BIOGRAPHY OF QUATUOR ANNESCI
30 years of experience
thirty years sharing human values
From the music academies in Geneva, Berlin, Cologne and Paris, through advice and learning from the Amadeus Quartet, Alain Meunier, Arpad Gerecz, Eberhard Feltz…, the Annesci Quartet has benefited from an exceptional musical education. Great oaks from small acorns grow. Childhood friends create a chamber orchestra, then a “café théâtre” as students. Human values, the pleasure of forging unity in diversity are inscribed on their scores… The quartet came into being in 1988.
Whether with at school or in further education, masterclasses or in-house training, founded on the theme “music and management“ (an inventive concept coined by the Quartet) the Quatuor Annesci facilitates innovative exchanges using chamber music. Through multiple artistic and educational activities, it finds its equanimity
The Annesci Quartet plays on a quartet of instruments made by Patrick Robin, a renowned luthier.
He fashioned each instrument from the same 600-year-old Bosnian maple tree. Only two other string quartets in the world have instruments made from the same tree.
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The Annesci Quartet grew under the influence of Viennese masters,
together with the Amadeus Quartet and its solar energy, Russian culture and the Eberhard Feltz’s Germanic philosophy and by Alain Meunier’s French style and aesthetics. Quartet Annesci was born with this all wealth
The importance of Yehudi Menuhin and the Menuhin Foundation Prize, awarded in 1992.
A reward attributed to the Annesci Quartet for having brought music to unexpected places. which we are still doing to this very day with the same care and attention.
From teenage chamber orchestras to café-théâtre at university, the pleasure of playing together has never waned. With all that we had in common, it seemed natural to form the Annesci Quartet in 1988.
DISCOVER THE ANNESCI QUARTET
Hélène Dupont
Violin
« I love it when my violin leads the dance and then abandons itself on the branches of the melody tree, suddenly handing over to another. It draws out the seven colours of the rainbow, from fiery red to deep purple, like the large space between two poles that everything could oppose, like a chain linking humankind. Personally, all I only care about travelling, projects, challenges and energy, because, as Nelson Mandela said: “It always seems impossible, until it’s done.».
Gustave Bourgeois
Cello
« My cello is my anchor, sometimes deep, sometimes playful. But it is in a quartet that it takes on its full dimension. With four musicians, music becomes a dialogue, a playground where we seek each other out, respond to each other, have fun. Between rigour and freedom, each note tells a story.
I like to explore, to shake things up, to reinvent the concert. Surprising, creating moments where the music is experienced differently, more closely, more intensely. Because a quartet is more than a balance of four voices: it’s an adventure, a common breath, a shared energy. ».
Leonardo Tokumitsu
Alto
« I love my viola. I find that it is the ideal instrument combining connivance with complicity. The Quartet say this instrument chose me because I needed to express make-believe and show inventiveness if I was to fully express its vibrato. No doubt this is true! With this vibrato, I am completely at one with the universe, the earth and the sky. It’s the kind of harmony I experience while practising martial arts. Opening myself up to the world, broadening my mind through different cultures and by cultivating kindness : these are the things that I love. Along with playing country music, when time permits… »
François Jacquet
Violin
« I love searching, deciphering, and notating the complexity of the score to extract its essence and then share it with my three acolytes. People call me an archaeologist or a speleologist. They are no doubt right! I love reading, old-fashioned mountaineering and boosting my energy in my alpine chalet while playing (would you believe it?) the accordion. »