Founded in 1995, the Szymanowski Quartet quickly developed into one of the most remarkable international string quartets of its generation. It received numerous awards and distinctions at the Melbourne, Osaka and the Florence International Chamber Music Competitions. The Quartet performed at numerous major concert halls such as New York's Carnegie Hall, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Vienna Musikverein and Konzerthaus, the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the Beethovenhaus in Bonn, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and the Grünewald Hall in Stockholm. The ensemble gave concerts at prominent international festivals including BBC Proms, Schleswig-Holstein Musik, Rheingau Musik, Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele, Schubertiade and at festivals in Lockenhaus, Davos, Cheltenham and Bath. From 2001 to 2003, the Szymanowski Quartet participated in the BBC's New Generation Artistsscheme, and in 2005 it was honoured by the Karol Szymanowski Foundation in Warsaw with the renowned Szymanowski Award, the only time it was ever given to a string quartet. In 2007 the Quartet was awarded the Polish Government's Medal of Honour for services to Polish culture.
The New York Times music critic Bernard Holland wrote:
It was hard not to fall in love with the Szymanowski Quartet. All professionals perform with intensity, but playing from the heart is another matter. The sound was unusually warm, filling this small space to capacity.
The programmes of the Szymanowski Quartet's concerts in Asia included works of Polish composers: Grażyna Bacewicz and Karol Szymanowski, as well as Franc Joseph Haydn, Giacomo Puccini, Dmitri Shostakovich and Ludwig van Beethoven.
The Szymanowski Quartet had previosly toured Asia several times, performing, among other venues, at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing (2011), where their concert was was combined with a symposium dedicated to Karol Szymanowski and Polish twentieth century music with participation of both Chinese and Polish researchers.