Quatuor Van Kuijk & Adrien La Marca
Biography Quatuor Van Kuijk & Adrien La Marca
Quatuor Van Kuijk
The Van Kuijk Quartet’s international accolades boast First, Best Beethoven, and Best Haydn Prizes at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet competition; First Prize, and an Audience Award at the Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition; as well as becoming laureates of the Aix-en-Provence Festival Academy. They were BBC New Generation Artists from 2015-17, as well as ECHO Rising Stars for the 2017-18 season.
Following such high success early in their career, the ensemble is an established presence at major international venues, performing at the Wigmore Hall, London; Philharmonie de Paris, Auditorium du Louvre, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and Salle Gaveau, Paris; Tonhalle, Zurich; Wiener Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Vienna; Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Berliner Philharmonie; Kölner Philharmonie; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Gulbenkian, Lisbon; Tivoli Concert Series, Denmark; Konserthuset Stockholm; and at festivals including the BBC Proms, Cheltenham, Heidelberg, Lockenhaus, Davos, Verbier, Aix-en-Provence, Montpellier/Radio France, Evian, Auvers-sur-Oise, Stavanger and Trondheim (Norway), Concentus Moraviae (Czech Republic), Haydn/Esterházy (Hungary), and Eilat (Israel).
Upcoming tours will see the Quartet make highly anticipated debuts at the Carnegie Hall in New York City, Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centre and UKARIA in Australia, and Shanghai Symphony Hall.
The Van Kuijk Quartet records exclusively for Alpha Classics. Their debut recording, Mozart, was released to outstanding critical acclaim - CHOC de Classica, DIAPASON D'OR DECOUVERTE. Following celebrated discs of Debussy and Ravel, and Schubert, they return their exploration of Mozart with two further releases this season. The first features the String Quartets K421 and K387, and the second presents the Viola Quintets K515 and K516 with Adrien La Marca.
The Van Kuijk Quartet was resident at Proquartet, Paris, where they studied with members of the Alban Berg, Artemis, and Hagen quartets. Having taken their first steps as students of the Ysaye Quartet, the quartet have since worked with Günter Pichler at the Escuela Superior de Mùsica Reina Sofia in Madrid, supported generously by the International Institute of Chamber Music, Madrid.
The Van Kuijk Quartet is supported by Pirastro and SPEDIDAM and is grateful to Mécénat Musical Société Générale for their sponsorship.
Adrien La Marca
Hailed by The Financial Times as “a truly pure talent” and described by Le Monde as “a new viola hero”, Adrien La Marca’s playing is characterised by a depth of expression, sense of individuality and technical mastery, alongside with a charismatic stage presence and ability to create an immediate emotional connection with his audience.
Winner of French “Victoires de la Musique” in 2014 in the Revelation category, La Marca performed since then in prestigious venues such as Paris Philharmonie, London Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, Vienna Musikverein, Auditorium du Louvre, Schloss Elmau, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Théâtre de la Ville de Paris, Salle Gaveau, Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Schubertiades Hohenems. He collaborates with renowned orchestras such as Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hong-Kong Sinfonietta, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Les Siècles.
His first album, “English Delight”, released in 2016 for the Label La Dolce Volta, has been fully acclaimed by the press (The Strad, Gramophone, Strings Magazine, Le Monde, Le Figaro, Diapason, Classica, etc. ) and awarded by Diapason d'OR, FFFF Telerama, Coup de Coeur FNAC, France Musique, Radio Classique and Gramophone’s choice. His coming recording projects include Walton Viola Concerto with Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, a World Premiere of Gwenaël Mario Grisi’s Viola Concerto written for him and Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet, first time ever recorded for solo viola and orchestra.
Born in France in 1989 to a family of musicians, Adrien La Marca began playing piano and viola at the age of 4 in Aix-en-Provence. He entered Paris Conservatoire at 16 and studied with Jean Sulem. He then completed his studies in Leipzig with Tatjana Masurenko and in Berlin with Tabea Zimmermann. During his studies, Adrien was regulary invited to take part in different Musical Academies and had the opportunity to work with inspiring musicians like Seiji Ozawa, Valery Gergiev, Gidon Kremer, Andras Schiff and Menahem Pressler. In 2016, La Marca is the first classical musician to receive the prestigious “Fondation Lagardère” Grant. He is a winner of the “Fondation Banque Populaire” and supported by “L’Or du Rhin” and the "Safran" Foundation. He won numerous prizes in international competitions including William Primrose Competition, Lionel Tertis Competition and Johannes Brahms Competition.
La Marca plays a viola by Nicola Bergonzi made in Cremona in 1780, on generous loan from the BOUBO Music Foundation.
In 2010, Adrien was selected by Gidon Kremer to take part in the Chamber Music Connects the World programme where he performed alongside Andras Schiff, Yuri Bashmet, Frans Helmerson and Gidon Kremer.
