Founded in 1989 at the Prague Academy under the guidance of Milan Skampa of the Smetana Quartet, the Skampa Quartet became the winners of the Best Quartet prize in the Premio Vittorio Gui competition in Florence in 1990 and the following year the young quartet was awarded the first prize in the Charles Hennen competition in the Netherlands. Since then it has well established itself on the international chamber music circuit with performances in major venues and festivals worldwide.

They regularly broadcast on BBC Radio and their Wigmore Hall BBC lunchtime concert with Melvyn Tan was chosen to be the first CD in a series of Live from Wigmore Hall recordings on the BBC Worldwide label. The Quartet were also featured in the BBC Television series Classic Cafe which was presented live from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as part of the re-opening celebrations. They have made eight recordings on the Supraphon and Legend labels of Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Mozart, Ravel, Schubert, Smetana, Janacek, Dvorak and Suk and have collaborated with the Czech cross-over artist/composer Iva Bittova on a unique disc of her music which is a striking blend of gypsy, folk and jazz idioms. Most recently, their recording of Janacek Quartets No.s 1 & 2 for Supraphon has received rave reviews.