The Melos Quartet, also known as the Melos-Quartett-Stuttgart, was a Stuttgart-based string quartet founded in 1965 by Wilhelm Melcher, Gerhard Voss, Hermann Voss, and Peter Buck. The group made its debut in 1966 and quickly gained recognition, receiving a grant from the “Musikleben” Foundation, support from the German Music Council’s “Concerts by Young Artists” program, participation in the Paris World Congress of Jeunesses Musicales, a “Prix Américain,” and a nomination as best quartet at the Geneva International Music Competition in 1966. In 1967, it also won a prize at the Heitor Villa-Lobos Quartet Competition in Rio de Janeiro. By September 1967, the members left their orchestral positions to focus entirely on the quartet, which became based in Stuttgart and developed an intensive international touring schedule across Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Gerhard Voss left the ensemble in 1993 and was replaced by Ida Bieler. A planned farewell tour in 2005 was canceled following the death of Wilhelm Melcher shortly before his 65th birthday, leading to the quartet’s dissolution.
