Performer Biography

The Paris based Quatuor Modigliani, founded in 2003, is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2023. It is a regular guest at the world’s top venues and finest String Quartet and Chamber Music series. In 2017 it was a special honor for the quartet to be the first string quartet ever performing in the big hall of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. In 2020, the quartet became artistic director of the string quartet festival “Quatuors à Bordeaux” as well as the renowned “The Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition”.

For the Quatuor Modigliani’s anniversary celebration, Jean Frédéric Neuburger composed a new string quartet that will be performed throughout Europe in the upcoming anniversary season 2022–23, including concerts in Madrid, Warsaw, Paris, and London. Since the past season, the quartet has been focusing on the composer Franz Schubert’s 225th anniversary in 2022 and will maintain this focus also in the new season with, e.g., a three-part Schubert-cycle at the Musikfest Hamburg in May 2023. Other highlights include an extensive US Tour in April 2023 and performances at the Philharmonic Halls in Luxembourg, Köln, and Oslo.

In December 2020 the Quatuor Modigliani celebrated the world premiere of the String Quartet Split Apart, which was composed specifically for them by the British composer Mark Anthony Turnage. The piece has its origins in the UK’s referendum to leave or remain in the European Union: the composer’s despair and anger at the Brexit vote are channeled into the work. The string quartet was already presented at Musikverein Wien, at Flagey in Brussels and at Concertgebouw Amsterdam; the upcoming season 2022–23 will include performances at Bergen and Oslo as well as in the USA.

Since its formation, the Quatuor Modigliani has enjoyed performing bigger chamber music works, which is how the quartet has built true artistic friendships with other musicians such as Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, Tanja Tetzlaff, and Beatrice Rana. In 2022–23, such concert highlights will be performances with Jean-Guihen Queyras, Yeol Eum Son, and a sextet program with Nathalia Milstein and Amihai Grosz.

The quartet has been recording for the Mirare label since 2008 and has released 12 award winning CDs since. Their 9th album, Portraits was featured in the bestseller list 2-2019 (category chamber music) at the “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.” Their album Schubert Octet, which was recorded together with Sabine Meyer, Bruno Schneider, Dag Jensen, and Knut Erik Sundquist and published in April 2020, received international critical acclaim. In January 2022, the Quatuor Modigliani released its newest album: a recording of all 15 string quartets by Franz Schubert, which was received enthusiastically by the international press. In April 2022, FonoForum wrote: “In the steep crescendos, in the jagged major-minor conflicts or the wildly driving-out gestures glows an extraordinary intensity, the music sometimes reaches a point where something seems to tear apart.”