Quatuor Ebène

Pierre Colombet, violin Gabriel Le Magadure, violin Mathieu Herzog, viola Raphael Merlin, violoncello. “A string quartet that can easily transform into a jazz group,” The New York Times’ Alan Kozinn said after a March 2009 performance with the Quatuor Ebene. M. Kozinn, who was mesmerized by the quartet’s performances of Haydn and Debussy, describes how they first performed the music. Then, they did their own arrangement using the music from “Pulp Fiction”. They then improvised to Chick Corea’s “Spain” and closed with an encore that showcases the vocal talent of an outstanding a capella quartet. It is clear that these four French musicians are the best on the international chamber music scene. There is no other quartet that can move so effortlessly between styles. The Quatuor Ebene’s style-acrobatics are quite unusual in today’s chamber music world. Perhaps because crossover is so commonly used to describe mediocrity or redundancy, the Quatuor Ebene may seem defiant. Yet, the Ebenes create new works with integrity and taste. The quartet’s love for Jazz does not affect its traditional repertoire. The Ebenes’ desire to explore the “other side of music” inspires them to untangle and give new life to classical pieces. Modern chamber music is suited well by the French ensemble music of today. The new generation of French musicians is passionate about tradition and has captured the attention of audiences with great success. They have made chamber music a popular genre. These performances are captivating and the stage presence is so charismatic that it’s hard to resist the spellbinding magic. The Quatuor Ebene studied extensively with both the Ysaye Quartet of Paris and the eminent Gabor Tacs, Eberhard Feltz et Gyorgy Kuntag. The Ebenes won the 2005 Belmont Prize from the Forberg-Schneider Foundation after their dramatic victory at the prestigious ARD international contest in Munich in 2004. The foundation has been close to it, and has generously loaned several rare Italian instruments to the quartet from private owners. The Quatuor Ebene began as a promising young ensemble and has since grown to be one of the most prominent quartets on today’s international scene. The quartet has been heard in some of the most prominent concert halls across Europe, Canada, and the United States including Wigmore Hall London and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. The quartet’s Debussy and Ravel recordings won several prizes in 2009, including the ECHO-Klassik “Chamber Music Record of the year”, the fff Telerama award and the “choc” Monde de la Musique award. Gramophone also awarded the recording “Recording of the year” for its Debussy and Ravel performances. The quartet performed a Brahms CD, accompanied by Akiko Yamamoto (pianist), which showed how comfortable they are performing in many styles. Fiction, a Jazz and World Music album was released in fall 2010. The album, Fiction, was released by the Ebenes and won an Echo Award. It almost reached the top of the charts! A live DVD of Fiction, which was recorded at Folies Bergere, Paris, was released at the start of the 2011/2012 season. The CD was followed by the CD featuring Mozart’s string quartets KV421, KV 465, and Divertimento KV 13 as well as the CD box containing the chamber music of Faure recorded with the quartet’s collaborators. In 2012, the quartet was awarded an Echo Award for both recordings. “Felix

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