CONCERT: Quartet Epoque
The wonderful Quartet Epoque from the Czech Republic delighted the Festival audience this year in cooperation with the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Belgrade, at a concert held in Belgrade’s City Hall, on Wednesday, 7 October.
Quartet Epoque, violin, viola, cello (Czech Republic)
The Prague string quartet Epoque Quartet was founded at the beginning of 1999. Four excellent soloists and chamber musicians with abundant stage experiences brought along not only their unanimity in musical opinions and the relationship in their artistic nature together but even their extraordinary interest in musical genres, which do not belong under the title „classical music“ – jazz, rock and funk. As the compositions of the classical quartet literature remain an integral part of the ensemble’s programmes, the sensitive approach to unconventional arrangements brings them new possibilities in using the string instruments and, at the same time, it enables them to widen their repertoire, which is unique both on the Czech and on international stages.
The members of the Quartet are laureates of several international competitions (for two times the first place at the competition of Liezen in Austria, the first price at the international competition Ludwig van Beethoven for string quartets, the prize Jeunesse Musicale) and the ensemble took part in some other competitions (for example the competition Paolo Borciani), too. Abroad, the Quartet gave, among others, concerts in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, England, Israel, Japan, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina and so on. The Epoque Quartet performs regularly in the subscription cycles of the Symphonic Orchestra of the Czech Broadcasting, the Czech Nonet, plays for the Association for Chamber Music, cooperates with the Czech Television and the Czech Broadcasting and is a guest on prestigious music festivals, for example, the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, Concentus Moraviae, the Music Festival of Český Krumlov, Chamber music Cycle of the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Metamorphoses (Switzerland), Music Festival Ludwig van Beethoven, Moravský podzim (Moravian autumn) an so on.
In jazz music, the Quartet cooperated with artists the likes of Mraz, Benny Beailey, Yoshiko Kishino, Trio Robert Balzar and others.