French string quartet, winner of several competitions. Its 2009 Haydn CD won Gramophone and ECHO Klassik prizes and Record of the Year for its Debussy, Ravel and Fauré CD.
3^rd LMMC concert.

Pierre Colombet - violin      Adrien Boisseau - viola
Gabriel Le Masgadure - violin      Raphaël Merlin - cello

Described by The New York Times as “a string quartet that can easily morph into a jazz band”, the Quatuor Ebène is distinguished by its versatility in playing not only classical masterpieces but contemporary music and jazz as well. The quartet also interprets and arranges popular music with great success. Within a decade of its founding in 1999 at the Conservatoire in Boulogne-Billancourt, the Quatuor Ebène transformed from a talented but youthful and virtually unknown string quartet to a highly respected ensemble with a prestigious recording contract and a touring schedule that included regular performances at major concert venues across Europe, Asia and North America. In 2004, the four young musicians won first prize at the prestigious ARD International Competition in Munich; the following year they won the Belmont Prize from the Forberg-Schneider Foundation, and in 2010 a Victoire de la Musique Classique. In 2008 the ensemble made its first recording under a new association with Virgin Classics, a disc of quartets by Debussy, Ravel and Fauré; this won them the 2009 Gramophone award for Record of the Year. Quatuor Ebène’s first all-crossover album was issued by Virgin Classics in 2010, a disc that featured arrangements of such numbers as “Somewhere over the Rainbow” and “Streets of Philadelphia”. Since the Ebène was last in Montreal, three seasons ago, they have acquired a new violist, and have released several new discs, including one with soprano Natalie Dessay and one with legendary pianist Menahem Pressler. 3^rd LMMC concert.

PROGRAMME:

MOZART           String Quartet in D minor, K. 421 (1783)
(1756-1791)            Allegro
                                Andante
                                Menuetto:  Allegretto
                                Allegretto ma non troppo

BEETHOVEN   String Quartet in F minor, Opus 95 ‘Serioso’ (1810)
(1770-1827)           Allegro con brio
                               Allegretto ma non troppo
                               Allegro assai vivace ma serioso
                               Larghetto espressivo - Allegretto agitato

RAVEL               String Quartet in F major (1903)
(1875-1937)           Allegro moderato
                               Assez vif
                               Très lent
                               Vif et agité

www.warnerclassics.com/quatuor-ebene