Since its inception in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has been singled out for its technical brilliance, musical insight and stylistic elegance. Within a year, the Brentano String Quartet claimed the distinction of being named for three major awards, winning the first Cleveland Quartet Award, the 1995 Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the 10th Annual Martin E. Segal Award. For their first appearance in Great Britain, at the Wigmore Hall, the Brentanos were awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award for the most outstanding chamber music debut of 1997. 

The Quartet became the inaugural quartet-in-residence at Princeton University in 1999, served as quartet-in-residence at New York University from 1995 to 2003 and was chosen by The Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center to participate in the inaugural season of Chamber Music Society Two. The Brentanos were resident at the Wigmore Hall for the 2000-2001 season. 

A collaboration with the pianist Mitsuko Uchida led the quartet to perform in major international venues both in Europe and North America. Their most recent project together includes performances of Schoenbergs Pierrot Lunaire at the Kln Philharmonie, St Lukes in London, Louisiana Museum in Copenhagen and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. With Jessye Norman, they appeared at Carnegie Hall in 1998 and, the following year, at the Salzburg Festival. In 1998, they also toured Australia to great acclaim, under the auspice of Musica Viva, and made their debut at the Sydney Opera House. 

The Brentano String Quartet has made appearances in the major musical centres in North America including New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, La Jolla, Detroit, Toronto, Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Houston, New Orleans and Kansas City. In Europe, venues include the Royal Festival Hall in London, the Accademia de Santa Cecilia in Rome, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, AlterOper in Frankfurt, Philharmonie in Cologne, Liederhalle in Stuttgart, Beethovenhaus in Bonn and Casino in Basel. 

The Brentanos maintain a strong interest in the music of our time and have commissioned and premiered works by Milton Babbitt, Chou Wen-Chung, Charles Wuorinen, Bruce Adolphe, Steven Mackey and Jonathan Dawe. To celebrate its tenth anniversary the quartet commissioned ten composers to write brief companion pieces to Bachs Art of Fugue. The quartet has also collaborated with Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mark Strand, commissioning poetry for performances of Haydns Seven Last Words of Christ and a programme combining Mark Strands poetry with works of Mozart and Webern. 

The quartet enjoys a remarkable following in the United Kingdom where they appeared again in November 2005 (Wigmore Hall, St Georges Bristol, Cheltenham, Abbotsholme and Queens Hall in Edinburgh). They also made their debut in the Fayence String Quartet Festival in the south of France; the best concert of the festival, claimed the French newspaper Nice-Matin. 

In 2007/2008, the Brentanos will perform two programmes at the Cit de la Musique for the Biennale du quatuor cordes, including the premiere of a piece by Thierry Lancino for string quartet and piano co-commissioned by the Cit and the Pro Quartet association for which they will also be giving a series of concerts. 

The Quartet is named after Antonie Brentano, whom many scholars believe was Beethoven's mysterious "Immortal Beloved", and to whom he wrote his famous love confession.