Russia, with performances from Irkutsk to St. Petersburg, the Asasello Quartett premiered with great success in seven philharmonic concert halls. The Russian-Polish-Swiss formation participated on an international level in further competitions in Graz, London and Geneva. The new CD was highly praised in London.
A particular strong point of the ensemble is its intensive occupation with new music: encounters with such composers as Helmut Lachenmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Thomas Adès, Christoph Staude, Toshio Hosakawa, Elzbieta Sikora et al ensures a close bond to the music of today. In the "Atelier" of the Heidelberger Frühlings 2007, the ensemble became acquainted with Matthias Pintscher and Kaija Saariaho and began to take an interest in their work. In May the Asasellos performed "Dithyrambe", Wolfgang Rihm's concert for quartet and orchestra, at the Cologne Triennale. The musicians graduated from the Hochschule Köln with professional concert diplomas after studies with the Alban Berg Quartett and Harald Schoneweg. A study for new music under the tuition of David Smeyers will commence at the end of 2007.
The name "Asasello" is borrowed from the novel "Der Meister und Margarita" by Michail Bulgakow.

Members:
Rostislav Kojevnikov (violin)
Barbara Kuster (violin)
Andreas Müller (violoncello)
Justyna Sliwa (viola)



Last updated: 2020-10-06 14:35:50