String Quartet Biennial 2024 at the Philharmonie de Paris

Quatuor Magenta kicked off our 2024 at the String Quartet Biennial at the Philharmonie de Paris - a festive week of music uniting string quartet lovers and players from all over the world.

This year’s guest of honour was the Kronos Quartet, who organized a very special contemporary music marathon of 50 string quartets that they have commissioned from 50 composers to celebrate their 50th anniversary as a group. In partnership with ProQuartet, Quatuor Magenta performed 7 of these pieces to open the 50 for the Future marathon.

If you missed this musical adventure (which included glow-in-the-dark fans, computers, and a Korean gong!), you can listen to a recording of the concert on France Musique’s website here.

Later that evening, we had the honour of joining the Kronos onstage, along with the Quatuor Agate, for a magical performance of Quartetsatz by Philip Glass.

This opening weekend of the Biennial finished with an inspiring public masterclass with Paul Wiancko, who is not only the Kronos Quartet’s cellist but also a magnificent composer. His piece, “Only Ever Us”, which we performed as a quartet in the 50 for the Future marathon, is as welcoming and generous as he is, with 3 optional parts to be added when in the company of musical friends - of course we took the opportunity to perform the quintet version of the piece with him!

Our last stop at the Biennial: the International Audition day for young string quartets.

Alongside nine other European groups, we had the rare opportunity to perform for a panel of important music industry professionals, along with the enthusiastic audience members who came to listen.

Huge thanks to ProQuartet, Edouard Foure Caul-Fouty from the Philharmonie de Paris, and the Kronos Quartet, for their trust and encouragement!