Quatuor Van Kuijk

Biography

Nicolas Van Kuijk , violin
Sylvain Favre-Bulle, violin
Paul Zientara , viola
Anthony Kondo, violoncello

Style, energy and a sense of risk. These four young Frenchman made the music smile.
— The Guardian

The Quatuor Van Kuijk is an established international presence performing regularly at venues including the Wigmore Hall in London, Sage Gateshead, and Snape Maltings; Philharmonie de Paris, Auditorium du Louvre, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and Salle Gaveau in Paris; Tonhalle, Zurich; Wiener Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Vienna; Het Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ Amsterdam; Berliner Philharmonie and Konzerthaus; Kölner Philharmonie; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Gulbenkian, Lisbon; Tivoli Concert Series, Denmark; Konserthuset Stockholm; and at festivals including the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh International, Cheltenham, Brighton, Heidelberg, Fredriksvaerk, Lockenhaus, Davos, Verbier, Aix-en-Provence, Montpellier/Radio France, Evian, Auvers-sur-Oise, Stavanger and Trondheim (Norway), West Wicklow, Concentus Moraviae (Czech Republic), Haydn/Esterházy (Hungary), and Eilat (Israel).

The quartet embarks on substantial international tours each season. 2023/24 saw them return to North America, for a tour which included their Carnegie Hall debut, as well as to Asia, where highlights included concerts at Shanghai’s Symphony Hall and Tokyo’s Hamarikyu Asahi Hall. These were followed in 2024/25 by a further tour to North America, and extensive touring across Europe. Collaborators include guitarist Sean Shibe, mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, harpist Parker Ramsay, clarinettist Annelien Van Wauwe, Quatuor Danel, and composers Baptiste Trotignon and Benjamin Attahir.

Highlights of the forthcoming season include an appearance at the Amsterdam Biennale and two concerts at the Het Concertgebouw; tours to Italy and Spain; and the launch of “Masterworks” – a new project showcasing select movements from the string quartet repertoire.

Recording exclusively for Alpha Classics, the ensemble’s debut recording, Mozart, was released to outstanding critical acclaim - CHOC de Classica, DIAPASON D'OR DECOUVERTE. Following celebrated discs of Debussy and Ravel, and Schubert, they continued their ongoing exploration of Mozart with two further releases across 2020. The complete cycle of Mendelssohn’s quartets was released across 2022 – 2023 (the second volume of which winning the ‘Quarterly Critic’s Choice’ Prize of the Deutschen Schallplattenkritik). 2025 saw the release of ‘Impressions Parisiennes’ – pairing Baptiste Trotignon’s specially commissioned ‘Ces Messieurs’ (a homage to five of France’s most prolific composers) with transcriptions of classic French melodies.

ThQuatuor Van Kuijk’s international accolades boast First, Best Beethoven, and Best Haydn Prizes at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet competition; First Prize, and an Audience Award at the Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition; as well as becoming laureates of the Aix-en-Provence Festival Academy. They were BBC New Generation Artists from 2015-17, as well as ECHO Rising Stars for the 2017-18 season. The ensemble was resident at ProQuartet, Paris, where they studied with members of the Alban Berg, Artemis, and Hagen quartets. Originally students of the Ysaye Quartet, they went on to work with Günter Pichler at the Escuela Superior de Mùsica Reina Sofia in Madrid, supported generously by the International Institute of Chamber Music, Madrid. The Quartet is supported by Pirastro and SPEDIDAM and is grateful to the Centre National de La Musique and Mécénat Musical Société Générale for their sponsorship.

May 2026. Please discard any previously dated materials.