Since its foundation in 2012, the BENDA QUARTET can boast a number of artistic achievements. According to its members, a significant milestone in its existence was represented by the concert held on 7 April 2014 as part of the subscription concert series organized for the 60th anniversary season of the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava. This concert was received very well by the audience and has also been recorded by the Czech Radio. In the fall of 2014, Benda Quartet gave several recitals as part of an ambitious project at the Janáček May International Music Festival. The project was called Czech Music in the Castles of North Moravia and Silesia, and it was recorded for television.
2015 was also a very significant year for the Benda Quartet, which participated in several international festivals (Janáček Hukvaldy International Music Festival, Mahler Jihlava Festival, St. Wenceslas Music Festival). The Quartet has now added studio recording to its other activities, and it collaborates mainly with the Czech Radio; in November 2015 it recorded Leoš Janáček´s String Quartet No. 1. This collaboration continues successfully, and more projects are already scheduled, including a recording of the String Quartet in A minor by Fritz Kreisler.
For the Benda Quartet, one of the artistic highlights of 2016 was their participation in the 41st Janáček May International Music Festival, where they appeared alongside the excellent Vogler Quartett from Berlin in a performance of Mendelssohn’s famous Octet Op. 20.
The Benda Quartet also performs contemporary music; modern pieces appear repeatedly in the “Generation” project organized by the Janáček May Festival. The Quartet also cooperates with the Ostrava Creative Center on the festival of contemporary music “Hudební současnost”; in November 2015, they premiered a string quartet by Jan Grossmann.  In November 2016, the Benda Quartet appeared at Hudební současnost again. The quartet’s diverse range of activities is further enriched with concerts and workshops targeted particularly at children and young people.
In January 2016, the quartet was invited to perform with the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava in the subscription concert series D/ Family series. The collaboration with JPO continues; in May 2016, the ensemble again appeared at a concert from the D/ Family series, and in the 2016/17 season it appeared in the K/ Chamber series concerts with the works of D. Shostakovich, P. Vasks and A. Dvořák. In June 2017, the Quartet made an appearance at the opening concert of the International Music Competition and Music Festival Beethoven’s Hradec. bendaquartet.com

Benda Quartet
Jakub Černohorský – violin
Ondřej Pustějovský – violin
Petr Benda – viola
Tomáš Svozil – cello