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Founded in 1999, the Quatuor Ébène is known for the virtuoso manner in which it straddles styles and genres. For its latest project, the adventurous string quartet has teamed up with two long-time musical friends: the harpist Catriona McKay and the fiddler Chris Stout, both embodying Scottish folk music in its vibrant and multi-faceted contemporary state. The program was developed and inspired by Fair Isle, the smallest, most remote and perhaps most beautiful of the Shetland Islands in Scotland’s high north, where the rugged, rocky landscape has shaped local culture and mentality. Together, the six musicians explore the sonic diversity of Scottish music, clothing existing melodies in new guises due to their typical yet atypical combination of instruments, and enriching it with new compositions of their own – a fascinating musical journey of discovery in which two sound worlds merge in music.

The most famous of all string quartets is also celebrating an anniversary at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival—the 20th in fact! It has been an Ensemble Prize winner since 2005. Since then, between performances in Paris, New York, and London, it has regularly visited Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, delighting audiences. This year, the foursome will give free rein to their passion for music, together with two musical friends on fiddle and harp, because the Quatuor Ébène has fallen in love with Scottish folk!

The string quartet – a purely classical-romantic affair? The members of the Quatuor Ébène were never convinced of this. The first jam sessions took place in their university's rehearsal room at the end of the 1990s. And it developed into much more than a bit of a diversion: improvising together on jazz standards and pop songs has become the trademark of the French quartet. Their award-winning recordings of great masterpieces of string quartet literature are now joined by albums that look far beyond the confines of classical music. And the four members of the Quatuor Ébène regularly bring performers from entirely different musical worlds on board. The quartet shares a close artistic friendship with Catriona McKay and Chris Stout. They first met the two Scots in 2012, and since then they have embarked on several joint journeys to the border regions of classical and folk music. In 2025 we will embark on the next exciting excursion.

Over the past two decades, French ensemble Quatuor Ébène has thrilled audiences with performances ranging from the complete Beethoven cycle to forays into Left Bank jazz. The ensemble’s telepathic understanding, artistic daring, and musical individuality make for edge-of-the-seat concert experiences, intensely focused and touched by visionary insights.