The Takács Quartet's music tends to inspire superlatives: "The Takács Quartet is universally recognized as one of the world's finest string quartets: "The Takács might play this repertoire [the Beethoven quartets] better than any quartet of the past or present"; "They are currently the greatest string quartet in the world." The group's international performances have continued to earn accolades, and their recordings have been recognized with numerous awards. Continuing success through a series of personnel changes, the group continues a rigorous performing and recording schedule. The Takács Quartet was formed in 1975 when its members were students at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. The original quartet consisted of violinists Gabor Takács-Nagy and Károly Schranz, violist Gabor Ormai, and cellist András Fejér. The quartet quickly rose to prominence, winning First Prize and the Critics' Prize at the 1977 International String Quartet Competition and the Gold Medal at the Portsmouth and Bordeaux Competitions in 1978. In 1983, the Takács Quartet accepted the position of Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Rather than designating them defectors, the Hungarian authorities grudgingly decided it would be more diplomatic to consider them "cultural ambassadors." Full reconciliation with the Hungarian government came in 2001 when the quartet was given the Order of Merit of the Knight's Cross of the Republic of Hungary, although the group considers Colorado its home base. It has also served as Quartet-in-Residence at the Aspen Music Festival, as well as Associate Artists of both the Southbank Centre and Wigmore Hall in London. There have been several changes in personnel throughout its existence, but Fejér remains a member as of the mid-2020s. Edward Dusinberre replaced Takács-Nagy when he retired from the group in 1992. Ormai died in 1995 and was replaced by Roger Tapping. In 2005, Tapping retired, and Geraldine Walther took his place. Schranz retired in 2018 and was replaced by Harumi Rhodes, and in 2020, Richard O'Neill replaced Walther. The Takács Quartet has ventured into the contemporary repertoire, playing works by composers such as Henri Dutilleux, Bright Sheng, James MacMillan, and Wolfgang Rihm, but for the most part, has concentrated on the core quartet literature: Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, and Bartók, among many others. The quartet's recording of the complete Bartók quartets earned the group a Gramophone Award in 1998. The most ambitious recording project has been the complete quartets of Beethoven, which were released on Decca between 2002 and 2004. The quartet received a Grammy and two Gramophone Awards for a recording of the "Rasumovsky" and "Harp" quartets in 2002, and in 2006, a collection of the late quartets received the BBC Music Magazine's Disc of the Year and the Classical Brits Award for Ensemble Album of the Year. Other highlights of the group's performances include a series of the complete quartets of Beethoven, Bartók, Brahms, and Schubert in numerous European, American, and Asian cities. The quartet has expanded the conventions of the standard chamber music concert by performing with Robert Pinsky in programs combining poetry and music and with Muzsikás, the Hungarian folk ensemble, in programs demonstrating the roots of Bartók's and Kodály's quartets in Hungarian folk traditions. The quartet records mainly for Hyperion, and along with its Decca releases, it has also made recordings for Hungaroton and London. In 2019, the Takács Quartet was joined by Marc-André Hamelin for a Hyperion release of Ernst von Dohnányi's piano quintets and second string quartet. The group has continued an active schedule in the mid-2020s. It issued two albums in 2023, one of the Quartets of Stephen Hough, Dutilleux, and Ravel, and the other offering Dvořák's String Quartet, Op. 106, and the Fantasiestücke of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Among the group's activities for the 2023-2024 season is the premiere of Nokuthula Ngwenyama's Flow, which was written for the Takács Quartet, a planned recording of piano quintets by Florence Price and Dvořák, with Hamelin, and a new association with El Sistema Colorado, an organization modeled after the famed Venezuelan music education program. ~ Stephen Eddins & Keith Finke, Rovi