Lotus Quartett

Founded in Tokyo in 1992 and based in Stuttgart for many years, the Lotus Quartet is one of the few all-female string quartets to have performed for decades at the highest level with virtually unchanged membership. The ensemble’s distinctive spirit—marked by a synthesis of cultural influences from Japan and Germany—will now receive fresh inspiration: beginning with the 2025/26 season, Christine Busch will join the quartet.

The Stuttgart-based violinist and professor has distinguished herself above all in the field of historically informed performance, with highly acclaimed recordings to her credit, including the Sonatas and Partitas of Johann Sebastian Bach. Alongside her work as concertmaster with renowned international ensembles, Busch has also been deeply dedicated to quartet playing. Since the new formation, Sachiko Kobayashi and Christine Busch will alternate in the two violin parts.

The first major project in this new constellation was a Japan tour in March 2026, featuring the three string quartets by Johannes Brahms as well as works by Mozart, Schubert, and Webern.

Founded in Tokyo in 1992 and based in Stuttgart for many years, the Lotus Quartet is one of the few all-female string quartets that has performed at the highest level for decades with an almost unchanged lineup. The ensemble’s distinctive artistic identity—shaped by a synthesis of Japanese and German cultural influences—is now gaining new momentum: beginning with the 2025/26 season, Christine Busch will join the quartet. A violinist and professor in Stuttgart, she has distinguished herself particularly in the field of historically informed performance practice. She has released highly acclaimed recordings, including an interpretation of the Sonatas and Partitas by Johann Sebastian Bach. Alongside her work as concertmaster with leading international orchestras, Busch has devoted herself intensively to chamber music, especially quartet playing. In the new formation, Sachiko Kobayashi and Christine Busch will alternate in the two violin parts. The first major project in this constellation will be a tour of Japan in March 2026, featuring the three string quartets by Johannes Brahms as well as works by Mozart, Schubert, and Webern.

The string quartets of the Viennese Classical period and German Romanticism, along with French Impressionism, form the core of the Lotus Quartet’s repertoire. In addition, contemporary Japanese composers such as Tōru Takemitsu and Toshio Hosokawa play an important role. Modern repertoire is represented in particular by Helmut Lachenmann and the Second Viennese School. Special attention has been drawn to recordings of selected Mozart quartets and a production featuring contemporary Japanese composers (released by Teldec in 1997 and 2000), as well as a CD of lesser-known quartets by the Bohemian composer Johann Baptist Vanhal (cpo, 2014). The excellent reviews from critics challenged a once widespread prejudice that Asian musicians lacked an authentic understanding of the intellectual world of the European repertoire.

As early as 1993, the Lotus Quartet won third prize at the prestigious International Chamber Music Competition in Osaka. A scholarship enabled the four musicians to participate in masterclasses with the Amadeus Quartet and the Melos Quartet. From 1995 onwards, they studied with the Melos Quartet at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart. Competition successes soon followed: second prize at the Viotti Competition in Italy (1995), the Menuhin Prize at the London International String Quartet Competition (1996/97), third prize at the renowned “Premio Paolo Borciani,” and first prize at the competition of the Kulturkreis der Deutschen Wirtschaft.

Within a short time, the Lotus Quartet established itself as a welcome guest in major German chamber music series in cities such as Munich, Erfurt, Bruchsal, and Braunschweig, as well as at summer festivals including the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, where the ensemble worked intensively in 1998 with Walter Levin, former first violinist of the LaSalle Quartet. This period also marked the beginning of the quartet’s international career, with performances in Valencia, Zurich, Tokyo, Osaka, and beyond.

In addition to regular appearances at major German venues such as the Konzerthaus Berlin, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, and Stuttgart’s Liederhalle, as well as at leading festivals, the Lotus Quartet has performed successfully across Europe. The ensemble tours regularly in its home country Japan, appearing in all major cultural centers. Since 1998, it has performed annually in Darmstadt, where it presented the complete string quartets of Beethoven. In November 2004, it began a Schubert cycle, followed from 2008 by a five-concert series featuring Mozart’s ten mature string quartets and his five string quintets. In 2012, the ensemble celebrated its 20th anniversary with a concert at Izumi Hall in Osaka, recorded by Japanese television (NHK). In 2017, the quartet performed another Beethoven cycle in Japan, followed in 2018 by performances of Beethoven’s late quartets in several Japanese cities.

Cyclical performances of the quartets by major composers such as Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Beethoven play a central role in the ensemble’s regular tours of Japan. The tour marking the quartet’s 30th anniversary in February 2023 included performances of all six string quartets by Felix Mendelssohn across two evenings.

Chamber music partners of the Lotus Quartet have included Wolfgang Boettcher, Martin Fröst, Sebastian Manz, Peter Buck, Wolfgang Güttler, Philippe Tondre, and Bernd Glemser.

Sachiko Kobayashi

Violin

Sachiko Kobayashi studied at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and with Wilhelm Melcher at the Stuttgart University of Music.

She won the third prize at the Japan Music Competition in 1993 and performed as concertmaster of the „Ensemble of Tokyo“ while still a student.

In addition to her career with the Lotus Quartet, she has been concertmaster of the Süddeutsche Kammersinfonie Bietigheim since 2008, often performing with them as soloist.

In 2017, she began teaching at the Fukuroi Chamber Music Academy in Japan.

Christine Busch

Violin

Christine Busch was born in Stuttgart and grew up in the outskirts of the small town of Mössingen near Tübingen. She studied in Freiburg, Vienna, and Winterthur/Zurich, and during this time she performed with Nikolaus Harnoncourt's Concentus Musicus Wien, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.

