String Quartet (France)
Philippe Bernhard, Violin
Loïc Rio, Violin
Laurent Marfaing, Viola
François Kieffer, Cello

The Modigliani Quartet, formed by four close friends in 2003, is celebrating its 10 years’ anniversary this season and is one of the world’s most sought after string quartets, performing in venues like Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Cité de la Musique, Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Washington DC’s Library of Congress, Het Concertgebouw, Herkulessaal, Zurich’s Tonhalle, Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Musikverien, Brussels’ Bozar, Mozarteum, Stockholm’s Konserthuset, Cologne’s Philharmonie, Berlin Konzerthaus, Luxemburg’s Philharmonie, Barcelona’s Auditori, or at top international festivals like Lucerne, Rheingau, Schwartzenberg Schubertiade, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Silver Lyre in St Petersburgh, La Roque d’Anthéron, Schleswig-Holstein, Bad Kissingen, La Folle Journée de Nantes.

In 2012 and 2013, the quartet is touring twice in the United-States and will tour in Japan, Israel and South America. In 2011, they toured for a month in Australia with clarinetist Sabine Meyer whom they very regularly perform with. Other recent tours include a tour in China, where they will return in late 2013.

In 2008, the quartet started a rich and close collaboration with the Mirare label and has now released 4 award-winning albums, all receiving great acclaim in several countries. Their first Haydn CD was a Strad selection; their Mendelssohn CD in 2010 was a Fono Forum selection (disc of the month) and aroused admiration from critics and audiences worldwide. In 2012, their fourth CD was dedicated to youth with quartets by young Mozart, Schubert and Arriaga. And in January 2013, they released a double CD dedicated to French repertoire (Debussy-Ravel, Saint-Saëns) which already received wonderful reviews.

In 2004, only one year after they were formed, the quartet attracted international attention by winning 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 workshops by Walter Levin and György Kurtág, and then had the opportunity to work with the Artemis Quartet at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.

Thanks to the generosity and support of private sponsors, the Modigliani quartet members play four outstanding Italian instruments:

Philippe Bernhard plays a 1780 violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini.

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).