Daniel Kwartet

The Daniel Quartet was founded in Israel in 1974 by four musicians who met during their studies at the Rubin Academy in Tel Aviv. In 1976 they settled in The Netherlands. The quartet rapidly gained worldwide recognition, brought about by frequent tours throughout Europe and annual visits to the USA. The heart of the Daniel Quartet remains with the two founding members, whose roots are in the great string quartet tradition: violinist Misha Furman and viola player Itamar Shimon. In recent years they have been joined by cellist Joanna Pachucka and, in 2009, first violinist Quirine Scheffers (former leader of, among others, the Rubens Quartet).

The quartet has performed at the major chamber music venues of the USA in cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, and in Europe it has performed in London, Brussels and Amsterdam. It has given masterclasses at renowned musical institutes such as the Eastman School of Music and Washington State University, and collaborated with prominent musicians including János Starker, Gervase de Peyer, George Pieterson, Walter Boeykens, Donald Weilerstein (Cleveland Quartet) and Joel Krosnick (Juilliard Quartet), the Vermeer Quartet, the Fine Arts Quartet, Ronald Brautigam, Tabea Zimmermann, Anton Kuerti and Rian de Waal.

The Daniel Quartet established the Daniel Music Days in Zeist (The Netherlands) – now called the Zeister Muziekdagen: an annual chamber music festival with masterclasses for young musicians, where the quartet has taught, among others, the Jerusalem Quartet and the Ruysdael Quartet.