The quartet played for the first time in Paris on March 6 1975, with such success that they were invited to the United States in June 1976.[5] However their North American debut is said to have been made in 1987.[6]
They made many records for Calliope and at least one with Collins Classics. Their first Calliope recordings, of Dvořák String Quartets Opp. 61 and 96,[7] and of the Mozart Clarinet Quintet with Bohuslav Zahradník and String Quartet, K 156,[8] won the Grand Prix du Disque de l'Académie Charles Cros for 1977. Their intégrale (complete cycle) of Beethoven quartets was recorded between the late 1970s and the early 1980s.[9] The Mozart recording, and the Beethoven String Quartets Opp. 127 and 135 (CAL 1640), both won Diapason d'or awards.
^This changeover was in 1970, according to the (French) sleevenotes for Calliope 1617: Dvořák Opp. 61 & 96.
^A 1977 note attributes the formation of the Quartet to Professor Josef Micka, and gives the date 1962. See (French) sleevenotes for Calliope 1617: Dvořák opp. 61 & 96.