teachers

The Kuss Quartet has been setting new standards for many years with its ambitious concept-based programming. Its mission is to offer unique experiences to traditional audiences and new listeners alike.

Leader Jana Kuss and second violinist Oliver Wille have been playing side by side for over 30 years. With curiosity, they and their long-standing colleagues, William Coleman and Mikayel Hakhnazaryan, seek confirmation of the eternal "muss es sein" of string quartet playing. Thanks to a grant from the state of Lower Saxony and Musik 21, the quartet has been able to commission several new works for string quartet over the past years by Enno Poppe, Aribert Reimann, Manfred Trojahn, Bruno Mantovani, Iris ter Schiphorst Johannes Fischer and Mark Andre. This has attracted cooperations with the Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Paris Biennale, Wigmore Hall London and Suntory Hall Tokyo. In the coming years, Sara Glojnaric and Francisco Coll will compose new works for the Kuss Quartet.

After recording all Beethoven Quartets live in Suntory Hall on the famous Paganini-Stradivari loaned by Nippon Music Foundation, their new album entitled "KRISE" (Crisis),  is released in November 2022 and explores this subject from different perspectives through both well-known quartet repertoire and specially commissioned works. Today, the Kuss Quartet inspires the next generation in frequent master classes. William Coleman (Salzburg) and Oliver Wille (Hanover, Birmingham, Biella) are professors at European universities, while Mikayel Hakhnazaryan teaches chamber music at the Hochschule in Karlsruhe and Jana Kuss at the Accademia Perosi in Biella (Italy).