Formed in 2005, the Chiaroscuro Quartet performs music of the Classical period on gut stringed instruments and with a historical approach. Their lithe and gracious playing combined with an extraordinary committed ensemble mentality forms its unique sound, which is highly acclaimed by audiences all over Europe.
Recent engagements included their enthusiastically received debut concert at the Edinburgh International Festival, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Auditorio Nacional de Música Madrid, Music Festival Grafenegg and performances in Germany and Belgium. Other highlights in the past took the ensemble to London’s Wigmore Hall, York Early Music Centre, The Sage Gateshead (recorded for BBC Radio 3),
Auditorium du Louvre Paris, Théâtre du Jeu-de-Paume in Aix-en-Provence, Grand Théâtre de Dijon, Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon and a residency in Aldeburgh. In 2013, the Chiaroscuro Quartet was awarded with the Förderpreis of the German radio station Deutschlandfunk in collaboration with Musikfest Bremen.
Following their critically acclaimed debut album in 2011, the Quartet released its second recording for the French label Aparté in April 2013. The CD, including masterpieces by Beethoven (op.95) and Mozart (K 428) received four out of four possible f in the French magazine Télérama and was awarded the highest possible rating for Germany’s major chamber music magazine Ensemble. A third recording will be released in early 2015 including Mendelssohn’s string quartet No. 2, op. 13 in A-minor.
The Chiaroscuro Quartet regularly collaborates with clarinetist Nicolas Baldeyrou and cellist Christophe Coin to play quintets by Schubert and Weber. Together with forte-pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout, the quartet will be performing Mozart’s piano quartets and concerto arrangements for string quartet in Europe’s leading concert halls including Konzerthaus Vienna or Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.
In the season 2014/2015, the Chiaroscuro Quartet will appear on stage of Warsaw Philharmonic, Istanbul’s Sanat Culture Center, Sendesaal Bremen, Konzerthaus Vienna and the Brühler Schlosskonzerte near Cologne amongst others.
Since 2009 the Quartet has held a residency at Port-Royal-des-Champs dedicated to performing Mozart’s string quartets.