Alexander Pavlovsky (violin)
© Stefan Heijdendael
Alexander Pavlovsky is co-founder and first violinist of the world-renowned Jerusalem Quartet, as well as a versatile and internationally sought-after chamber musician, soloist and educator. He was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and completed his education at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. With the Jerusalem Quartet he celebrated triumphs in such concert halls as the Tonhalle Zurich, the Münchner Herkulessaal, Wigmore Hall in London, the Salle Pleyel in Paris and the Berliner Konzerthaus.
As a soloist and chamber musician, he has been a guest at international festivals in Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Gstaad, Rheingau, Salzburg and Amsterdam, as well as at the Schubertiade in Austria, among others. Alexander Pavlovsky has collaborated with such renowned musicians as Sir András Schiff, Daniel Barenboim, Mitsuko Uchida, Jessye Norman, Alexander Melnikov, Denis Kozhukhin, Menahem Pressler, Natalia Gutman and Joshua Bell.
His many CD recordings with the Jerusalem Quartet have accounted for three BBC Music Magazine Awards and several Diapasons D’Or. Since 2022 Alexander Pavlovsky holds a professorship in the field of chamber music for strings at the University of Graz, and since 2009 he has been artistic director of the Zeist Music Days & Masterclasses, where he
passionately imparts his knowledge to talented young musicians.
Members of the Ruysdael Kwartet
© Eduardus Lee
The Ruysdael Quartet was formed in 1996, when all members were studying at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. In addition to their regular teachers they had lessons with the Amadeus Quartet, the Hagen Quartet and the Quatuor Mosaïques. Over a two-year period, they studied with the Alban Berg Quartet at the “Hochschule für Musik” in Cologne. Within a few years the Ruysdael Quartet established its name both in the Netherlands and abroad, and has ever since been regularly invited to take part in festivals and masterclasses, resulting in performances not only in Europe but also in Australia and the USA.
The quartet were winners of the ‘Charles Hennen International Chamber Music Competition 2000’ in the Netherlands and were awarded the ‘Prix de la SACEM’ at the International String Quartet Competition 2001 in Bordeaux. In March 2002 they received the Press Prize and the AVRO Prize in the ‘Vriendenkrans’ competition in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. More recently they were recipients of the prestigious “Kersjes van de Groenekan” Prize, a major musical award in the Netherlands.
Members of the Schumann Quartett
© Eva Maria Richter
The Schumann Quartet has reached a stage where anything is possible, because it has let go of certainties that includes the audience, which from one concert to the next have to be prepared for all eventualities: “A work really develops only in a live performance,” the quartet says. “That is ‘the real thing’, because we ourselves never know what will happen. On the stage, all imitation disappears, and you automatically become honest with yourself. Then you can create a bond with the audience – communicate with it in music.”
Highlights of the 2025/2026 season include performances in prestigious venues such as the Musikverein Vienna, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, the Cologne Philharmonie, and the Konzerthaus Dortmund. The quartet will also appear at renowned festivals including the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Mozartfest Bath, and the String Quartet Festival of the Heidelberger Frühling – to name just a few.
