World Quartet: Quatuor Ébène

Quatuor Ébène

For 25 years the world string quartet Quatuor Ebène has been on the music scene. After studying not only in Paris, the quartet’s international success was kick-started by winning the ARD music competition. This was followed by the Belmont Prize of the Forberg-Schneider Foundation, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and the Frankfurt Music Prize. Indeed, according to reviews, Quatuor Ebène’s freewheeling approach to different styles creates an energetic tension; the original complexity expands the music in space and time in such a way that the works are enthusiastically welcomed by audiences and critics alike. Quatuor Ebène’s recordings of works by Bartók, Beethoven, Debussy, Haydn, Fauré and others have won numerous awards including Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine and the Midem Classic Award. Their recording of Mozart’s string quintets K. 515 and K. 516, made with Antoine Tamestit, have been awarded the Choc Classica, Diapason d’Or, Gramophone of the Month. With Beethoven’s 16 string quartets, the ensemble has travelled to six continents, and not only with them has performed in prestigious European venues such as Carnegie Hall in the USA, Philharmonie de Paris, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Verbier Festival, Vienna Konzerthaus, Salzburg Festival, Berliner Philharmonie, Megaron Athens and Wigmore Hall London. University of Music and Performing Arts Munich (Hochschule für Musik und Theater München) in January 2021 asked musicians to set up a string quartet class called the Quatuor Ébène Academy.