Wigmore prizewinners Leonkoro Quartet

The Leonkoro Quartet comes to Lewes as part of their winner's tour from the April 2022 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition at which they also won no less than 9 of the 12 special prizes. The previous month they had won the prestigious Jurgen Ponto Foundation Music Prize and in May the Quatuor a Bordeaux competition together with its Audience Prize and its Young Audience Prize. Also in May 2022 the quartet was appointed to the prestigious BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists programme for 2022- 2024.

The quartet was founded in Berlin in 2019. Appropriately its name Leonkoro means ‘Lionheart’ in Esperanto, which alludes to Astrid Lindgren’s children’s book which juxtaposes the grave reality of death with a heartfelt consolation, a theme which frequently runs through the quartet’s music.

"The Leonkoro Quartet [...] has an enormous stage presence, glows for the music, takes full risks and amazes with its empathy for the respective sound of the pieces." – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
"The Leonkoros draw on a wealth of youthful sonority, fiery vitality and rousing drive." – Suddeutsche Zeitung