Sincerity, refinement, and sensibility are probably the terms that best describe the Hermès Quartet.
Those qualities, noticed at an early stage by Miguel da Silva and the
Ravel and Ysaÿe quartets, were developed and confirmed with the
guidance of Eberhard Feltz, the Artemis Quartet, and members of the
Alban Berg Quartet.
In 2009, just a year after its formation at the Conservatoire
National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon, the quartet won First Prize at
the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition, in addition to the
Audience Prize and the SACEM Prize, thanks notably to its interpretation
of Henri Dutilleux’s Quartet Ainsi la nuit. The magic touch was in
evidence again in 2011, when it was awarded First Prize at the
prestigious Geneva International Competition. In the same year the group
received prizes from the Académie Maurice Ravel and the Fondation
Charles Oulmont.
In November 2012, to cap what was already a series of outstanding achievements, came the supreme accolade of the Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York, where the four French musicians, competing with more than 300 candidates from all over the world, won a First Prize that opened the doors of the foremost American concert halls.
In November 2012, to cap what was already a series of outstanding achievements, came the supreme accolade of the Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York, where the four French musicians, competing with more than 300 candidates from all over the world, won a First Prize that opened the doors of the foremost American concert halls.
The sensibility of its youthful musicians and the high standards they
set themselves have enabled the Hermès Quartet in a few short years to
acquire an exceptional degree of maturity and embark on a highly
promising career. Its engagements now include tours of the United States
(autumn 2013 and spring 2015), China (June 2014), Japan, and Egypt, and
of course appearances at many leading festivals and venues in France
and elsewhere in Europe (Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium), among
them the Lockenhaus Festival, the Festival de l’Orangerie de Sceaux,
the Festival de Radio France et de Montpellier, the Printemps des Arts
de Monte-Carlo, the Crescendo Festival in Berlin, and the Auditorium du
Louvre and Cité de la musique in Paris.
This busy schedule provides the members with the ideal opportunity to share their passion for the brilliant and deeply human repertoire of the string quartet.
This busy schedule provides the members with the ideal opportunity to share their passion for the brilliant and deeply human repertoire of the string quartet.