Since then, she has been successful as a soloist and chamber musician with both the "modern" and "baroque" violin in concerts worldwide. As a concertmaster, she plays with Philippe Herreweghe's Collegium Vocale Gent and in Stuttgart with Kay Johannsen. Christine Busch can be heard on countless chamber music CD recordings; she received particularly enthusiastic reviews for her CD "Sei Solo" with the sonatas and partitas by J.S. Bach, which she recorded for Philippe Herreweghe's label "Phi." Julie Anne Sadie wrote in the "Critic's Choice" section of 'Grammophone':
"I’ve returned many times to listen to the German violinist Christine Busch’s enchanting set of Bach Sonatas and Partitas since reviewing it, and always I find something new to marvel at. Her exceptional musical intelligence and evident joy in sharing her insights illuminate every track. This is desert-island quality, for sure!"

Since 2000, Christine Busch has been teaching at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts. www.christine-busch.de

Christine Busch, born in Stuttgart, grew up on the outskirts of the small town of Mössingen near Tübingen. She studied violin in Freiburg, Vienna, and Winterthur, and already during this time performed with the Concentus Musicus Wien, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.

Since then, she has appeared worldwide as both a soloist and chamber musician, performing equally successfully on both the “modern” violin and the “Baroque” violin. In recent years, she has worked regularly as concertmaster with Philippe Herreweghe and, in Stuttgart, with Kay Johannsen. In this role, as well as as a soloist, she has directed ensembles including the Kammerakademie Potsdam, Camerata Bern, the Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Baroque Orchestra of the Collegium Vocale Gent.

Christine Busch can be heard on numerous CD recordings. From 1995 to 2007, she recorded primarily with the Ensemble Explorations for harmonia mundi France, including works by Rossini, Boccherini, Vivaldi, Mendelssohn (Octet), and Dvořák, among others. In 2003, the Sonatas by J. S. Bach for violin and obbligato harpsichord (with Kay Johannsen) were released by Carus-Verlag Stuttgart.

Among her more recent recordings are Boccherini’s Stabat Mater with Dorothee Mields and the Salagon Quartet, as well as works by Mozart, Haydn, and Schubert with the same ensemble. The Salagon Quartet also contributed to a recording of Chausson’s concert work with Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov, which received the German Record Critics’ Award. Further recordings include Schubert piano trios, Haydn string quartets, and violin concertos by Leclair and Telemann with Camerata Köln.

Her latest recordings include, on the cpo label, the Piano Quintet and String Quintet by the Austrian Expressionist composer Maria Bach, and, on the SWR Music label, Beethoven sonatas (E-flat major Op. 12 No. 3, G major Op. 30 No. 1, and Op. 96) recorded with Stefania Neonato on a historical fortepiano from the Stuttgart Museum of Musical Instruments in the “Fruchtkasten.”

Particularly outstanding is her widely acclaimed recording of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas (Sei Solo), released on Philippe Herreweghe’s Phi label and praised in numerous international media.

Julie Anne Sadie wrote in the “Critic’s Choice” section of Gramophone (December 2013):

“I’ve returned many times to listen to the German violinist Christine Busch’s enchanting set of Bach Sonatas and Partitas since reviewing it, and always I find something new to marvel at. Her exceptional musical intelligence and evident joy in sharing her insights illuminate every track. This is desert-island quality, for sure!”

In BBC Music Magazine, it was noted:

“Busch takes us on these extraordinary and demanding contrapuntal journeys with seeming effortlessness, bringing beautifully crafted shape to her phrasing as well as a pleasingly varied range. Seldom have I heard a violinist make such sense of music. A set to treasure, it has delighted my sensibilities from start to finish.”

Dagmar Munck wrote in a review for SWR:

“This is music of the spheres: in its purity, directness, immediacy, and heavenly lightness. The tones emerge from nothing, materialise, and drift away. And yet there is also so much earth, strength, calm, and confidence. I found it very difficult to part with this recording—it is one for a desert island. It teaches us to marvel at the magic of light and shadow.”

After completing her studies, Christine Busch taught as a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts and, in 2000, moved to the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts. Her new ensemble is called Incanto della Musica—“The Magic of Music.” From summer 2025, she will also join the Stuttgart-based Lotus Quartet.

Tomoko Yamasaki

Viola

Tomoko Yamasaki studied at Soai University in Osaka. Upon graduation in 1990, she was appointed Principal Viola of the newly formed Century Orchestra Osaka, a precocious and highly-regarded achievement. Since leaving the orchestra for the Lotus Quartet in 1992, she has returned repeatedly as a soloist, recently performing Bartók’s Viola Concerto at the Century Orchestra’s 30th Anniversary Subscription Concert in 2019. She frequently performs solo recitals and was invited by the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra to join the Vienna Philharmonic’s First Concertmaster Folkhard Steude as soloist in 2020.

Chihiro Saito

Cello

Chihiro Saito studied with Reine Flachot at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music before continuing her education with Peter Buck and baroque cellist Kristin von der Goltz in Germany.

A winner of many prizes, she has become active as an increasingly noteworthy soloist on both modern and baroque cello.

In 2011, solo recitals in Tokyo and Osaka titled 'The Evolution of the Violoncello' brought Ms. Saito increased attention and acclaim as a Japanese cellist active in Europe. Additionally, she is increasingly sought after as a bass continuo player.