Leonkoro Quartet

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’.

Since 2022, the Leonkoro has received a series of prestigious awards that have consolidated its place among the most sought-after ensembles. It was awarded the Jürgen Ponto Foundation Music Prize. The quartet subsequently won 1st Prize and nine special prizes at the competition held at London’s Wigmore Hall. 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 BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists programme. At the end of 2022, the quartet was honoured with the MERITO String Quartet Award. In 2024, they received the Concertgebouw’s Young Talent Award. The 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 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. From September 2026, the quartet will be Associate Artist at Wigmore Hall London.

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 Ravel and Robert Schumann’s String Quartet op. 41 no. 3, was released in 2023, and was awarded the Choc de Classica de l’année 2023. The quartet signed to the label Alpha Classics in 2024. Their last CD was released in 2026 “Out of Vienna”, featuring works by Berg, Webern and Schulhoff.

Following successful debuts at major concert series and festivals last season, further debuts include the Verbier and the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the Konserthuset Stockholm, the Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, 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.

Jonathan Schwarz plays a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (1759/60), by a non-profit foundation. Emiri Kakiuchi plays a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (1755), from MERITO String Instruments Trust GmbH. Mayu Konoe plays a viola by Lorenzo Storioni by a private donor. Lukas Schwarz plays a cello by Antonio and Hieronymus Amati, Cremona (c. 1595), from MERITO String Instruments Trust GmbH. The Leonkoro Quartet is a Pirastro Artist and Henle App Ambassador.