The founding members of the Pavel Haas Quartet were violist Pavel Nikl and violinist Veronika Jarůšková, who established the group in 2002 in Prague. Nikl left the group in 2016, but remains its permanent guest artist when it plays as a quintet. The group membership has changed over time, and the current line-up for the Cincinnati appearance is Peter Jarůšek on the cello, Karel Untermüller playing the viola, and Marek Zwiebel and Veronika Jarůšková as violinists.
In 2004, the group won the "Vittorio E. Rimbotti" award in a contest held in Florence, and the following year it won the Prague Spring Competition. The quartet’s success in these contests won it a contract with Supraphon, and it began releasing CDs on that label. The group has featured works by Czech composers such as Bedřich Smetana, Leoš Janáček, and Antonín Dvořák, as well as other noted classical composers like Franz Schubert and Sergei Prokofiev. “Johannes Brahms Quintets Op. 34 & 111” is its most recent release in 2022.
Awards include the coveted “Recording of the Year” for the 2011 CD of the Dvořák String Quartets Op. 106 & 96. A review of a concert by the quartet says simply:
“Compelling music, compellingly played.”
The Pavel Haas Quartet will appear March 14 at Cincinnati’s Memorial Hall. Events like this can be publicized effectively when organizers use poster printing.