catalogue

The Škampa Quartet was founded in 1989 at the Prague Academy of Music under the guidance of Antonín Kohout and Milan Škampa of the Smetana Quartet, and later studied with Piero Farulli of the Quartetto Italiano, with members of the Amadeus Quartet and with Walter Levin of the Lasalle Quartet. The Quartet has performed in Japan, North America and throughout Europe including concerts at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Berliner Festwochen, the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad and the Chatelet de Paris. It also performs regularly at the Salla dei Notari in Perugia, the Wigmore Hall in London and the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinun in Prague. The Quartet received a Special Award from the Czech Chamber Music Society in 1992 and won the 1992 Charles Hennen Competition in the Netherlands. It made its highly successful début at the Wigmore Hall in February 1993, for which it received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s "Best Début 1993" award. The Škampa Quartet achieved the privileged position of the first Quartet in Residence of the Wigmore Hall in November 1994.

Antonín Dvořák wrote the American Quartet in 1893 during his stay in the United States as the director of the New York Conservatory. He was partly inspired by the black and Indian melodiousness.

Strahov Monastery is one of the most prominent sights in Prague. Since it was established in 1143, it has been a place where love of knowledge and art have been combined with service to God and people. The mysterious Romanesque Halls of the monastery provided a solemn setting for Dvořák’s music.