QUATUOR MAGENTA

Quatuor Magenta
“A model of technical discipline, elegance and musical excellence” (La Croix, transl.), Quatuor Magenta is a string quartet based in Paris, where its members met at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique. With their diverse nationalities and paths through prestigious musical institutions in Canada, the US, the UK and Switzerland, these four musicians have combined into an ensemble praised for its “remarkable balance, flexibility and spontaneity” (Diapason, transl.).

In addition to such world-renowned stages as the Philharmonie de Paris, Festival de RadioFrance Montpellier, and the Banff Centre, Quatuor Magenta brings their generous sound and contagious musical energy to less traditional settings, from prisons to elementary schools to pre-concert chats. Introducing the string quartet repertoire to an ever-expanding and more diverse audience is one of their most important goals.

While rooted in the tradition of the string quartet, Quatuor Magenta has a particular passion for modern and contemporary music. In 2024 they participated in the Kronos Quartet’s “50 for the Future” marathon at the Philharmonie de Paris’s String Quartet Biennial, and in 2026 they will premiere a new work written for them by Raphaël Merlin. They are committed to regularly programming music by women composers and continuously explore creative ways to combine familiar masterpieces with lesser-known repertoire, enlivening their concert programs with these unexpected pairings.
Though based in Europe, Quatuor Magenta is also making a name for itself in Canada, home country of its cellist. In spring 2026 they will return for their second Canadian tour, which includes performances in London (ON), Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax.

Quatuor Magenta is junior artist-in-residence at the Singer-Polignac Foundation and grand résident at Proquartet – Centre Européen de Musique de Chambre. In 2025 they participated in the Bordeaux and Banff International String Quartet Competitions, earning the Anderson Career Development Award in Banff. They received prizes at the 2023 FNAPEC competition (Académie des Beaux-Arts scholarship) and the 2022 Zukunftsklang Competition Stuttgart (3rd prize), and were finalists of the 8th Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna. Their mentors include the Ébène and Modigliani Quartets, as well as Rainer Schmidt of the Hagen Quartet.

1. Charlotte Sohy (1887–1955)
Trois Méditations, Op. 12 (with soprano and string quartet)
L’abandon
La prière
La foi

French composer Charlotte Sohy was a student of Vincent d’Indy. She broke social barriers of her time, producing significant works in opera, symphony, and chamber music. “Trois Méditations” is a lyrical, introspective, and mystical journey for soprano and string quartet, reflecting the composer’s deep spirituality and the rich harmonic language of the late-Romantic era

2. Grażyna Bacewicz (1909–1969)
String Quartet No. 1
Moderato – Allegro
Andante (Molto espressivo)
Vivo (Tema con variazioni

A powerhouse of 20th-century Polish music, Bacewicz was also a virtuoso violinist. Composed in Paris in 1938, her first quartet blends Neoclassical structures with Polish folk elements. The work is noted for its energetic drive, rhythmic vitality, and the treatment of folk melodies through a modern lens.

3. Henriette Puig-Roget (1910–1992)
Chinoiserie (with soprano and string quartet)
A legendary composer and pianist at the Paris Conservatoire. “Chinoiserie” explores Far Eastern aesthetics with French elegance.

4. Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847)
String Quartet in E-flat major
Adagio ma non troppo
Allegretto
Romanze

Felix Mendelssohn’s sister and one of the most gifted musicians of her era. This quartet is a rare and masterful masterpiece in the string quartet genre.