Recognized as one of the world's premiere string quartets, the Takács Quartet plays with a virtuosic technique, intense immediacy and consistently burnished tone. The ensemble explores its repertoire with intellectual curiosity and passion, creating performances that are probing, revealing and constantly engaging. The Quartet has been described as having "warmth, exuberance, buoyancy, a teasing subtlety, unanimity of purpose without compromising the individual personalities of each performer, a blossoming tone, and above all the instinct to play from inside the music..." The Takács Quartet is based in Boulder, Colorado, where it has been in residence at the University of Colorado since 1983.

The ensemble is also known for its award-winning recordings on the Decca label, including, most recently, its recording of the complete Beethoven Quartet Cycle which has been awarded a Grammy Award, two Gramophone Awards and three Japan Record Academy Chamber Music Awards. Of their performances and recordings of these Quartets, the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote "The Takács might play this repertoire better than any quartet of the past or present."

The Takács Quartet won the Disc of the Year Award at the inaugural BBC Music Awards on March 15, 2006. The Quartet was honored for its three-disc recording of Beethoven's late string quarters, the final installment in its complete Beethoven cycle. The set also won in the chamber music category. In its citation, the magazine's jury wrote, "Hearing the Takács in their beautiful and challenging Beethoven is like tasting a vintage brew which has mellowed over the years, yet which is still excitingly fresh on the palate."

Recent notable Takács Quartet appearances worldwide have included performances of the Beethoven cycle in New York, Cleveland, London, Los Angeles, Paris, and Sydney; the Bartók cycle in Cleveland, London, Madrid, Seville, Valencia, New York, Berkeley, and Tokyo; the Brahms cycle in London; the Schubert cycle in London, Lisbon and cities in Italy, the Netherlands and Spain; concerts in Japan; a fourteen-city U.S. tour and a collaboration with the Hungarian folk ensemble Muzsikás in a series of joint concerts exploring the connections between traditional Hungarian folk melodies and the works of Bartók and Kodály.

The Takács Quartet was formed in 1975 at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest by Gábor Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gábor Ormai, and András Fejér, while all four were students. Violinist Edward Dusinberre joined the Quartet in 1993 and violist Roger Tapping in 1995. Of the original ensemble, violinist Károly Schranz and cellist András Fejér remain. Violist Geraldine Walther replaced Mr. Tapping in August 2005. In addition to its residency at the University of Colorado, the ensemble is also a Resident Quartet at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and in 2005, its members were named Associate Artists of the South Bank Center in London. In 2001, the Takács Quartet was awarded the Order of Merit of the Knight's Cross of the Republic of Hungary.

Source: Hungarian Consulate, New York