Leonkoro Quartet

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BIOGRAPHY

Jonathan Schwarz, violin
Emiri Kakiuchi, violin
Mayu Konoe, viola
Lukas Schwarz, cello

"So spectacular that it pulls the audience off their seats and unleashes a storm of enthusiasm: this ability to shape music spontaneously, in the moment […] the Leonkoros currently command so impressively that, since their founding in 2019, this quartet has long been sought after and celebrated worldwide as arguably the finest of its generation." - Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 2026

The ensemble is framed by the brothers Jonathan and Lukas Schwarz on first violin and cello, while Emiri Kakiuchi on second violin and Mayu Konoe on viola form the middle voices. Leonkoro — from the Esperanto for ‘lionheart’ — is not by chance an allusion to Astrid Lindgren’s children’s book about two brothers, a book that meets the grave fact of death with a warm measure of comfort — a connection to which the string quartet repertoire, too, devotes itself in many works.

Since 2022, the Leonkoro Quartet has received a series of prestigious awards and prizes that have consolidated its place among the most sought-after ensembles of its generation. It was awarded the distinguished Jürgen Ponto Foundation Music Prize. The quartet subsequently won 1st Prize and nine special prizes at the international competition held at London’s Wigmore Hall, including awards for interpretation, residencies and concerts. They further won 1st Prize as well as the Audience Prize and the Young Artist Prize at the Concours International de Quatuor à Bordeaux. Shortly afterwards followed their admission to the prestigious BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists program for 2022–2024. At the end of 2022, the quartet was honored with the MERITO String Quartet Award. In March 2024, they received the Concertgebouw’s Young Talent Award, marking the beginning of a promising collaboration. The renowned Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award as well as the Tiemann Ensemble Prize of the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern followed at the start of the 2024/25 season. In July 2025, the quartet received the Rheingau Musik Festival’s Lotto Förderpreis. Since the 2025/26 season, the Leonkoro Quartet presents the string cycle at the Vienna Konzerthaus as part of a jointly devised concert series – a significant acknowledgement of its work. From September 2026, the quartet will be Associate Artist at Wigmore Hall London for five years.

In addition to chamber music studies with Heime Müller (Artemis Quartet) at the Lübeck University of Music, the quartet studied from 2020–2025 with Günter Pichler (leader of the Alban Berg Quartet) at the Chamber Music Institute of the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid. The ensemble’s distinguished mentors have included Eckart Runge and Gregor Sigl (Artemis Quartet) as well as pianist Alfred Brendel.

The quartet’s debut album, featuring Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet and Robert Schumann’s String Quartet op. 41 no. 3, was released on Mirare in autumn 2023 and, just weeks later, was awarded the Choc de Classica de l’année 2023. The quartet has been signed to the renowned label Alpha Classics since spring 2024. In January 2026, the album Out of Vienna, featuring works by Alban Berg, Anton Webern and Erwin Schulhoff, was released on the label.

Following numerous successful debuts at major international concert series and renowned festivals last season, further debuts are on the program for the coming season, including at the Verbier Festival, the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the Konserthuset Stockholm, the Auditorio Nacional de Música Madrid, the Warsaw Philharmonic and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. Their debut at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées also marks the beginning of a two-part concert cycle. The quartet furthermore returns to the Salzburg Festival, the Barcelona String Quartet Biennale, and the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin.

The Leonkoro Quartet is a Pirastro Artist and Henle App Ambassador.

Jonathan Schwarz plays a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (1759/60), kindly made available to him by a non-profit foundation.

Emiri Kakiuchi plays a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (1755), on loan from MERITO String Instruments Trust GmbH.

Mayu Konoe plays a viola by Lorenzo Storioni, generously made available to her by a private donor.

Lukas Schwarz plays a cello by Antonio and Hieronymus Amati, Cremona (c. 1595), on loan from MERITO String Instruments Trust GmbH

2026/2027
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