Ebène Quartet returns for nine-city North American tour March 2-18
The thrilling, young, and award-winning Ebène Quartet – described by the New York Times as “a string quartet that can easily morph into a jazz band” – returns to North America in March for concerts and master classes that will showcase repertoire from two recent releases on Virgin Classics: Dissonances, an all-Mozart album, and Fiction – Live at Folies Bergère, a concert DVD filmed at one of Paris’s most famous music halls. Performances begin in San Diego (March 2), with stops in San Francisco (March 8), New Orleans (March 14), and New York City, where they will make their Carnegie/Zankel Hall debut (March 18). Ebène also furthers its commitment to music education with a series of master classes at the Colburn School in Los Angeles (March 5-7). A complete list of tour cities and programs follows below.
Ebène’s fast-growing presence in the U.S. was heightened this fall when NPR named Fiction, the quartet’s 2011 Virgin Classics release, one of their 10 Favorite Classical Albums of 2011 as well as one of their overall 50 Best Albums of the year. Autumn also saw the release of two new recordings from the Paris-based quartet on Virgin Classics, for whom they record exclusively. The first, Dissonances – described by the Los Angeles Times as “exquisite” – takes its name from the strikingly modern harmonies that open the first movement of the C-major “Haydn” quartet (K. 465); the album also features the composer’s K. 421 “Haydn” quartet and the Divertimento (K. 138). The second recording, Fiction – Live at Folies Bergère, is a concert DVD filmed at one of Paris’s most famous music halls and spotlights music the quartet describes as being performed by “the other Ebène”: works by the Beatles (“Come Together”), Wayne Shorter (“Footprints”), and the quartet’s already talked-about spin on “Misirlou,” a tune made famous by its inclusion in the film Pulp Fiction. After an October performance in California, the Los Angeles Times’s Mark Swed raved, “Ebène is a quartet to catch sooner rather than later.” In addition to Mozart’s “Dissonance” Quartet and music from Fiction, Ebène’s March concerts will encompass music by Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Mendelssohn, Ravel, Schubert, and Tchaikovsky.
The Ebène Quartet rose to international prominence when their debut recording for Virgin Classics, featuring quartets by Debussy, Ravel, and Fauré, won Gramophone’s coveted Recording of the Year (2009). Since then, the young quartet has gone on to further acclaim, not only for its extraordinary interpretation of classical repertoire but also for its genre-bending forays into jazz and popular music. NPR Music sums up the group’s unique strengths, stating:
“We are fortunate to have a clutch of young, extremely talented string quartets in action today. … But none except the Ebène Quartet can sing four-part harmony on tunes like ‘Someday My Prince Will Come,’ improvise solos on standards like ‘Nature Boy,’ shred with conviction on the surf-rock classic ‘Misirlou,’ and uncover the unique sound world of Fauré, Debussy, and Ravel.”
Ebène’s next recording project for Virgin Classics, due for release this year, will focus on quartets by a pair of famous 19th century siblings: Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn.
A video of Ebène playing “Misirlou” at the Verbier Festival is available here, and an excerpt of Stacey Kent singing “Corcovado” with Ebène at the Folies Bergère is available here.
Ebène Quartet: March 2012 tour dates in North America
March 2
San Diego, CA
UC San Diego
Mozart: String Quartet in D minor, K. 421
Borodin: String Quartet No. 2
Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80
March 3
Costa Mesa, CA
Segerstrom Center for the Arts
Mozart: String Quartet in D minor, K. 421
Borodin: String Quartet No. 2
Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80
March 4
Eugene, OR
Mozart: String Quartet in D minor, K. 421
Schubert: Quartet in A minor, Op. 29, No. 1, D. 804, “Rosamunde”
Tchaikovsky: Quartet in D Major, Op. 11, “Accordion”
March 5-7
Los Angeles, CA
Colburn School
Master classes
March 8
San Francisco, CA
Herbst Theater
Mozart: String Quartet in D minor, K. 421
Borodin: String Quartet No. 2
Ravel: String Quartet in F major
March 10
Edmonton, Canada
Convocation Hall
Mozart: String Quartet in D minor, K. 421
Borodin: String Quartet No. 2
March 11-12
Calgary, Canada
Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall
Mozart: String Quartet in D minor, K. 421
Borodin: String Quartet No. 2
March 14
New Orleans, LA
New Orleans Friends of Music
Mozart: String Quartet in D minor, K. 421
Borodin: String Quartet No. 2
Jazz improvisations
March 18
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall debut)
Jazz improvisations
Mozart: String Quartet in D minor, K. 421
Beethoven: String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131
For further information:
Visit EMI Classics’ YouTube channel for video previews of many of its new and recent releases: www.youtube.com/user/emiclassics.
Contacts:
Glenn Petry, 21C Media Group: (212) 625-2038, [email protected]
Andrew Ousley, EMI Classics: (212) 786-8607, [email protected]
www.quatuorebene.com