Malibran Quartet
Tatiana Samouil & Nicolas Dupont – Violins
Tony Nys – Viola
Guy Danel – Violoncello
The Malibran Quartet was founded in 2008 by Tatiana Samouil, Tony Nys and Justus Grimm in order to share and deepen their passion for chamber music. Formed in La Monnaie the quartet has a strong affiliation with opera. It chose to name itself after the legendary opera diva Maria Malibran, finding inspiration in her passionate life and her commitment to music. The quartet gave its first concerts in the 2008-2009 season. One of these concerts, in Lisbon CCB, was recorded for Mezzo and broadcasted.
In the first years the quartet established a solid repertoire performing intensively in the chamber music series of La Monnaie, along with concerts in Maastricht, Lisbon and Paris. It participated in the KlaraFestival (in 2011, 2012 and 2013), with European radio broadcasting, the Nuit de Beloeil festival and the Dias da Música in Lisbon. In the meantime the quartet has grown to be an ensemble with a strong vision and belief in the future of classical music.
In their program they dedicate special attention to works written by opera composers such as Verdi and Puccini and in contemporary music also to composers such as Philippe Boesmans, Benoît Mernier, Nicolas Bacri, Thierry Escaich and Pascal Dusapin. An important component of their repertoire is the exploration of the repertoire for voice and string quartet, with works by Respighi, Chausson, Schönberg… along with new vocal compositions written for the quartet.
Since they successfully recorded the complete chamber music by César Franck with David Lively, the Malibran Quartet has regularly performed with this American pianist. Their Franck box was awarded the prestigious Caecilia Prize for best Belgian cd-production (2012) and received a Joker from Crescendo.