QUATUOR RENOIR, string quartet
From its foundation onwards, the Renoir Quartet has received advice from such distinguished teachers as Günter Pichler, Henry Meyer, Walter Levin, Rainer Schmidt, Thomas Kakuska, within the framework of the ProQuartet Association.
In the year 2000, the Renoir Quartet successively won first prize in the FNAPEC competition in Paris, third prize in the Vittorio Gui International Competition in Firenze, and the fifth prize in the London International Competition. In 2003, at the Bordeaux International Competition, the group was awarded the Ministery of Culture Prize and the « Coup de cœur » of Mécénat Musical Société Générale.
The Renoir Quartet has been invited to appear at numerous major venues in France – including the Salle Pleyel, Salle Cortot, Musée d’Orsay, Opéra de Lyon, Filature de Mulhouse, Besançon International Festival, and Rencontres musicales de Fontainebleau – and abroad, visiting Asia, Quebec, Israel, the UK, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and New Caledonia.
Among its chamber music partners are such well-known artists as Alain Meunier, Paul Katz, Hélène Couvert, Claire-Marie Le Guay, Cédric Tiberghien, Ferenc Vizi, Francesco Schlimé, Jonathan Gilad, Cédric Pescia, Nicolas Bône, Christophe Gaugué.
The Renoir Quartet appears regulary on Radio France, participating in the 2002/03 season of the « Alla Breve » series of recordings, and performing at the Présences Festival in 2003, 2004, and 2006. Its attachment to the mainstream quartet repertoire does not prevent it from investing a great deal of time and effort in the creation of contemporary works – pieces by Marc Monnet, Patrice Sciortino, Pierre Farago, among others – not from appearing alongside jazz musicians like the double-bass players Renaud Garcia-Fons and François Moutin and the pianist Antoine Hervé, and artists from the sphere of the world music.
In 2001 Classica magazine devoted a cover disc to the ensemble, featuring Haydn’s « Fifth’s » Quartet op.76 n°2 and Mendelssohn’s op.44 n°1. In the same year, with the support of Cultures France, the Renoir Quartet recorded a CD in the « Déclic » series comprising Beethoven’s Quartet in F major, op.18 n°1, Ainsi la nuit by Henri Dutilleux and Anton Webern’s Langsamer Satz M.78. Their recording, dedicated to Robert Schumann’s 1st an 3rd String Quartets for Zig-Zag Territoires in 2006, received great international critical acclaim. Their CD dedicated to the Russian composer Nicolaï Miaskovsky has just been released for the label Ar re-se.
