The word is out about the Ébène Quartet—these guys can play anything.

—National Public Radio

Video profile of the ÉbÈne Quartet

Program

MOZART: String Quartet in D minor, K. 421
BORODIN: String Quartet No. 2 in D Major
RAVEL: String Quartet in F Major

Encore:
LENNON & MCCARTNEY: Come Together

About This Performance

San Francisco Performances leads the way in introducing new artists to Bay Area audiences. The tradition continues with the debut of this irreverent, high-energy quartet from Paris. Impeccably classically trained, its members grew up playing jazz and rock for fun, and their performances hold an iconoclastic, thrilling undercurrent in both core repertoire and new music.

Artist Biography

The Ébène Quartet has class and is perhaps the most creative ensemble on the international chamber music scene today. No other quartet moves with such ease and enthusiasm between different styles. And, even if the foursome only rarely presents live programs that combine classical music and Jazz, it nevertheless forms an integral part of the ensemble’s repertoire.

Rather unusual in today’s world of chamber music, the Quatuor Ébène’s stylistic acrobatics may at first meet defiant ears. Defiant, perhaps, because of the general misuse of the term “crossover”, which so often serves to cover mediocrity and redundancy. And yet, with the Ébènes, whenever they create a new work, it is always with taste and integrity. Nevertheless, the quartet’s traditional repertoire does not suffer in any way from its love of Jazz. On the contrary, the Ébènes’ tendency to delve into the “other side” of music inspires their work in untangling and giving new life to classical works. During its performance at the Hitzacker summer festival in 2009 for example, the quartet was heard playing a quartet by Haydn with such spontaneity, it gave the impression that this music, over 200 years old, was somehow just composed.

There is, in French ensemble music today, a certain élan, which suits modern chamber music particularly well. This new generation of French musicians, their hearts full of passion for tradition, has been captivating audiences with great success, converting listeners into avid fans of the chamber music genre. The performances are so convincing, the stage presence so charismatic, that one cannot escape the spellbinding magic of these masterpieces.

The Quatuor Ébène has studied extensively with the Ysaye Quartet in Paris as well as with the eminent Gábor Takács, Eberhard Feltz and György Kurtág. Since its dramatic 2004 triumph at the prestigious ARD international competition in Munich, where the quartet was also awarded five additional special prizes, the Ébènes have gone on to win the Forberg-Schneider Foundation’s Belmont Prize in 2005. It has since remained close to the foundation, which has very generously arranged to have the quartet outfitted with several unique Italian instruments, on loan to the quartet members from private owners.

From “promising young ensemble”, the Quatuor Ébène has grown to become one of today’s foremost quartets on the international scene. In 2006 the foursome was specially selected to take part in the BBC’s esteemed “New Generation Artists” scheme and in 2007 became Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award winners. The support of the Borletti-Buitoni Foundation sponsored its first, critically acclaimed live recording of works by Haydn as well as a second CD entirely devoted to works of Bartók. Since the 2007–08 season, the quartet has been heard throughout the most prestigious concert halls of Europe, Canada and the U.S., including Wigmore Hall London, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Berliner Philharmonie and New York's Carnegie Hall.

2009 marked the beginning of an especially fruitful collaboration with the Virgin Classics label. The quartet’s Debussy, Ravel and Fauré recording was awarded several prizes, including “Chamber Music Record of the Year” by ECHO-Klassik, the Télérama award, the “choc” Monde de la Musique award, and most notably “Recording of the Year” by Gramophone. There followed a Brahms CD with the pianist Akiko Yamamoto, which demonstrated once again how at ease the quartet performs in a range of styles.

A Jazz and World Music album, entitled Fiction, was released in Fall 2010. The Ébènes nearly hit the top of the charts! For this fascinating ensemble, it seems clear that anything is possible.

Links/Downloads

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