Few groups of works in the history of chamber music trace a composer’s artistic and personal journey as vividly as Béla Bartók’s six string quartets. From the youthful searching of the First Quartet to the farewell world of the Sixth, almost an entire lifetime unfolds before us – filled with personal confessions, musical discoveries, questions and answers.

The Kelemen Quartet has set out to present this extraordinary arc as a single, coherent story.

The Complete Bartók String Quartets project is much more than a concert series. Bartók’s six quartets are accompanied by excerpts from his letters and writings, while historical commentary and an exhibition connected to the concerts provide further insight into the circumstances in which the works were created. In this way, audiences are invited not only into the workshop of one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, but also closer to the human being behind the music.

Five Years with Bartók

The current line-up of the Kelemen Quartet – violinists Barnabás Kelemen and Jonian Ilias Kadesha, violist Katalin Kokas and cellist Vashti Mimosa Hunter – has been performing together since the beginning of the Covid pandemic. From the outset, one of the ensemble’s defining artistic projects has been the in-depth study of Bartók’s six string quartets.

Over the course of five years, the musicians have continuously refined their interpretation of the cycle. They spent 68 hours working with György Kurtág and a further 60 hours with Ferenc Rados, while in Lockenhaus they also worked on Bartók’s quartets with András Schiff.

This extraordinary process went far beyond matters of interpretation alone. The musicians repeatedly explored the structure, gestures, characters and inner connections of the works, as well as the evolution of Bartók’s musical thinking.

The result of these five years of work will be preserved not only in concert performances but also on record: the Kelemen Quartet’s complete recording of Bartók’s string quartets will be released in spring 2027 by Alpha Records, recorded at Phoenix Studio under the artistic direction of Ibolya Tóth.

Not Only Hearing Bartók, but Getting to Know Him

One of the most compelling aspects of the tour is that the six quartets are not presented simply as isolated masterpieces. Musicologist Zoltán Farkas has selected texts from Bartók’s correspondence and writings, offering audiences insight into the periods between the works, the circumstances of their composition and the development of the composer’s thinking.

Listeners can therefore follow both Bartók’s artistic evolution and his personal journey.

“Our aim with this tour is not only for audiences to hear Bartók, but to come closer to him: to discover the person behind the works and, through this, to grow to love Bartók’s art. We want to show that this music is neither distant nor inaccessible, but alive, personal and deeply human,” say Barnabás Kelemen and Katalin Kokas.

The concerts are also accompanied by an exhibition tracing Bartók’s life. Through documents and visual materials, the six string quartets become a guiding thread leading audiences through the key stages of Bartók’s life and creative career.

Bartók as a Personal Legacy

Behind the project also lies Barnabás Kelemen’s decades-long relationship with Bartók’s music.

Throughout his international career as a soloist, Bartók has played a defining role in Kelemen’s artistic life. In the final of the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, he performed Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2, and later recorded with Zoltán Kocsis all of Bartók’s works for violin and orchestra as well as those for violin and piano. At Kocsis’s invitation, he also appeared as concertmaster on several recordings of Bartók’s orchestral works, while together with Katalin Kokas he recorded Bartók’s 44 Duos for Two Violins.

The quartet project is a new chapter in this long-standing relationship with Bartók: four musicians offering their shared reading of six works which, taken together, become something close to Bartók’s musical autobiography.

Bartók Up Close – at Filharmónia Hungary Concerts

The extensive concert series began in autumn 2026 and will travel to numerous cities across Hungary. Presented by Filharmónia Hungary, the Kelemen Quartet’s Bartók programme can be heard in Szeged, Kecskemét, Nyíregyháza, Miskolc, Pécs, Kaposvár, Sopron, Szombathely and Győr, among other locations.

The first Filharmónia Hungary dates of the tour are:

• Szeged – 19 November 2026

• Kecskemét – 14 December 2026

• Nyíregyháza – 15 December 2026

• Miskolc – 16 December 2026

• Pécs – 10 March 2027

• Kaposvár – 11 March 2027

The series will also include Sopron, Szombathely and Győr, with further details and concert dates to be announced through Filharmónia Hungary’s programme channels.

The project also extends beyond Hungary. On 21 November 2026, the quartet will present the series in Geneva, and in April 2027 the cycle will also feature at the Bartók Spring festival in Budapest. During the 2027/28 and 2028/29 seasons, the Kelemen Quartet will take its Bartók series on international and overseas tours.

Six Works Containing an Entire Life

Bartók’s string quartets span more than three decades. They contain the searching spirit of the young composer at the beginning of the 20th century, the transformative power of folk music, the radicalism of modernism, the tensions of interwar Europe and the pain of farewell.

Six quartets – six distinct worlds. Heard together, however, they form one great story.

The Kelemen Quartet’s tour seeks to bring that story closer to us: not the image of a distant classical composer, but that of a searching, passionate, thinking and profoundly human Béla Bartók.

At Filharmónia Hungary’s concerts, audiences have a rare opportunity to follow this journey in the interpretation of the Kelemen Quartet.

Kelemen Quartet
Barnabás Kelemen – violin
Jonian Ilias Kadesha – violin
Katalin Kokas – viola
Vashti Mimosa Hunter – cello