Carole Petitdemange, violin
Mi-sa Yang, violin
Yuko Hara, viola
Joëlle Martinez, cello
If Ardeo – in Latin: I burn – is the name of this quartet, it is also the motto with which the four young women approach their repertoires; success has proven them right. The Ardeo Quartet was formed in 2001 at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris and is now one of the most renowned French ensembles.
A perfect artistic understanding based on hard work, a spirit of harmony and a great complicity has led to a career that has been crowned with several prizes at international competitions: Bordeaux, Moscow, Premio Paolo Borciani in Bologna, as well as at the International Chamber Music Competition in Melbourne.
Strongly inspired by musical personalities such as Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet), Ferenc Rados or Eberhard Feltz in their studies, the Quartet works regularly with composers such as Kaija Saariaho, Thomas Larcher, Pascal Dusapin, François Meïmoun and Philippe Schoeller.
Their victories in competitions and the enthusiasm that the young women arouse in public have led the Ardeo Quartet to the great stages and festivals of Europe: Kuhmo (FIN), Geneva Summer Festival, Basel Stadtcasino and Davos Festival (CH), Lockenhaus and Attersee (A), Musikfest Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Radialsystem in Berlin, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and Beethovenfest Bonn (GER), Ohrid Summer Festival (MAC), Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venice (IT), Aldeburgh (ENG). ..
Named “Rising Stars”, the Ardeo Quartet is on a concert tour in the most prestigious European venues: Philharmonies of Cologne, Paris and Luxembourg, Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, Palais des Beaux Arts of Brussels, Townhall of Birmingham, Konzerthaus of Vienna and Dortmund, Laeiszhalle of Hamburg, Konserthus of Stockholm, Megaron of Athens, Auditori of Barcelona, Casa da Musica of Oporto, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian of Lisbon, Palace of Arts of Budapest, Barbican Centre of London, Festspielhaus of Baden-Baden
In France, they have been heard at the Cité de la Musique, the Musée d’Orsay, the Parisian theatres of Châtelet, Mogador and Bouffes du Nord, the Salle Cortot, the Georges Pompidou Centre, the Assemblée Nationale, the Orangerie de Sceaux, the Arsenal de Metz, the Vichy Opera and the Radio France and Montpellier Festivals the Folles Journées in Nantes and in the regions of France and Japan, the Périgord Noir, the Flâneries de Reims, the Septembre musical de l’Orne, the Quatuor à l’Ouest in Crozon, the Aspects d’aujourd’hui in Caen, the Nuits Romantiques du Lac du Bourget, Jacobins and Saint Pierre des Cuisines in Toulouse. ..
The Ardeo Quartet enjoys sharing the stage with artists such as Thomas Demenga, Noam Greenberg, Matan Porat, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Evgeny Koroliov, Mario Brunello, Luís Fernando Perez, David Kadouch, Aaron Pilsan and collaborates more closely with pianist Adam Laloum, percussionist Vassilena Serafimova and clarinettist Reto Bieri.
The quartet collaborates with the Orchestre National d’île de France, the Musica Viva ensemble, the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música and the conductors Julien Leroy, Alexander Rudin and Olari Elts on the occasion of the performance of John Adams’ concerto for orchestra Absolut Jest
In residence at the Singer-Polignac Foundation from 2008 to 2016, the Ardeo Quartet has also, since 2005 and for more than ten years, participated in the professional training and cultural activities of the ProQuartet association.
Widely acclaimed by international and French critics, they have appeared in France Musique programmes presented by Stéphane Goldet, Lionel Esparza, Frédéric Lodéon…
The Ardeo Quartet presented its first CD in 2007 with the world premiere of Koechlin’s first two quartets. In collaboration with the pianist David Kadouch, they have released a disc dedicated to Shostakovich (Transart Live, 2010) and Schumann (Decca, 2011). With the help of the Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venice, the musicians have recorded the world premiere of three quartets by Anton Reicha (Empreinte Digitale, 2014). A recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, transcribed by François Meïmoun, was released at the end of 2018 for the IBS Classic label.
Their new recording of Crumb, Purcell and Schubert will be released in autumn 2020 for the Klarthe label.
