Quatuor Ébène

Attending a concert by the Quatuor Ébène is a musical and sensual happening. Over the past two decades, the quartet has set new standards by making familiar repertoire accessible in new ways and by constantly seeking exchange with the audience. This spring, Yuya Okamoto joined the quartet’s esteemed ranks, adding a new dimension to the ensemble’s performances.

After studies with the Quatuor Ysaÿe in Paris as well as with Gábor Takács, Eberhard Feltz and György Kurtág, the unprecedented and outstanding success at the 2004 ARD Music Competition followed, marking the beginning of the Quatuor Ébène’s rise to fame. Numerous other prizes and awards followed: in 2005, the quartet was awarded the Belmont Prize of the Forberg-Schneider Foundation; in 2007, it was prize winner of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust, and in 2019, as the first ensemble ever, it was honored with the Frankfurt Music Prize.

In addition to the traditional repertoire, the quartet also dives into other styles. What began in 1999 as a distraction in the university’s practice rooms—improvising on jazz standards and pop songs—has become a trademark of Quatuor Ébène. To date, the quartet has released three albums in these genres—Fiction (2010), Brazil (2014), and Eternal Stories (2017). In June 2024, the ensemble will present Waves, a new project with the electronic sound artist Xavier Tribolet. The musicians’ free approach to various styles creates a tension that is beneficial to every aspect of their artistic work, and the complexity of their output has been greeted enthusiastically by audiences and critics.

Quatuor Ébène’s albums, with recordings of Bartók, Beethoven, Debussy, Haydn, Fauré, and the Mendelssohn siblings, have received numerous awards, including Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and the Midem Classic Award. In 2015 and 2016, the musicians dedicated themselves to the theme Lied. They participated in the album Green (Mélodies françaises) by Philippe Jaroussky and released a Schubert album with Matthias Goerne (arrangements for string quartet, baritone, and double bass, by Raphaël Merlin) and the Schubert String Quintet with Gautier Capuçon. Together with Antoine Tamestit, Quatuor Ébène recorded the Mozart String Quintets K. 515 and K. 516, which were released in the spring of 2023. The album has received accolades such as Choc Classica, Diapason d’Or, and Gramophone awards.

First and foremost in the group’s recording output are Beethoven’s 16 string quartets, for which the ensemble traveled across six continents between May 2019 and January 2020. With this complete recording, the four artists celebrated their 20th stage anniversary, which they crowned with performances of the complete Beethoven cycle in major European venues such as the Philharmonie de Paris and the Alte Oper Frankfurt. Invitations from Carnegie Hall, the Verbier Festival, and the Vienna Konzert­haus were also on the agenda.

In January 2021, the quartet was appointed by the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich to establish a string quartet class as part of the newly founded Quatuor Ébène Academy.

During the past season, the ensemble has been performing a joint cycle with the Belcea Quartet at the Wiener Konzerthaus. For the 2023–24 season, the Philharmonie Luxembourg has chosen the Quatuor Ébène as resident ensemble. In addition to chamber music concerts, they will present John Adams’ Absolute Jest together with the Luxembourg Philharmonic. As the quartet in residence at Radio France, the ensemble will again perform three concerts in Paris.

Further highlights of the season include concerts at the Salzburg Festival, Berliner Philharmonie, Megaron Athens, Wigmore Hall London and Carnegie Hall.