The Leonkoro Quartet was founded in 2019 in Berlin and is already one of the most sought-after ensembles of the younger generation. The name comes from Esperanto and means ‘lionheart’; this is also an allusion to Astrid Lindgren’s children’s book of the same name, which is about two brothers, like the quartet’s two founders Jonathan and Lukas Schwarz, on first violin and cello. They are complemented by the ‘middle voices’ of Emiri Kakiuchi on second violin and Mayu Konoe on viola.
In recent years the four musicians have made acclaimed debuts at great concert halls and international festivals, including the Salzburg Festival. In 2025/26 the Leonkoro Quartet made its debuts at the Black Diamond of the Royal Danish Library, the House of Nobility in Helsinki, the Library of Congress in Washington and Carnegie Hall in New York, and performed at Chamber Music Adelaide, the Melbourne Recital Centre and Toppan Hall in Tokyo. The quartet also presented a joint cycle of concerts with the Simply Quartet at the Vienna Konzerthaus.
The Leonkoro Quartet has received many prestigious awards and prizes, such as the Jürgen Ponto Foundation Music Prize, first prize and nine special prizes at the 2022 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, and several prizes at the Concours International de Quatuor à Cordes de Bordeaux. In addition, the quartet was selected to participate for two years in the prestigious BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists Programme and was awarded the MERITO String Quartet Award. The round of awards has continued with the Young Talent Award of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and the ensemble prize of the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In July 2025 the Leonkoro Quartet received the Lotto Sponsorship Prize of the Rheingau Music Festival.
In 2023 the four string players released their first album with Mirare, featuring works by Ravel and Schumann, which was awarded the Choc de Classica. In 2024 the quartet began a long-term recording partnership with the record label Alpha Classics. In January 2026 the Leonkoro Quartet released its new album Out of Vienna, featuring works by Berg, Schulhoff and Webern.
Alongside chamber music studies with Heime Müller (of the Artemis Quartet) at the Lübeck Academy of Music, the quartet studied since 2020 with Günter Pichler (the leader of the Alban Berg Quartet) at the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid. The ensemble’s other prestigious mentors include(d) Eckart Runge and Gregor Sigl (Artemis Quartet), and the pianist Alfred Brendel, with whom the Leonkoro Quartet regularly collaborated.
Jonathan Schwarz plays a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (1759/60), generously provided by a charitable foundation.
Emiri Kakiuchi plays a violin by Santo Serafin (1725) and Mayu Konoe plays a viola by Lorenzo Storioni. Both instruments are generously provided to them by private patrons.
Lukas Schwarz plays a cello by Carlo Tononi, from Venice (c.1720), generously on loan from Beare’s International Violin Society.
The Leonkoro Quartet is a Pirastro Artist and a Henle App Ambassador.
