Quatuor Ébène Have Returned From Sabbatical

The group's last performance was in December 2020

Photo Credit: Julien Mignot

French string quartet Quatuor Ébène has returned to live performance, having taken a ten-month sabbatical over the course of 2021.

The group's first concert took place at the Philharmonie Luxembourg and featured works by Haydn, Janáček, and Robert Schumann.

During this past year, the group spent time as visiting professors at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, where they taught string quartets and trios made up of postgraduate students in the chamber music program.

Additionally, the sabbatical has presented the opportunity for the group to take on some recording projects. On October 15, the quartet released their most recent album, "Round Midnight: Dutilleux, Merlin, Schönberg." Released on Warner Classics, the disc features works by twentieth-century composers which center around the theme of the night.

On "Round Midnight," the quartet are joined by violist Antoine Tamestit and cellist Nicolas Altstaedt for Schönberg's "Verklärte Nacht." The pair also feature on the group's recording of "Night Bridge," a new work by Quatuor Ébène's cellist Raphaël Merlin. The piece was inspired by four different jazz standards by Thelonius Monk, Cole Porter, Henry Mancini, and Victor Young.