Quatuor Ébène
Quatuor Ébène
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BIOGRAPHY
Pierre Colombet, violin
Gabriel Le Magadure, violin
Marie Chilemme, viola
Yuya Okamoto, violoncello
"The way scents seem to transition into sounds, echoes resonate from the depths of space, and the Four intertwining attentively, only to then grab hold vigorously and expand vivaciously - it was exhilarating."
- Süddeutsche Zeitung, March 2023
A concert by Quatuor Ébène is and remains a musical and sensory experience. For more than two decades, the ensemble has been at the forefront, perpetually breathing new life into familiar repertoire while always seeking further connection to its audience.
After studying with Quatuor Ysaÿe in Paris and with Gábor Takács, Eberhard Feltz and György Kurtág, Quatuor Ébène's unprecedented and outstanding victory at the ARD Music Competition in 2004 marked the beginning of its rise to prominence, leading to numerous further prizes and accolades. In 2005 the quartet received the Belmont Prize of the Forberg-Schneider Foundation, was a recipient of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2007, and in 2019 became the first ensemble to be honored with the Frankfurt Music Trade Fair Prize.
Alongside traditional repertoire, the quartet regularly explores other musical genres, as the New York Times made note of in 2009: “A String Quartet That Can Easily Morph Into a Jazz Band.” What began in 1999 as a bit of fun for the four young musicians at university - improvising on jazz standards and pop songs - became Quatuor Ébène's trademark. To date, the quartet has released three albums in these genres: Fiction (2010), Brazil (2014) and Eternal Stories (2017). Their ease in blending different styles creates a dynamic energy that enriches all aspects of their artistic work — a versatility that has been warmly embraced by audiences and critics alike from the beginning.
Quatuor Ébène's albums featuring Bartók, Beethoven, Debussy, Haydn, Fauré and the Mendelssohn siblings have received much acclaim, including awards from Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine and the Midem Classic Award. In 2015 & 2016, the musicians dedicated themselves to the theme of the “Lied”, seen through their collaboration with Philippe Jaroussky on the album “Green (Mélodies françaises)”. For their Schubert album, they collaborated with Matthias Goerne (featuring Lied arrangements for string quartet, baritone, and double bass by Raphaël Merlin) and with Gautier Capuçon (for the String Quintet in C major, D 956).
Together with Antoine Tamestit, Quatuor Ébène recorded Mozart’s string quintets K. 515 and K. 516, released in spring 2023. The album was honored with awards such as Choc de Classica, Diapason d'Or, and Gramophone’s Recording of the Month.
A major milestone in their career was the complete recording of Beethoven’s 16 string quartets. Between May 2019 and January 2020, the quartet recorded this cycle across six continents in a globe-spanning project. With this achievement, the four French musicians celebrated their 20th anniversary as a quartet, crowned with complete Beethoven cycles in leading venues such as the Philharmonie de Paris and Alte Oper Frankfurt. Their schedule also included appearances at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Verbier Festival, and the Wiener Konzerthaus.
In January 2021, the quartet was appointed by the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts to establish a string quartet class as part of the newly founded “Quatuor Ébène Academy”.
Since the 21/22 season, the quartet, together with the Belcea Quartet, has been curating a concert series at the Vienna Konzerthaus. In the 23/24 season it was resident ensemble at the Philharmonie Luxembourg, and from 22/23 to 24/25 it held the post of Quatuor en résidence à Radio France, with three concerts per season in Paris.
In January 2026, the Ébènes will open the String Quartet Biennale at the Philharmonie de Paris - again together with the Belcea Quartet - and conclude it with Absolute Jest by John Adams, performed with the Orchestre Français des Jeunes.
To mark the 40th anniversary of Suntory Hall, the quartet is set to present the complete Beethoven string quartet works in Tokyo. They will also begin new Beethoven cycles at venues including the Berlin Philharmonie, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and Wigmore Hall in London.
Instruments & bows
Pierre Colombet plays two violins: a 1717 Antonio Stradivari violin, the “Piatti”, kindly loaned by a generous sponsor through the Beare’s International Violin Society and a 1736 Matteo Goffriller violin generously loaned by Gabriele Forberg-Schneider as well as a bow by Charles Tourte (Paris, 19th century) also loaned by Gabriele Forberg-Schneider.
Gabriel Le Magadure plays two violins: a Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù (Cremona 1743/45) generously loaned by Serge and Florent Boyer luthiers, and a violin from around 1740 with a Guarneri label loaned by Gabriele Forberg-Schneider. He plays a bow by Dominique Pecatte (ca.1845) loaned by Gabriele Forberg-Schneider.
Marie Chilemme plays two violas : a 1734 Stradivarius, the “Gibson”, generously loaned by the “Stradivari-Stiftung Habisreutinger”, and a viola by Marcellus Hollmayr, Füssen (1625) loaned by Gabriele Forberg-Schneider.
Yuya Okamoto plays a cello by Giovanni Grancino, Milan, from 1682.
2025/2026
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