Amai Quartet

Founded at the end of 2020, the Amai Quartet consists of four students and graduates from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna (MDW): Murasaki Fukuda, Chiara Siciliano (violins), U Chon Wong (viola), and Anna Tonini-Bossi (cello). Just a few months after its founding, the group achieved significant successes. Starting in May 2021, the quartet was selected through successful audition and since then it participate in social projects and activities of the Yehudi Menuhin – Live Music Now Vienna. In 2021, the quartet qualified for the final of the “Pakosky” competition in Piacenza and won third prize. In the same year, it secured both the first prize and the audience award at the first edition of the competition for young string quartets “Pietro Marzani” in Rovereto.

Following this victory, the Amai Quartet was invited to important festivals and concert seasons in Italy and abroad, including Classiche Forme, Fortissimissimo Firenze Festival, Kultursommer Wien (Vienna), Lingotto Musica, Musica con le Ali, Musica con Vista – Comitato Amur, Pianodrom (Tirana), Settenovecento, and Trame Sonore.

The formation of the ensemble began in March 2021 under the guidance of Prof. Peter Matzka (Vienna String Sextet, ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna) and Prof. Florian Schötz (Goldmund Quartet) at the MDW University in Vienna, where it currently studies with Prof. Vida Vujic. In the academic years 2021/2022 and 2023/2024, the quartet was selected for the chamber music course at the Stauffer Center for Strings in the class of the Cremona Quartet.

Throughout their artistic journey, the group had the opportunity to work with renowned international teachers such as musicologist Clive Brown, Xiang Lu and Danfeng Shen (Simply Quartet), Mark Messenger (Royal College of Music), Bruno Giuranna (Accademia Stauffer), Adrian Brendel (Royal Academy of Music), Henk Guittart (Schönberg Quartet), Pavel Nikl (Pavel Haas Quartet) and Günther Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet). Additionally, the Amai Quartet was selected for masterclasses with Alexander Pavlovsky (Jerusalem Quartet), Marcin Sieniawski (Szymanowski Quartet) and the Cuarteto Quiroga as part of the Zeister Muziekdagen 2022 festival (Netherlands) and with Oliver Wille (Kuss Quartett) for the Internationale Konzertarbeitswochen Goslar (Germany) 2024.

The quartet’s repertoire is enriched through numerous collaborations with significant artists, including mezzo-soprano Manuela Leonhartsberger (Vienna Volksoper), clarinetist Gianluigi Caldarola (Opera Royal de Wallonie, Liège), pianist Wei-Yi Yang (Yale University) and contemporary composers such as Rainer Bischof and Michael Publig (Austria), Paolo Marzocchi (Italy), and Alexander Peçi (Albania).

In December 2021, the ensemble was selected to be part of the network Le Dimore del Quartetto, and in August 2022, it participated in the quartet residency program at the International Music Academy Orpheus in Vienna. In January 2023, it was chosen for the MERITA Platform project.

Upcoming concerts