Leonkoro is Esperanto for ‘lionheart’. Why did you choose that name?

Jonathan and Lukas [Schwarz, who play violin and cello] grew up reading the books of Swedish children’s author Astrid Lindgren. Her novel The Brothers Lionheart, about two brothers who go on a touching journey between life and death, was especially meaningful to them. As our string quartet is also a journey in many ways, the name felt like a very good fit.

The Leonkoro Quartet. Photo © Co Merz

How important was your mentorship by Alfred Brendel and the Artemis Quartet?

These artists have inspired us since we were kids. Their recordings were very present on all of our parents’ shelves, so meeting them and working with them has been immensely inspiring and important for our view of music and life. They say never meet your heroes – but in these cases, we are extremely happy that we did!

Can you tell us about your choice of repertoire for your Australian tour?

We love to combine essential works of the string quartet repertoire – which Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 2 and Schubert’s Death...