Biography
The Quatuor Debussy has cultivated an unusually wide-ranging repertoire that encompasses not only the French canon, highlighted by its namesake's single quartet along with neglected works such as those of Romantic composer Joseph-Ermend Bonnal, but also the complete Shostakovich cycle the ensemble has documented on disc, together with German and Austrian pieces, recent American compositions, and scores written for young listeners. Its recorded output appears chiefly on the Arion and Evidence imprints.
Students at the Lyon Conservatory established the Debussy Quartet in 1990. Its personnel—violinists Christophe Collette and Marc Viellefon, violist Vincent Deprecq, and cellist Cédric Conchon—stayed intact for an extended period before Emmanuel Bernard succeeded Viellefon in the late 2010s. Victory at the Evian International String Quartet Competition opened doors to major venues such as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Paris’s Louvre, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, and additional prestigious spaces, while the group became a frequent presence at festivals throughout Europe. It subsequently launched its own event and teaching program, Les Cordes en Ballade, which continues to host its instructional activities. Mixed chamber projects have brought collaborations with assorted soloists, and an uncommon partnership with the Compagnie Käfig modern dance troupe has integrated both the quartet’s performances and the players’ physical gestures into choreographed pieces.
The ensemble entered the studio in 1995 with a Valois release featuring quartets by George Onslow, Charles Dancla, and Pierre Rode. Further sessions have taken place for Arion, devoted to rarely heard French repertoire; for Decca, as part of an 1802 transcription of Mozart’s Requiem; and, most recently, for Evidence, where the Shostakovich cycle begun on Arion was completed. A 2018 classical-jazz crossover album, Claude Debussy: ...et le jazz - Preludes for a Quartet, appeared on Harmonia Mundi, and three children’s-music discs have been issued in France. In 2021 Evidence released the group’s account of the quartet arrangement of Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross, interwoven with a thematically related contemporary score by Dominique Vellard.
Students at the Lyon Conservatory established the Debussy Quartet in 1990. Its personnel—violinists Christophe Collette and Marc Viellefon, violist Vincent Deprecq, and cellist Cédric Conchon—stayed intact for an extended period before Emmanuel Bernard succeeded Viellefon in the late 2010s. Victory at the Evian International String Quartet Competition opened doors to major venues such as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Paris’s Louvre, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, and additional prestigious spaces, while the group became a frequent presence at festivals throughout Europe. It subsequently launched its own event and teaching program, Les Cordes en Ballade, which continues to host its instructional activities. Mixed chamber projects have brought collaborations with assorted soloists, and an uncommon partnership with the Compagnie Käfig modern dance troupe has integrated both the quartet’s performances and the players’ physical gestures into choreographed pieces.
The ensemble entered the studio in 1995 with a Valois release featuring quartets by George Onslow, Charles Dancla, and Pierre Rode. Further sessions have taken place for Arion, devoted to rarely heard French repertoire; for Decca, as part of an 1802 transcription of Mozart’s Requiem; and, most recently, for Evidence, where the Shostakovich cycle begun on Arion was completed. A 2018 classical-jazz crossover album, Claude Debussy: ...et le jazz - Preludes for a Quartet, appeared on Harmonia Mundi, and three children’s-music discs have been issued in France. In 2021 Evidence released the group’s account of the quartet arrangement of Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross, interwoven with a thematically related contemporary score by Dominique Vellard.
Albums
