Athenaeum String Quartet

The Berlin Philharmonic Athenaeum Quartet was founded in 1990 by four members of the Berlin Philharmonic. Since their debut in 1990 at the Philharmonia’s Chamber Music Hall, where they performed works of George Enescu with Sir Yehudi Menuhin, the Quartet regularly tours Germany and abroad, including Japan, Italy, Austria and Portugal. In addition to their wide classical and romantic repertoire, the four musicians also focus on contemporary music.

Among their various concerts, the Quartet regularly gave concerts at the Salzburg Easter Festival in the Kontraste series until 1995. The Quartet, together with other members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, is part of the String Octet of the orchestra since 1995.

Laurentius Dinca was born in Bucharest, and studied at the Conservatories of Bucharest and Lübeck. He was the winner of several international competitions: “Tibor Varga” (Sion), “Louis Spohr” (Freiburg), and “Canales” (Barcelona). From 1980 to 1984 he was concertmaster of the Radio Frankfurt Orchestra. Since 1984, he has been first violin of the Berlin Philharmonic, in addition to being first violin of the Berlin Virtuoso Philharmonic, and participated in tours all over the world. He has been part of the Athenaeum String Quartet Berlin since 1991 and part of the Philharmonic’s String Octet Berlin since 1995. The winner of the Viotti prize in 1992, he was decorated with the “Croce dell' ordine al Merito Melitense.” He plays a violin made by Andrea Guarneri, a seventeenth-century instrument maker from Cremona.

Stephan Schulze was born in Munich in 1956. He studied from 1975 to 1978 at the Musikhochschule in the class of Otto Birchner and received the special prize of the violin class in the Munich 6'oclock concert series. He then studied in Berlin with Thomas Brandis at the Hochschule der Kunst From 1981 to 1983 he was a member of the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, before joining the Berlin Philharmonic in September of 1981. In addition to his orchestral work, Stephan is also very active in the field of chamber music. For many years he was a member of the Berlin Oboe Quartet and first violin of the Wildenhain String Quartet. Currently, he is part of the Philharmonische Geigen Berlin and a member of the Athenaeum String Quartet.

Walter Küssner studied with J. Kussmaul in Düsseldorf, K. Kashkashian in New York, and M. Tree in St. Louis. He won first prize in the international competitions of St. Louis (USA) and Ernsbach (Germany) in 1988. In 1987-88 he was a member of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and he has been a member of the Berlin Philharmonic since 1988. Violist in the Philharmonic Soloists Berlin, he has been a teacher at the Berlin Music Academy and the Berlin Conservatory since 1991. He has been a member of the Athenaeum String Quartet since 1990 and a member of the Berlin Philharmonic String Octet since 1995.

Christoph Igelbrink was born in Düsseldorf, where he began his first lessons on the piano in 1966 and cello in 1969. Between 1971 and 1974, he won the German Young people make music competition several times. In 1974-/75 he was a member of the German Youth Symphony, and in 1976 he began his cello studies at the Hamburg Musik Hochschule. In 1978 he won the “Enrico Mainardi” prize in Lucern. He has been a member of the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic since 1989, in addition to being a member of the Berlin Philharmonic 12-cello ensemble and the Philharmonic String Octet.