Kharkiv Guitar Quartet

Ensembles

Kharkiv Guitar Quartet was founded in 2008 by a band of like-minded musicians. The collective’s mission is to introduce the audience to the best examples of the art of contemporary music.

Members of Kharkiv Guitar Quartet are Serhii Gorkusha, Maksym Trianov, Iryna Polovynka, and Andrii Brahin.

The ensemble has performed at the “Mikrotöne: Small Is Beautiful” International Symposium (Salzburg, Austria 2021, 2023), Plan B Fest (Kharkiv, Ukraine 2020), V Southern Palmira International Festival (Odesa, Ukraine 2019), Odesa Classics International Music Festival (Odesa, Ukraine 2018), Kharkiv Contemporary International Festival of Contemporary Music (Kharkiv, Ukraine 2014, 2015, 2016), GogolFest multidisciplinary international festival of contemporary art (Kyiv, Ukraine 2012, 2013), and many other events.

During its years of activity, Kharkiv Guitar Quartet has given the world premieres of numerous works by contemporary composers. Composers Richard Cameron-Wolfe (US), William Kentner Anderson (US) Agustin Castilla-Avilla (AT), Federico Bonacossa (US), Toykan Efe Kahraman (TR), Andriy Andrushko (UA), Serhii Vilka (UA), Kira Maidenberg-Todorova (UA), Dmytro Malyi (UA), Kostiantyn Bliokh (UA), Denys Bocharov (UA), and Volodymyr Bohatyrov (UA) dedicated their pieces to Kharkiv Guitar Quartet.

Kharkiv Guitar Quartet initiated a special series of concert meetings with contemporary composers over the years. Concerts and lectures were presented in collaboration with Richard Cameron-Wolfe (2015), Agustin Castilla-Avila (2016), and Andriy Andrushko (2018).

In 2021 Kharkiv Guitar Quartet released the CD “Quatrology”, recorded at the Atomic Guns Studio (Kharkiv, Ukraine). It includes pieces by Daniel Kessner, Ryan Maguire, Agustin Castilla-Avilla, Denys Bocharov, and Andriy Andrushko.

Since 2021 Kharkiv Guitar Quartet has been exploring the fascinating realm of microtonal music. This newfound interest led them to a noteworthy performance at the International Symposium “Mikrotöne: Small is Beautiful” in Salzburg, Austria, in 2023, where the ensemble presented a program of microtonal pieces.

In 2023, Kharkiv Guitar Quartet participated in the Darmstadt Summer Course and received an honorable mention from the jury of the Kranichstein Music Prize.