The Diogenes Quartett is a young string quartet from Munich that was founded in 1996.
In the course of its numerous concert tours the quartet has performed at various festivals. Among these were the Mozartfest in Wuerzburg and the Weilburg Castle Concerts (Weilburger Schlosskonzerte). The quartet has also been a frequent guest at the Osnabrueck Chamber Music Festival ( Osnabruecker Kammermusiktage). The ensemble received scholarships from eminent institutions like the Amadeus Scholarship Fund, London. The Bavarian Broadcasting Company (Bayerischer Rundfunk) and Deutschland Radio, Berlin have made recordings with the Diogenes Quartett. To date the quartet's CDs include compositions by Haydn, Cherubini, Mozart and Brahms (produced among others by Lable cpo) The Diogenes Quartett was the first to record a quartet movement by Engelbert Humperdinck and a string quintet by George Onslow.

The Diogenes Quartett has studied with a number of renowned teachers and ensembles, among them the Amadeus Quartet and the La Salle Quartet. Teachers of particular influence were Prof. Hubert Buchberger (Frankfurt) and Prof. Lydia Dubrovskaya (Augsburg).

Together with the pianist Andreas Kirpal, a frequent chamber-music partner, the Diogenes Quartett started their own concert series “rueckblicke” (retrospectives) in 2001. This series has become an integral part of Munich's concert life. In addition the quartet regularly plays with and warmly supports a series of children's concerts given by “concierto muenchen”.

The namesake of the Diogenes Quartett is not primarily the Greek philosopher but rather the Diogenes Publishing House in Switzerland (Diogenes Verlag). The four musicians are close friends with Rudolph C. Bettschart, owner of the Diogenes Publishing House.

The Diogenes Quartett is represented by Kuenstlersekretariat Rolf Sudbrack.


Andreas Kirpal was born in Dresden, Germany in 1972. After his family had moved to Munich he completed a piano studies youth programme at the Richard-Strauss-Konservatorium Munich with Olaf Dressler while still a high-school student. Andreas Kirpal continued his studies under Prof. Arkadi Zenziper in Dresden and Prof. Vassily Lobanov in Cologne. He then joined Prof. Gerhard Oppitz' master class in Munich finishing with honours in June 2002. Andreas Kirpal participated in numerous master courses for piano, chamber music and Lied accompaniment under Peter Rösel, Lew Naumow, Herman Krebbers, Felix Andrievski and Rudolf Piernay. The well known London piano educator Peter Feuchtwanger is one of Kirpal's mentors.

In 1997 Andreas Kirpal gave his debut in the famous Semper Oper in Dresden playing Sergej Prokofiev's 3rd piano concerto conducted by Joerg-Peter Weigle. However, Kirpal mainly plays chamber music and has performed as far away as the United States and South Korea.

Together with his brother Stefan Kirpal, violin, Andreas Kirpal has won many international prizes, such as 3rd prize in Finale Ligure, Italy 1994 and 2nd prize in the Johannes-Brahms-Wettbewerb in Pörtschach, Austria,1998. Between 1999 and 2002 the brothers were members of the Yehudi-Menuhin Foundation “live-music-now”.

Andreas Kirpal is very much in demand as an accompanist . He has played with Lena Neudauer, Akiko Yamada, Prof. Lydia Dubrowskaya, the Diogenes Quartett and many others. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Munich, wrote about his CD recording of the Piano Quintet by Dohnanyi: “ This debut CD is full of promise: ..rich colours and calm,deep pulsing lend dimension and uniqueness to the finely tuned interplay of these young musicians from Munich.”

Andreas Kirpal is currently teaching at the music faculties of the University of Munich and the University of Augsburg. Together with the Diogenes Quartett he started the concert series “rueckblicke” (retrospectives) which have become a great success in Munich.

"rückblicke" (“retrospectives”)

The concert series "rückblicke" was created by the Diogenes Quartet and Andreas Kirpal in 2000. It is being presented by the association rückblicke e.V. and its concerts are being held in the Gasteig in Munich.
(www.gasteig.de)

The series presents chamber music composed from the 18th to the 20th century. The works are selected according to either a particular cultural-historical or biographical context. In order to help the audience gain an insight into the musical pieces in question, a moderator is generally being integrated into the various concerts.

upcoming concerts
2006 / 2007

20th of October 2006, 8 p.m.
Dmitri Schostakowitsch (1906 – 1975)
Compositions by Schostakowitsch and Weinberg

21th of January 2007, 7 p.m.
“Nocturne” – Music and Poetry
Compositions by Schumann, Borodin and Ravel

11th of March 2007, 7 p.m.
“Opus 34”
Clemens Trautmann, Clarinet
Compositions by Weber, Prokofiev and Brahms

17th of June 2007, 7 p.m.
“In Brahm’s Times”
Compositions by Gernsheim and Brahms

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