Biography
They may not be Berliners by birth, but they feel like such: three string players from the Berliner Philharmoniker and violinist Ray Chen, winner of numerous competitions, are Made in Berlin. In 2016, the Australian-Taiwanese Ray Chen and the American Noah Bendix-Balgley, 1st concertmaster of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 2014, founded the string quartet Made in Berlin.
They are joined by Israeli-born Amihai Grosz, 1st principal viola of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 2010 and founding member of the Jerusalem String Quartet, and Austrian Stephan Koncz, also a cellist with the Philharmoniker since 2010. However, the idea to found the quartet came earlier: “I met Noah in 2009 when we were both finalists in the Queen Elisabeth Competition, and we talked for a long time about the possibility of performing together.
Together with Amihai and Stephan, our dream team was complete,” Ray Chen recalls. The quartet, which specialises in works which are not part of the standard string quartet repertoire, performs all over the world: from California to Brussels, Zurich – and of course in Berlin.
Musicians
Noah Bendix-Balgley
Amihai Grosz
Stephan Koncz
Ray Chen