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The Debussy String Quartet
Christophe Collette and Anne Menier, violins
Vincent Deprecq, viola; Yannick Callier, cello
The Debussy Quartet has built a reputation graced with international acclaim through their many recordings and live performances. From the Salle Moliere in Lyon, France to the Kaufman Concert Hall at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, the quartet has enlivened the chamber music world with performances of distinction: lush with detail and atmosphere, stylish, technically exciting, and musically thoughtful.
Based in Lyon, France, and honored as Winners of the Evian International String Quartet Competition, the quartet perform some 80 concerts a year in Europe, Asia, and North America. Their recent U.S. tours have included concerts in Washington, DC, New York, San Diego, St. Louis, Austin, Detroit, Palm Beach and many other communities from coast to coast. They have built a special connection to the audiences at the Round Top Festival in Round Top, Texas, where they have continued their collaboration with distinguished American pianist James Dick.
The group's expansive repertoire is enhanced by their special commitment to bring distinguished works of French composers to the stage and the recording studio. Through their particular acclaim for their interpretations of the Debussy and Ravel quartet, they have introduced audiences to other French works such as those of Lalo, Lekeu, and the late romantic composer Ermend Bonnal. Currently touring the quartets of Shostakovitch, all of which they have recorded for the Arion label, they also offer works of Janacek, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and more. Noted for their collaborative performances both with James Dick and with French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, the artists together offer the major piano quintet repertoire on tour as well.
In 1999, The Debussy Quartet signed a 10-year recording contract with the famed Arion label. To follow their award-winning Harmonia Mundi releases, the first recording project for Arion is the complete Shostakovich Quartets, all of which are now available. The two Ermend Bonnal quartets were released in the spring of 2000, followed by a recording of the Brahms and Webern clarinet quintets with clarinetist Jean Francois Verdier, soloist of The Paris Opera. Among their other recordings are quartets by Onslow, Rode and Dancla, as well as the complete works for string quartet of Webern (Harmonia Mundi HMN 911586), which received the coveted "Choc" of Le Monde de la Musique.
"...a luminous performance...testimony to both the plausibility of the ideas and the virtuosity of this group of young French musicians who can project both abandon and control at the same time." The Washington Post 1999.
Igor Begelman
Clarinetist Igor Begelman’s virtuosity and imagination on his instrument have been praised by critics as "remarkable display of music making" (Daniel Webster, Philadelphia Inquirer) and have earned him an impressive list of awards, engagements and honors.
Winner of the year 2000 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a prize awarded to outstanding American artists, Mr. Begelman has appeared as a soloist with the Houston Symphony, L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Bienne Symphony Orchestra, Odense Simfoniker, New Haven, Savannah and Greenwich Symphonies. He has also performed recitals in Western and Eastern Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan and Israel. This past season Mr. Begelman appeared with the Bangor, Key West, Fairbanks Symphonies and Astral and Chappaqua Chamber Orchestras as well as in recitals in Philadelphia, at Caramoor and Ravinia Festivals.
An active educator, Mr. Begelman teaches at Brooklyn and Swarthmore Colleges and has taught on various occasions at Yale, Juilliard, and Manhattan School of Music in addition to many master classes throughout the US including such festivals as Caramoor and Bowdoin among others.
Equally accomplished as soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Begelman performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has appeared at numerous festivals throughout the world, including Marlboro, Caramoor, Tucson, Tanglewood and Schleswig-Holstein. An avid proponent of new music, Mr. Begelman has also premiered compositions by Anton Kuerti, Alex Krasotov, Meyer Kupferman, Elliot Schwartz, Roland Tec and recently a new concerto of Ralph Shapey.
Mr. Begelman was awarded top prizes at the First Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition in Denmark and the 53rd Geneva International Competition in Switzerland. In addition, he has earned top prizes at William C. Byrd Competition, Koussevitsky Competition, International Clarinet Society Competition, Heida Hermanns International Competition, Tilden Prize Competition and Crane New Music Competition among others. His honors also include the Special Prize at the 41st Munich International Competition and awards from the Altamura/Caruso Foundation and Salon de Virtuosi.
Raised in Kiev, Ukraine, Igor Begelman came to the United States in 1989. He received his Master’s degree from The Juilliard School of Music and a Bachelor’s degree from The Manhattan School of Music. His major teachers include Charles Neidich and Stanley Drucker.
Mr. Begelman currently resides in New York. His affiliation with the Piatigorsky Foundation allows him to teach and perform classical music in less traditional settings.
Igor Begelman is affiliated with Astral Artistic Services; a Philadelphia nonprofit organization dedicated to guiding the careers of America’s most exceptional classical musician.
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The Debussy Quartet and Igor Begelman are represented by Jonathan Wentworth Associates, Ltd., www.jwentworth.com
(Directions to the National Academy of Sciences Building)
For more information: 202.334.2436 or arts@nas.edu
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