Malion Quartet
Alex Jussow – violin
Miki Nagahara – violin
Lilya Tymchyshyn – viola
Bettina Kessler – cello
The Malion Quartet is considered to be one of the most versatile quartets of the young, up-and-coming generation. Founded in Frankfurt in 2018, the young quartet has enjoyed a growing career on the international stage, as well as pursuing new concert formats for which they have received great acclaim.
Shortly after the quartet’s foundation, they became scholarship holders in the Foundation Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz, and have won numerous prizes at national and international competitions such as the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb 2022, as well as the International String Quartet Competition of the Irene Steels-Wilsing-Foundation 2023 and the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition 2023. In addition, the four young musicians have received important scholarships from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, the PE-Förderungen Mannheim and the highly endowed Ensemble Scholarship from the Society of Friends and Sponsors of the HfMDK Frankfurt.
The quartet has appeared in concert at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Cologne Philharmonic, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Izumi Hall in Osaka, Beethovenfest in Bonn, and Cité de la Musique, Paris, as part of the String Quartet Biennale 2022. The ensemble was selected as "Quartet in Residence" at the Holzhausenschlösschen in Frankfurt for 2023, following internationally established quartets such as the Aris Quartet and the Eliot Quartet. As part of their debut at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2023, they collaborated with artists such as Alfred Brendel, Kit Armstrong and Quatuor Hanson. Other special artistic collaborations include “Kosmos Widmann” with the composer Jörg Widmann in the Heidelberger Frühling Festival 2021, along with chamber music collaborations with Martin Stadtfeld, Hariolf Schlichtig and the Vogler Quartet.
A passionate advocate of music education, it is particularly important to the ensemble to bring unusual concerts to a broad audience. This has inspired the development of their own special concert format: ON/OFFstage. Based on this concept, the group founded many of its own projects, such as the Malion Music Festival and a concert series called “What has Beethoven got to do with me?”. Their music video of Beethoven’s “Große Fuge” was nominated for an Opus Klassik 2022 award. The Malion Quartet’s diverse projects have also included numerous recordings for SWR and WDR, as well as performing as guests on the “Einstand” radio show on Deutschlandradio Kultur. In late 2023, the Malion Quartet released a debut album, which has received high praise from critics in the press.
The young quartet is generously supported by the Deutsche Musikrat, GVL, Deutsche Orchester-Stiftung, PE-Förderungen Mannheim and Freunde der Villa Musica. In addition, the ensemble was given the honour of being accepted into the scholarship programme of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben as well as the European MERITA Platform. The quartet has received essential musical guidance, working intensively with Prof. Eberhard Feltz, as well as members of the Alban Berg Quartet and Cuarteto Casals. They receive regular lessons from Prof. Tim Vogler at the HfMDK Frankfurt and Prof. Oliver Wille at the HMTM Hannover.
The Malion Quartet is a scholarship holder of the German Music Competition.
Concert on Thu 1.8
Website Malion Quartet