MODIGILIANI (string) QUARTET – November 10, 2016

The Modigiliani (string) Quartet, formed by four close friends in 2003, has become one of the world’s top string quartets, playing in venues like Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Washington DC’s Library of Congress, Maverick Festival, Seattle’s Meany Hall, Houston’s Friends of Chamber Music, Lanaudière Festival, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, Luxemburg’s Philharmonie, Zurich’s Tonhalle.

Only one year after they were formed, the Quartet attracted international attention in 2004 by winnin g the Frits Philips String Quartet competition in Eindhoven. The Quartet then took First Prize at the Vittorio Rimbotti competition in Florence in 2005 and won the Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York in 2006. Following their studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, the Modigliani Quartet studied with the Ysaÿe Quartet in Paris, attended masterclasses by Walter Levin and Gyorgy Kurtag, and then had the opportunity to work with the Artemis Quartet at the Universitat der Künste in Berlin.

In 2014, the Modigliani Quartet became Artistic Directors of the Rencontres Musicales d’Evian. After a 13-year pause, the festival, made famous by its former legendary artistic director Mstislav Rostropovich, and created in 1976 by Antoine Riboud, will start a new life through the joint efforts of the Evian Resort and the Modigliani Quartet. The first edition was a big and very promising success.

Thanks to the generosity and support of private sponsors the Modigliani Quartet plays on four outstanding Italian instruments.  Guillaume Sutre plays a violin made by Gregorio Antoniazzi, an enigmatic Venetial maker from the Eighteenth Century, Loic Rio plays a 1734 violin by Alessandro Gagliano, Laurent Marfaing plays a 1660 viola by Luigi Mariani, François Kieffer plays a 1706 cello by Matteo Goffriller (former”Warburg”).

The appearance of the Modigliani Quartet is sponsored, in part, by the Bramlage Family Foundation, and the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.  While in Joplin the Quartet will present two educational outreaches to local school students.  Outreach activity sponsored, in part, by the Rusty Smith Memorial Fund.

The public is invited to attend the concert at no charge – donations appreciated.