FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2024 · 7:30 PM
QUATUOR ÉBÈNE
THE BAKER-BAUM CONCERT HALL
Prelude Lecture · 6:30 PM
HAYDN
String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 20, No. 3
BARTÓK
String Quartet No. 3, Sz. 85
SCHUBERT
String Quartet in G Major, D. 887
Pierre Colombet, violin; Gabriel Le Magadure, violin; Marie Chilemme, viola; Raphaël Merlin, cello
In Spring 2020, Quatuor Ébène launched its “Beethoven Around the World” project, recording Beethoven’s 16 string quartets in a worldwide project on six continents. With this complete recording, the four celebrated their 20th stage anniversary, which they then crowned with performances of the complete string quartet cycle in major European venues such as the Philharmonie de Paris and the Alte Oper Frankfurt and invitations from Carnegie Hall, the Verbier Festival, and the Vienna Konzerthaus.
Quatuor Ébène’s rise to fame began after studies with the Quatuor Ysaÿe in Paris as well as with Gábor Takács, Eberhard Feltz and György Kurtág, and unprecedented and outstanding success at the 2004 ARD Music Competition, followed by numerous other prizes and awards: The Belmont Prize of the Forberg-Schneider Foundation (2005), prizewinner of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust (2007), and in 2019, the first ensemble ever honored with the Frankfurt Music Prize.
In addition to the traditional repertoire, the quartet also dives into other styles. What began in 1999 as improvising on jazz standards and pop songs during practice has become a trademark of Quatuor Ébène. To date the quartet has released three albums in these genres, Fiction (2010), Brazil (2014) and Eternal Stories (2017).
Quatuor Ébène’s albums, with recordings of Bartók, Beethoven, Debussy, Haydn, Fauré and the Mendelssohn siblings, have received numerous awards, including Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and the Midem Classic Award. The quartet has been successful in reaching a wide audience of young listeners and in conveying its talent in regular master classes at the Paris Convervatoire. In January 2021, the quartet was commissioned by the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich to establish a string quartet class as part of the newly founded “Quatuor Ébène Academy.”
Pierre Colombet plays a 1717 Antonio Stradivari violin kindly loaned by a generous sponsor through the Beares International Violin Society and a 1736 Matteo Goffriller violin generously loaned by Gabriele Forberg-Schneider. He plays a bow by Dominique Pecatte (ca. 1845) loaned by the Forberg-Schneider Foundation.
Gabriel Le Magadure plays a 1727 Antonio Stradivari violin loaned through the Beares International Violin Society and a violin from around 1740 with a Guarneri label loaned by Gabriele Forberg-Schneider. He plays a bow by Dominique Pecatte (ca.1845) loaned by the Forberg-Schneider Foundation.
Marie Chilemme plays a viola by Marcellus Hollmayr, Füssen (1625) loaned by the Forberg-Schneider Foundation, prior possession of Mathieu Herzog.
Raphaël Merlin plays a cello by Carlo Tononi, Venice (approx. 1720) loaned through the Beares International Violin Society and one by Andrea Guarneri (1666/1680) from Cremona, also generously loaned by Gabriele Forberg-Schneider.