The Jeunesse MehrWert Prize of the Erste Bank was awarded for the first time to the Adamas Quartet in 2013. A major concern of the four young musicians is the treatment of outlawed music, works termed as degenerate and banned during the Nazi regime. Against this backdrop, String Quartet No.2 op.7 ‘From the Monkey Mountains’ by the Czech composer Pavel Haas and String Quartet No.2 op.26 by Erich Wolfgang Korngold were selected for this debut CD. The already widely acclaimed ensemble opens with the Quartet op.64/5 by Joseph Haydn, the ‘Lark Quartet’.

The aspiring Adamas Quartet from Vienna, consisting of Claudia Schwarzl (violin), Roland Herret (violin), Anna Dekan (viola), and Jakob Gisler (cello), is currently attending a master’s course in string chamber music with Johannes Meissl at the University of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna. The musicians have also received further stimulus for their musical activity in master classes held by members of the Juilliard String Quartet, Hatto Beyerle and Miguel da Silva as well as members of the Artis Quartet.