1987 —
Keller Quartet
Founded with fellow students of the Liszt Academy, the quartet won both of the world's great competitions — Évian and the Borciani — within weeks of each other in 1990, and recorded Bach, Bartók, Ligeti and Kurtág for ECM.
András Keller
Violinist, conductor and teacher. Founder of the Keller Quartet, music director of Concerto Budapest — and a musician who believes every note is a living thing, whose life the player answers for.
About
A life in music
For András Keller, music began at home: a father who played the violin beautifully, chamber music in the living room, Sunday mornings beside the organ bench of a Budapest church. A childhood illness, a borrowed recording of Beethoven's Violin Concerto — and the question of his life was settled.
He has been asked many times why he never left Hungary, despite the invitations. His answer has never changed: an artist represents his homeland wherever he plays, and his task is to share its treasures — Bartók above all — with the world.
Highlights
Four decades, three vocations
2007 —
Concerto Budapest
One of Hungary's oldest orchestras — in his words not his story but theirs: sixty musicians playing as if every note were a shared responsibility, heard from the Liszt Academy to the stages of Europe and Asia.
Always
Teaching
Professor at the Liszt Academy and London's Guildhall School. His rule for every lesson has never changed: the student must leave the room playing better than they came in.
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Years on stage
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Keller Quartet founded
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Leads Concerto Budapest
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Major recording awards
On stage
Next on the podium
25
Sept
2026
Season-Opening Concert
R. Strauss: Metamorphosen · Bartók: Cantata profana · Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3 · R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier Suite — with Dénes Várjon, piano
26
Sept
2026
R. Strauss / Bartók
R. Strauss: Metamorphosen · Bartók: Cantata profana · Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3 · R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier Suite — with Dénes Várjon, piano
11
Oct
2026
A Celebration of Hungarian Gems
Liszt–Kocsis: Goethe Festmarsch · Schubert–Dohnányi: Fantasia in F minor · Veress: Concerto for string quartet · Szőllősy: Addio · Liszt: Gondola funebre · Kurtág: Die Stechardin — with Miklós Perényi, cello
For us, every note is life or death.
That is how he once explained why the halls are full — and it is how he teaches, from Budapest to London, from Verbier to Aix-en-Provence. For masterclasses and private study, write a few lines: every message is read.