Michel Dalberto / Novus Quartet CÉSAR FRANCK Piano Works - Quintet

Vlado Perlemuter and Jean Hubeau's pupil, Michel Dalberto has established himself during a forty-year career as a master. And as an ardent defender of French music he launched on Aparté record label a serie dedicated to Debussy, Fauré, Franck and Ravel. "These recording of works of the four major French composers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, I wish to prove myself worthy of the teachers who used to provide a specific idea of French music made of severity and sensuality, a mixture of rigour and freedom." After a first opus devoted to Debussy (and rewarded with a Diapason d'Or), and a second to Fauré (also rewarded with a Diapason d'Or), Michel Dalberto chose the Salle Philharmonique in Liège to record the third part of this collection – that is to say in César Franck's home town. To complete this artistic experience, a video recording was also made as a living testimony of the French piano tradition.

Novus Quartet / Lise Berthaud / Ophélie Gaillard TCHAIKOVSKY String Quartet No. 1 - Souvenir de Florence

After an audacious label and album debut dedicated to Webern, Beethoven and Yun, the young musicians of the Novus Quartet interpret with passion two essential works from Tchaikovsky's chamber music: the First Quartet and the Sextet 'Souvenir de Florence' aided and abetted by two guests, cellist Ophélie Gaillard and viola player Lise Berthaud.

These two works, milestones in the career of the composer (the first written in 1871; the second in 1887), show Tchaikovsky's inclination for popular melodies. Clarity and technique serving musical expression, the fiery strings of the Novus Quartet spread a warm, homogenous sound that invites melancholy, in the slow movements, and paints the exultation of Tchaikovsky's poetic universe.

Novus Quartet 3 # 1 Webern - Beethoven - Yun

From the first note showed the Novus String Quartet mature musicality and sensitivity both in the formation of the ensemble sound." (Süddeutsche Zeitung)

"This ensemble's playing is incredibly solid and well-balanced. All four musicians perform at the same level and their music-making is enthralling." (Lukas Hagen)

It was with these words that Lukas Hagen, first violinist of the renowned Hagen Quartett, described the four musicians' artistic quality after their performance at the International Mozart Competition, held in Salzburg in February 2014, where Hagen was the Head of the Jury. The quartet went on to win First Prize at the Competition.

Established at the Korean National University of Arts in 2007, the Novus String Quartet is one of the leading chamber music ensembles in Korea.

Since the quartet’s triumph at the prestigious ARD International Chamber Music Competition in Munich in 2012, where it was awarded Second Prize, the Novus String Quartet has gained steady recognition in Europe. In February 2014, the four Koreans won First Prize at the Mozart String Quartet Competition, chaired by Lukas Hagen of the Hagen Quartett, in Salzburg.

One year after its founding, the quartet celebrated inaugural success at the International Chamber Music Competition Osaka, where the musicians were awarded Third Prize, the same prize they received in 2009 at the Chamber Music Competition in Lyon and 2012 at the International Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna.

In 2010, the quartet was the first chamber music ensemble to be featured on the list of promising musicians of the year by the music magazine Auditorium. Since then, the quartet has performed concerts internationally, lauded by audiences and critics alike.

The Novus String Quartet studies under Professors Christoph Poppen and Hariolf Schlichtig at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich.

In 2013, the Novus String Quartet’s international engagements took them to the Haydn Music Festival, Salle Molière in Lyon, Chamber Music Hall in Berlin’s Philharmonie, Schwetzinger Festspiele and the Carnegie Hall in New York. The quartet’s South American tour, as part of the Credomatic International Music Festival, featured highly acclaimed concerts in such cities as El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama.