Károly Schranz

Biography

Born in Budapest, Hungary, he began playing the violin at the age of four, receiving his first lessons from a Gypsy violinist neighbor. At fourteen he entered the Béla Bartók Secondary Music School in Budapest and upon graduation from that institution he entered the prestigious Franz Liszt Academy of Music. It was there in 1975 that he and three classmates formed what would become the Takács Quartet. Károly was the recipient of the Franz Liszt Prize in 1983. He currently lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife and three daughters, and with the Takács Quartet is on the music faculty of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Evaluation

New York Times music critic Jeremy Eichler wrote of Károly: "...The second violinist, Karoly Schranz, is the musical heart of this quartet, and he often leans toward the center of the ensemble as he plays, urging the phrases forward from deep within the fray. He and the cellist, Andras Fejer, are the only two original members remaining, though their dark, rich Central European tone is still at the core of the quartet's sound."