Cologne Guitar Quartet
The Cologne Guitar Quartet is an international ensemble (Greece, Germany, Portugal, Israel) formed in 2014 and based in Germany. Their repertoire ranges from classical to world music, contemporary, experimental and electronic music. The four artists combine their musical inputs and form a unique style, open to interpretation.
Recognized for their captivating and virtuosic performances, the quartet was invited to perform in various festivals such as "speGTRa" and "Zeitgenuss" (Germany), "Les Musicales" (France), “Felicja Blumental” (Israel) and more. They have toured in various countries such as China, Germany, France and Israel.
The Cologne Guitar Quartet was granted with several 1st prizes in various competitions such as „Brigitte-Kempen chamber music competition”, “Karlsruhe competition for the Interpretation of contemporary music", 2nd prize in "Wuppertaler chamber music" competition", as well as "Live Music Now" Scholarship from the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation.
The quartet has published two albums: “phasma”; including contemporary music for classical guitar, and “Routes”; ranging from classical to world music.
Their repertoire ranges from classical music combined with folkloric repertoire from different countries, to modern music by living composers. The Cologne Guitar Quartet is also working on widening the repertoire for guitar quartet by writing their own compositions and making new arrangements of orchestral and chamber music works. Some of their new arrangements include collaborations with guest musicians such as singers and percussionists. They premiered new compositions by composers such as Feliu Gasull, Sergej Maingardt, Dariya Maminova, Vincent Michalke, Francisco Goldschmidt, Ptolemaios Armaos, Henrique Almeida and Lucia Kilger.
In 2019 the quartet had launched their project “diGIT - new compositions for guitars, e-guitars & electronics”. The first edition included commissions of five new compositions from uprising composers and was premiered during WERFT festival, Cologne. More collaborations and new compositions to be followed in 2021.
The four members: Ptolemaios Armaos, Tobias Juchem, Henrique Almeida and Tal Botvinik were all students of Prof. Roberto Aussel at the prestigious music university of Cologne in Germany. They have completed a chamber music master under Hans-Werner Huppertz and were additionally mentored by musicians such as David Smeyers, Paulo Álvares, Ansgar Krause, Cuarteto Casals and Kelemen Quartet etc.
Veranstaltungen von Cologne Guitar Quartet
