Various Artists - César Franck
Biography Various Artists - César Franck
Karski Quartet
Rapidly gaining recognition on the international music scene for its passionate interpretations of works ranging from Haydn to 21st century repertoire, the Karski Quartet was formed in Belgium in 2018 and performs in a wide range of venues throughout Europe. Highlights of the 2021/22 season include a debut recital at Flagey in Brussels, a performance at the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam, and the premiere of a new CD album with music by Enescu, Ravel and Debussy, recorded with Philippe Graffin and Traces Festival Ensemble. The quartet’s founding members are violinists Kaja Nowak and Natalia Kotarba, violinist and violist Diede Verpoest and cellist Julia Kotarba. Having played with one another in many different combinations, the four met as a quartet during the 2018 Resonances Festival Academy. Soon after they were awarded the Grand Prix as well as the Special Prize for the alumni of the Royal Conservatory in Brussels at the 4th International Music Competition Triomphe de l’Art in Brussels. Since the inception of the quartet their mentors have been David Waterman, Philippe Graffin and Amy Norrington. From January 2019 through March 2020 the Karskis were the resident ensemble in the String Quartet Studio programme at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, working closely with Donald Grant (Elias Quartet), Petr Prause (Talich Quartet), Pavel Fischer (ex - Škampa Quartet) and Simon Rowland-Jones (ex – Chilingirian Quartet). They were also one of the first ensembles to take part in the ECMAster, a new Master study programme specially dedicated to chamber music and coordinated by the European Chamber Music Academy. The Karskis were awarded the highest distinction for their final recital at the RNCM in summer 2021. At present the quartet is Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo/Brussels, studying with members of the Artemis Quartet and Miguel da Silva. The quartet has also been selected to join Le Dimore del Quartetto network and is one of the three groups invited to participate in the 2022 Amsterdam String Quartet Biennale Residency.
Trio Ernest
Founded in 2019 in Geneva, the Trio Ernest performs regularly in Switzerland and throughout Europe. The Trio Ernest is an ensemble in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in the class of Miguel da Silva, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden and the Artemis Quartet. It has already won six international prizes, including the Pro Musicis Prize (Paris), the first prize of the Verao Classico Chamber Music Award (Lisbon) and the Orpheus Competition (Zürich). The Trio has been a ProQuartet resident since October 2020. In June 2021 it will join the European Chamber Music Academy and work regularly with Patrick Jüdt.
The three musicians explore the piano trio repertoire with passion and creativity in concert series such as Bozar Next Generation (Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels), the Swiss Chamber Music Festival, the Ravel Festival, Les Schubertiades de Sion, the Verao Classico Festival, Les Matinées Musicales d'Arles, Puplinge Classique, Les Moments Musicaux de Chalosse, Ponticello, the Festival Romantique du Loir, as well as in original projects for which they are artistic directors. This approach leads them to collaborate regularly with artists such as Noémie Bialobroda (Aviv Quartet), Ophélie Gaillard, Patrick Genet (Sine Nomine Quartet), Patrick Jüdt, Stephan MacLeod, Gabriel Pidoux, Miguel da Silva, Manuel Vioque-Judde, the Juventutti Orchestra or with the composer Carlos Roque Alsina, whose piece "Quasi Figurativo" they premiered in October 2020.
These various appearances have been greeted with enthusiasm by the media: [TTT] Télérama Sortir "Un beau voyage", "Jeune formation en plein essor" RTS Culture, "Les Suisses du Trio Ernest ont mis le feu au lac" (The Swiss of the Ernest Trio set the lake on fire) Clément Rochefort - France Musique, "The complicity of this trio could be felt during the performance, happy to share the music with a captivated audience", Julien Lucas - La Presse de la Manche, etc.
The Trio also benefits from the advice of the Trio Wanderer and Claire Désert at the Académie Ravel and during the ProQuartet training sessions. It has been selected to participate in the Le Dimore Del Quartetto programme in Italy.
Quartetto Adorno
In 2017 Quartetto Adorno won the Third Prize (First Prize not awarded), the Special Prize for the best performance of a contemporary piece and the Public’s Prize at the International String Quartet Competition “XI Premio Paolo Borciani”. During the thirty-year history of the Competition, no Italian quartet had such an important recognition.
In 2018 Quartetto Adorno is the winner of the X International Competition for String Quartet “V. E. Rimbotti” and they also becomes associate artist in residence at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth in Brussels. In 2019 Quartetto Adorno received the prestigious Prize “Una vita nella musica giovani 2019”.
From 2019 Quartetto Adorno is supported by CIDIM.
Quartetto Adorno was founded in 2015: their name is a tribute to the great philosopher Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno who, in an age of musical and social decline, saw chamber music as the only path to salvation. Adorno claimed that this genre kept the relationship between human beings and music authentic, upholding values such as respect and a desire of perfection.
Despite their recent foundation, the Quartetto Adorno has already performed for important promoters such as “London Chamber Music Society Series at Kings Place” and “Wigmore Hall” London, “Ravenna Festival”, “La Società dei Concerti” Milan, “Fondazione I Teatri” Reggio Emilia, MITO Festival, “Unione Musicale” Turin, Festival di Portogruaro, “Fazioli Concert Hall” Sacile, “Podium für junge Solisten” Tegernsee, “ACM Chamber Music” Trieste, “Amici della Musica” Perugia,“Festival Musique Chalosse” France, “Allegro Vivo Festival” Altenburg,“Musica Insieme” Bologna, “Amici della Musica” Campobasso, ”Amici della Musica” Firenze, “Appassionata Festival” Macerata, “Società del Quartetto” Bergamo ,“Micat in Vertice – Fondazione Chigiana” Siena, “Associazione Scarlatti” Naples, MUCH Brussels, “Soireès Musicales” Grimaud, “Fondazione Cini” Venezia, “Musikerlebnis” Munich, “Amici della Musica” Padova, “Richmond Concert Society” London.
Important collaborations include great artists such as P. Badura-Skoda, G. Bandini, E. Bronzi, B. Canino, A. Carbonare, F. Di Rosa, S. Gramaglia, L. Lortie, F. Meloni, P. Meyer, A. Oliva, F. Ragghianti, G. Sollima.
In 2019 the first CD is published by the Label Decca Italia with the A. von Zemlinsky No. 3 String Quartet and the J. Brahms Clarinet Quintet Op. 115 together with Alessandro Carbonare.
In 2019/20/21 they are engaged in the performance of the complete L van Beethoven quartets at “Associazione Musicale Lucchese”, “Viotti Festival” in Vercelli, “Amici della Musica” in Cagliari,”Festival di Musica da Camera” Urbino, “Musikamera” at Sale Apollinee in Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
