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| Michelangelo String Quartet |
| A | D | EE |
| Biography | |
| Mihaela Martin | violin Stephan Picard | violin Nobuko Imai | viola Frans Helmerson | cello The Michelangelo String Quartet was formed in 2002 by four musicians, distinguished as soloists, chamber musicians and teachers, who share an irresistible desire to play together the greatest repertoire of all. Since their first concert season, 2003/4, they have toured regularly in Scandinavia, Europe, the UK and Japan. Festival appearances have included Edinburgh, Prades, Sion, Naantali, and the New Zealand Festival. They have played in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Zürich Tonhalle, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, and Wigmore Hall, London. Critics have consistently praised the quartet for their collective virtuosity and experience as well as their musicality and intensity of feeling, and in 2006/7 they signed a contract with Pan Classics for whom they are recording the complete Beethoven Quartet cycle. Romanian violinist Mihaela Martin has continued, through her teacher Stefan Gheorghiu, a violinistic line including David Oistrakh and Georges Enesco. Major prizes in the Tchaikovsky Competition and the First Indianapolis International Violin Competition, ensured her international career. Her chamber music partners have included Marta Argerich, Yuri Bashmet, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Nobuko Imai, Leon Fleischer & Menahim Pressler. She is a professor at the Musikhochschule, Cologne. Stephan Picard studied with Saschko Gawriloff, Stefan Gheorghiu, and Roman Nodel. In 1984 he won the International Maria Canals Violin Competition of Barcelona and the German National Music Competition. He has since developed an extensive international career, appearing with major orchestras and participating in prestigious international festivals. He is a member of the Mendelssohn Trio Berlin, and chairman of the string department at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin. Former Vermeer Quartet member, Japanese-born Nobuko Imai is considered one of the most outstanding viola players of our time. After studying at the Toho School of Music, Yale University and the Julliard School, she won high prizes at the Munich and Geneva International Competitions. Distinguished chamber music collaborators include Gidon Kremer, Midori, Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, Andras Schiff and Ronald Brautigam. She holds professorships at the Amsterdam Conservatory and in Geneva. Combining his love of chamber music with a solo career, Swedish 'cellist/conductor Frans Helmerson has performed with leading conductors and orchestras and at important international festivals. During the 1970's he was principal 'cellist of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, where he received important musical influences from Celibidache. William Pleeth and Rostropovich have also been important influences. He holds a professorship at the Musikhochschule in Cologne. Mihaela Martin plays on a J.B.Guadagnini violin of 1748 Stephan Picard plays on a Giuseppe Rocca of about 1845-50 Nobuko Imai plays on an Andrea Guaneri 1690 Frans Helmerson plays on a Stefan-Peter Greiner of 2005 2008/2009 If you wish to revise this biography, please contact Mark Stephan Buhl Artists Management. Please use material of the current season only. | |
