Le Quatuor de Chartres
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Presentation
The renown of the Chartres Quartet comes from, and is the result of, a deep mutual understanding among these four musicians and friends, brought together in1984 by thier passion for repertoir of the 18th to 20th centuries. They are therefore open to contemporary works, some of which have been dedicated to them.
This inclination of theirs for diversity has led them to become more and more associated with other performers who suggest works that then turn their group into anything from a quintet all the way to an octet. The Chartres Quartet also likes to become involved with young audiences by providing internships for chamber music.
The four companions’ mutual understanding and the pleasure they take in playing is now greeted with universal approval from audiences and critics alike. This can be seen during the concerts that the Chartres Quartet performs in France as well as during their tours abroad.
The Chartres Quartet has performed several times at Musicora and during the following festivals: the Mirecourt String Festival, the European Music and Musicians Festival, the Chichester Festival, the Festival of Barcelona, the Lyrica Days and Musical Saturdays of Chartres, Grenoble’s SummerFest, and the Music Blossom Festival of Auvignon. The group has been on tour in England, Germany, Spain, Ethiopia, Holland, Indonesia, Namibia, Canada, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Madagascar, Réunion, the Seychelles, the Comores, the Caribbean. The Chartres Quartet has participated in many television and radio programs.
The musicians
Patrice Legrand : First violin, founding member of the Chartres Quartet
Patrice Legrand started playing violin at the age of 8. He continued his studies at the National Conservatory of Versailles, then at the National Conservatory for Advanced Study in Music in Paris, where he was named a laureate, at the age of 15, in Michèle Auclair’s class. He began a career at a very young age that took him throughout France and the world with some of the most prestigious performing groups around, such as the Orchestral Ensemble of Paris, the Intercontemporanean Ensemble, the Camerata de Versaille, the Opera of Lyons where he was violin soloist, and the Septentrion (North) Ensemble.
In 1984 Patrick Legrand founded the Chartres Quartet. He has recorded often with the group and has had a number of prizewinning works.
These various activities enabled him to perform in numerous concerts with well-known musicians such as Mstislav Rostropovitch, Henrik Szerying, Seji Ozawa, Pierre Boulez, and Jean-Claude Pennetier, among others.
A passionate teacher, he is a tenured professor and has taught at the National School of Music and Dance in Saint-Brieuc, the National Conservatory of Rennes and the National School of Music and Dance in Chartres. A professor who has earned numerous teaching qualifications, he has also taught violin at the Conservatory of the 19th arrondissement in Paris. Patrice Legrand is currently an instructor and administrator at the Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art in Lucé, near Chartres.
Robert Aribaud : Second violin, member of the quartet since its founding
Robert Aribaud began studying the violin at age 7. He continued his studies at the accredited Municipal Conservatory in Narbonne, the Municipal Conservatory of music in Séte, and then the National Conservatory for the Toulouse region where, in 1970, he won first prize by unanimous vote, as well as a chamber music medal.
He advanced his performance skills at the prestigious Ecole Normale for Music in Paris where he earned in 1972 his degree in concert performance. At the same time as he fulfilled his responsibilities as member of the quartet, he has also pursued a career as violinist in the Orchestra of the Republican Guard of Paris, which plays at official occasions.
Marc-Antoine Chomet : Viola, member of the quartet since 1998
Born in 1960, Marc-Antoine Chomet pursued his studies at the Ecole Normale for Music in Paris in the class of Tasso Adamopoulos, where he earned his degree in concert performance in 1984. He soon thereafter began working with Rainer Moog and Serge Collot.
With academic credentials entitling him to hold a position as a professor of music, he currently teaches viola in the municipal schools of music in Plaisir and in Villejuif, both near Paris. In conjunction with his performance schedule with the quartet, Marc-Antoine Chomet participates in a number of concerts with a variety of different musical groups from Paris, including the Musical Workshop (l’Atelier musical) of Ville d’Avray and the Jean Walter Audoli Ensemble, for whom he is solo viola player.
Philippe Pennanguer : Cello, member of the quartet since 1989
Also born in 1960, Philippe Pennanguer pursued his studies at the National Conservatory of Aubervilliers in Erwin Fauré’s class. He then attended the National Conservatory for Advanced Study in Music in Paris, where he was recipient of first prize for cello and chamber music in Jean-Marie Gamard and Bruno Pasquier’s classes. Since 1984, he has been a member of the Orchestra of the Republican Guard in Paris.
At the same time as he pursues his own instrumental career, which takes him throughout France and abroad to perform in chamber music concerts, he devotes himself to teaching the cello as well.
In the Press
Not only does the Chartres Quartet assure, with clearly conveyed conviction, that recordings of thier work become available, they also evince a cohesion and professionalism that puts them in good standing among other French quartets.
Gérard Conde / Le Monde de la Musique
The Chartres Quartet proposes for us a strong, contrasting vision of the “Seven Words of Christ on the Cross,” which is also very much engaged mystically. Their lucid, intelligent, and sensitive performance comes, in effect, somewhere between the sorrowful resignation of the Kuijken recording and the near constant atmosphere of revolt in the Talish recording... A notion with human logic and very firmly defended by the ensemble, the cohesion of which from one album to the next constantly reinforces itself.
Jean Dupart / Diapason
The Quartet of Jean Cras is a score that requires from the performers a long period of patient and persistent familiarization. The members of the Chartres Quartet have taken up the task brilliantly, trying at present just to have us follow them on this difficult path, but one that is very worth the effort.
Laurent Berthel / Répertoire
There is great clarity here, where each instrument sings as much for itself as for the others.
François Fabien / Le Matin de Casablanca
The Chartres Quartet gives the best of itself in a work where the balancing of all its parts is difficult to bring into focus. This is a recording to immediately put right up there on the same level we reserved a while ago for the Mosaic Quartet.
François Vercken / Le Monde de la Musique
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