Formed in 2005, the Chiaroscuro Quartet consists of the violinists Alina Ibragimova (Russia) and Pablo Hernán Benedí (Spain), the Swedish violist Emilie Hörnlund and cellist Claire Thirion from France. Dubbed ‘a trailblazer for the authentic performance of High Classical chamber music’ in Gramophone, this highly international ensemble performs music of the Classical period on gut strings. The quartet’s unique sound – described in The Observer as ‘a shock to the ears of the best kind’ – is highly acclaimed by audiences and critics all over Europe, and is the fruit of its lithe and gracious playing combined with an extraordinarily committed ensemble mentality. An acclaimed and growing discography includes recordings of music by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn.
The Chiaroscuro Quartet was a prizewinner at the German Förderpreis Deutschlandfunk/Musikfest Bremen in 2013 and received Germany’s most prestigious CD award, the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, in 2015. Among the ensemble’s chamber music partners are renowned artists such as Kristian Bezuidenhout, Nicolas Baldeyrou, Chen Halevi, Trevor Pinnock, Malcolm Bilson, Jonathan Cohen and Christophe Coin.
Since 2009, the Chiaroscuro Quartet has been artist-in-residence at Port Royal-des-Champs, giving a concert series dedicated to Mozart’s string quartets. Among other leading chamber music venues and festivals where the quartet performs and holds residences are the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Aldeburgh and Edinburgh Festivals, Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Sendesaal Bremen and the West Cork Festival.
For more information, please visit the Chiaroscuro Quartet's homepage.
