Distribution

Carole Petitdemange, Mi-sa Yang, violins
Yuko Hara, viola
Joëlle Martinez, cello

If Ardeo – in latin : I burn – is the name of this quartet, it’s also their motto when they play their repertoire ; their success shows it is a good choice. The Ardeo Quartet was formed in 2001 at the Paris Conservatoire National (CNSM), and today it has become one of the most highly praised and enthusiastically applauded French chamber music ensembles.

The perfect artistic cohesion of the quartet is based on unrelenting work and the reigning spirit of harmony and complicity between its members. The exceptional qualities of the group have been acknowledged by numerous prizes in international string quartet and chamber music competitions in Moscow (Shostakovich), Bordeaux, Paris (FNAPEC), Melbourne and Bologna (Premio Paolo Borciani).

Beyond the teaching they received at the CNSM in Paris, the Ardeo Quartet further perfected its art with Rainer Schmidt of the Hagen Quartet at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, and also benefited from advice in master classes from such masters as the Hagen Quartet and the Fine Arts Quartet, P.L.Aimard, W.Levin, G.Pichler, P.Katz, A.Meunier, E.Feltz, G.Takacs, A.Keller, A.Brendel...

This training and its success in competitions has led the Ardeo Quartet to perform in famous venues and festivals in Europe : Santander (ESP), Kuhmo (FIN), Geneva Summer Festival, Casino de Bâle and Davos Festival (CH), Lockenhaus and Attersee (A), Radialsystem Berlin, Schleswig- Holstein Musikfestival and Beethovenfest Bonn (GER), Ohrid Summer Festival (MAC), Bologna Festival, Amici della Musica Firenze, Elba Isola Musicale d'Europa and Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venice (IT), Prussia Cove (UK), Christmas in the Kremlin (RU)...

Nominated « Rising Stars », the Ardeo Quartet has been selected by the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) to tour across famous venues as Philharmonies of Cologne, Paris and Luxembourg, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Palais des Beaux Arts Bruxelles, Townhall Birmingham, Konzerthaus Vienna and Dortmund, Laeiszthalle Hamburg, Konserthus Stockholm, Megaron Athens, Auditori Barcelona, Casa da Musica Porto, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian Lisbon, Palace of Arts Budapest, Barbican Centre Londres, Festspielhaus Baden Baden.

In France, it has been heard at almost all important festivals and concert halls as Cité de la musique, Orsay Museum, Centre Georges Pompidou, Assemblée Nationale, Paris’ théâtres of Châtelet, Mogador and Bouffes du nord, Salle Cortot, Orangerie de Sceaux, Radio France Montpellier, Comminges, Deauville, Entrecasteaux, Colmar, Pays de Faïence, Moments Musicaux de La Baule, Flâneries de Reims, Septembre musical de l'Orne, Cordes-sur-Ciel, Musique en Périgord, Arsenal Metz, Opera of Vichy, Archipel Fouesnant, Quatuor à l’Ouest Crozon, Aspects d’aujourd’hui Caen, Nuits Romantiques du Lac du Bourget, Folle Journée de Nantes that led it directly to the Folle Journée Festival in Japan...

The Ardeo Quartet also enjoys the privilege of sharing the stage with prestigious musicians : Adam Laloum, Noam Greenberg, Matan Porat, Luis Fernando Perez, Victor-Julien Laferrière, Thomas Demenga, David Kadouch, Bertrand Chamayou, Laurent Cabasso, Marie-Josephe Jude, Jérôme Ducros, Renaud Capuçon, Henri Demarquette, Jérôme Pernoo, Alain Meunier, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Nicolas Bone, Evgeni Koroliov, Mario Brunello, Christoph Richter, Paul Katz, Reto Bieri, Michel Portal David Violi, Aaron Pilsan…

Very interested in contemporary composition, the Ardeo Quartet has worked in close collaboration with composers such as Jonathan Harvey, Edith Canat de Chizy, Kaija Saariaho, Pascal Dusapin, François Meïmoun and Philippe Schoeller…

It was in residence at the Singer-Polignac Foundation in Paris from 2008 to 2016, and has taken part in ProQuartet’s professional trainings for ten tears.

Fervently committed to the transmission and sharing of chamber music, the Ardeo Quartet has been giving regular classes in schools in Paris, as well as masterclasses in conservatories in Toulouse, Creteil and Hamburg.

The Ardeo Quartet recorded its first CD, widely acclaimed by international critics, in 2007 : the world premiere of the first two quartets by Charles Koechlin. In 2010 Transart Live brought out Ardeo’s live performance of the Shostakovich quintet with the pianist David Kadouch. This fruitful collaboration gave rise to another recording, this time with Decca : the Schumann quintet. In 2014, with Empreinte Digitale, and thanks to the support of the French Romantic Music Center Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venice, the Ardeo Quartet presented as world premiere three quartets of the french-czech composer Anton Reicha.

A recording of Bach Goldberg Variations in a transcription for string quartet by François Meïmoun will be released in 2018 on the label IBS Classic.

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