Ébène Quartet
Thursday, April 16, 2026 7:30pm
Herbst TheatreVenue Information
$80/$70/$60
About This Performance
“Every year, a string quartet comes to the Bay Area and wows me. In 2024, that group was the Quatuor Ébène” (San Francisco Classical Voice). Energy and exhilaration are words that are often used to describe their performances, with critics like Bachtrack’s proclaiming it “hard to imagine string quartet playing at once more diverse and more brilliant than this…the possibilities of a string quartet were shown to be boundless.”
Program
BEETHOVEN: String Quartet Op. 18, No. 2
DEBUSSY: String Quartet Op. 10
BRAHMS: String Quartet Op. 51, No. 2
Performance Sponsors
Jeanne Newman and Schoenberg Family Law
Artist Information
Performer Biography
“A string quartet that can easily morph into a jazz band,” praised The New York Times’ Alan Kozinn following a March 2009 performance featuring the Ébène Quartet. There is no doubt that these four French musicians have class and are perhaps the most creative ensemble on the international chamber music scene today. No other quartet moves with such ease and enthusiasm between different styles. 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.