Modigliani Quartet
Philippe Bernhard - violin
Laurent Marfaing - viola
Loïc Rio - violin
François Kieffer - cello

Biography

The Modigliani Quartet was formed in 2003 and first attracted international attention in 2004 by winning the Frits Philips String Quartet competition in Eindhoven. The Quartet took First Prize at the Vittorio Rimbotti competition in Florence in 2005 and won the highly prestigious Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York in 2006.

It has since become one of the world’s most sought after young chamber ensembles, appearing in such major venues and festivals as Carnegie Hall,  Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Théâtre du Châtelet, Wigmore Hall, LSO St Luke’s,  Concertgebouw, La Fenice , Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Rheingau Festival, Kioi Hall, and due to perform at Valencia’s Palau de la Musica, Brussel’s Palais des Beaux-Arts, Vienna’s Musikverein, Lucerne festival, Gstaad Festival.

The Modigliani Quartet has played or is due to play with artists like Michel Dalberto, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Anne Gastinel, Gary Hoffman, Eric Le Sage, Paul Meyer, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, Sabine Meyer, or Sol Gabetta.

In September 2008 the Modigliani Quartet received from the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation on loan The Evangelists, the world’s only matched set of string quartet instruments by a master maker. Produced in 1863 in Paris by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, the four instruments are made of wood from the same tree. Whilst each is outstanding in its own right, when heard together their collective sound displays an extraordinary radiant energy. Before their acquisition by the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation, The Evangelists had not been heard in public for over 35 years. The Quartet are now performing and recording with The Evangelists.

The Modigliani Quartet studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. It has worked with the Ysaÿe and Artemis Quartets and with Walter Levin, György Kurtág and Volker Jacobsen.

The Quartet released its first CD in 2006, on Nascor. Reviewers were impressed by the group’s talent and high promise. A Haydn CD was released in 2008 on Mirare, confirming the Quartet’s stature and maturity. A Mendelssohn CD will be released in 2010.

Website: http://www.modiglianiquartet.com/

Press Extracts

“The range of dynamics and colour is wide, and the rhythmic tension and drive—in the Finale of Haydn’s Rider Quartet and elsewhere—superb. They also give the music space, in the Rider’s visionary slow movement and in the deceptively leisurely opening of the Sunrise Quartet.”
The Sunday Times, July 2008

“The Modigliani played with animated zest and an underlying tension which built up momentum to frenetic climaxes, highlighting the taut pizzicatos in the second movement and the languid exchange of the main theme in the third.”
The New York Times, February 2008

“With its immense musical gifts, this foursome has the potential to someday reach the top echelon.”
The Washington Post, February 2007

“The Birmingham Chamber Music Society's season opened with one of the world’s great established string quartets. It closed Sunday with what could rank among the finest of the next generation. The Modigliani Quartet have forged a rare combination of depth, enthusiasm and near-faultless technique.”
The Birmingham News, February 2008

“The Modigliani is not the kind of quartet, common today, that lures the listener into a bath of warm, sumptuous string tone, or that dazzles with pyrotechnics. Instead it plays with a Gallic cool, supported by a solid, thoroughly unified technique.”
The New York Times, February 2007

“Haydn and Ravel seemed to live again with the outstanding Modigliani quartet’s unforgettable flame.”
Le Monde de la Musique, November 2006

“The Modiglaini Quartet played Kurtag’s 12 Microludes marvellously, followed by a dazzling interpretation of Ravel’s Quartet, showing great maturity.”
l’Humanité, August 2006

“Throughout this recording the young musicians are the perfect example of how a promising flower can bloom into a wonderful fruit: pulpy, juicy, extremely tasty and fragrant.”
Res Musica, April 2006

“Amazing musical maturity and cohesion... an excellent understanding of the harmonic density of works and a great polyphonic limpidness… an outstanding sense of rhythm.”
Classica Répertoire, May 2006