Bennewitz Quartet

Sunday, October 19, 2025, 7 p.m.

Jakub Fišer & Štěpán Ježek – violin, Jiří Pinkas – viola, Štěpán Doležal – cello

6:00 PM – Pre-concert talk by Stanford cellist and educator Christopher Costanza
7:00 PM – Concert
9:00 PM – Celebrate with a complimentary glass of wine and dessert!

About the Bennewitz Quartet

“An ensemble that one could spontaneously count as one of the best ever heard.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)

The Bennewitz Quartet, based in Prague, Czech Republic, is considered today one of the top international chamber ensembles. The quartet is the winner of the prestigious 2005 Osaka and 2008 Paolo Borciani Prizes. The ensemble has also received various recognitions at home – including the Czech Chamber Music Society Prize in 2004 and the Classic Prague Award for Best Chamber Music Performance of the year in 2019.

The quartet regularly performs at major venues throughout Europe (including Wigmore Hall, Musikverein Wien, Konzerthaus Berlin, Elbphilharmonie, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Concertgebouw, Rudolfinum Prague), and can regularly be heard at the Salzburger Festspiele, Luzerne Festival, Lockenhaus, and the Prague Spring. In North America, the group has been invited to the Bohemian Hall, Frick Collection, and Rockefeller University in New York City; the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.; and to concert halls in Boston, Cleveland, Houston, Salt Lake City, Tucson, Costa Mesa, San Francisco, San Jose, Palo Alto, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.

Of special interest to the quartet is performing in the Czech domestic music scene, including Bohuslav Martinů’s Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra with the Czech Philharmonic; recording both quartets by Leoš Janáček for Czech television at the renowned Villa Tugendhat in Brno; premiering ‘The Songs of Immigrants’ by Slavomír Hořínka in Konzerthaus Berlin; appearing regularly on Czech radio; and expanding its impressive discography on several European labels. In 2019 the ensemble added to its discography the music of the persecuted Jewish composers Krása, Ullmann, Schulhoff and Haas. That same year, the quartet was invited to perform from this recording at the German Bundestag in Berlin as part of its annual Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In 2025-26, the Bennewitz returns to tour North America, and will appear at major European festivals and venues including Schwetzinger Festspiele, Prague Spring, Concentus Moraviae, and Laeiszhalle Hamburg. In addition, the quartet will return to the Dvořák Prague Festival in one of the season’s highlights and will join leading Czech artists in the Beethoven Septet and Schubert’s Octet within the chamber music series of the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

The quartet bears the name of the violinist and director of the Prague Conservatory, Antonín Bennewitz (1833-1926), who contributed greatly to the establishment of the Czech violin school.

Visit bennewitzquartet.com to learn more.

Ticket Pricing: $62 (adult), $60 (senior, 62+) and $30 (age 30 and under).
Subscribe and save 15% or the cost of one concert.
Questions? Please call the Box Office at (650) 762-1130.