Quatuor Eclisses
Biography Quatuor Eclisses
Quatuor Eclisses
The original and sensitive ensemble playing of the Eclisses Quartet appeared on the French musical scene in 2012. The quartet aims to bring a new dimension to classical guitar playing with ambitious, modern transcriptions of the notable repertoire for piano, and orchestra. In 2013 they were First Prize winners in the European Chamber Music Competition and again, the following year, for the “Fondation Banque Populaire”. They are also committed to enlarging the repertoire for guitar quartet, interpreting new works by composers Karol Beffa, Sergio Assad and Nikita Koshkin.
The musicians, who have been friends since they met at the “Conservatoire National Supérieure de Musique” in Paris, now enjoy an international career, playing in America, Switzerland, Indonesia, Jordan, Mexico, Algeria and Romania as well as France, at the “Théâtre de Châtelet”, the “Hôtel National des Invalides”, “La Maison de la Radio”; “L'Alliance française de Paris”, the “Théâtre Imperial de Compiègne”, the “Chateau de Luneville” and the theatres of Nîmes and Valence... They are invited regularly to perform at music festivals such as the “Folle Journée” in Nantes, the Radio France Festival in Montpellier, “Flâneries Musicales” in Reims, the Festival of Sully and Loiret, the International Guitar Festival in Paris, the “Jeudis Musicaux” in Royan...
Their first recording, Guitares, appeared on the Ad Vitam Records label in 2013. It included a large and varied repertoire with new transcriptions of works by Bach and Rossini as well as original guitar compositions for guitar quartet. Their second CD, Invitation Française (Ad Vitam Records 2015) is a collection of transcriptions of works by great French musicians from the turn of the 19th century. Pulse (Ad Vitam Records 2017) included a variety of original dances of many countries (Argentina, Spain and Eastern Europe for example) reimagined by twentieth century composers, as well as two contemporary premier performances. In 2020 the program of their fourth CD Evocación is exclusively devoted to Spanish music.
Gabriel Bianco is one of the most active guitarists of his generation. Between 2007 and 2012, he won the First Prize of the most prestigious international competitions such as the "Guitar Foundation of America" in San Francisco, "Andrés Segovia" in Almuñécar, "Hubert Kappel" in Koblenz, "Guitarre Forum Wien" in Austria, “Foundation San Gredos" in Madrid. For the last ten years he is managing an international career that led him to perform at major concert halls like the Tchaïkovsky Hall of Moscow, the “Théâtre du Châtelet” in Paris, the Central Conservatory in Beijing, and the "Herbst Theater" in San Francisco. He is regularly invited to festivals in Europe (France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Serbia, Greece, Romania) and also worldwide, in the USA, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, as well as in Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, China). For Ad Vitam records, he has also recorded a solo CD Capricci and a duet disc Divertissements with the oboist Michaela Hrabankova in original works for this training. Several composers have also dedicated works to him: Atanas Ourkouzounov, Karol Beffa, Sergio Assad, Marek Pasieczny and Denis Ramos. He has been teaching since 2011 at the Maurice Ravel Conservatory in Paris. Since September 2018, he has also been Visiting Professor at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
Ever since he was 15, Arkaïtz Chambonnet has given numerous recitals in France and abroad, offering varied programmes including personal transcriptions. In 2010 he was invited to give the finale at the Udine international festival in Italy and in 2011 he was invited by the Spanish guitar society in Madrid. He also appeared several times as a soloist in the orchestras of the “Marina Alta” and of Castellon de la Plana in Spain; in which he interpreted major works of the repertoire for guitar and orchestra. Between 2009 and 2011, he took part in several international competitions and he landed six prizes notably the first prize of the “Fernando Sor” competition in Rome and the second prize of the "Francisco Tarrega" in Benicasim, one of the most prestigious competitions in the world. He thus became the fourth Frenchman to receive such a distinction in 45 years. For Ad Vitam records, he has also recorded a solo CD Essences baroques, dedicated to Baroque composers such us Bach, Couperin and Scarlatti. He is regularly invited or broadcast on France Musique (Classic Club, Génération Jeunes Interprètes, En pistes, Allegretto…). Holder of a teacher's qualification certificate, he shares his experience and knowledge at the Maisons-Alfort conservatory in the Paris region and also gives Masterclasses in France and abroad.
Trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, Pierre Lelièvre belongs to this young generation of very talented French guitarists who gives the French guitar school world renown. Dealing with a varied and perpetually evolving repertoire, Pierre Lelièvre is regularly invited to play in Paris and the provinces where he appears as a soloist, with an orchestra and in a variety of chamber music groups. In 2013 he toured the Valencia region of Spain. He also performed in the Revermont museum during the 2010 Heritage weekend and in the International Guitar Festival in Paris in 2011 and 2012. He won the prize for the best rendition of the imposed work at the Anthony international competition in 2012 with The Delight of Jetlag (Roland Dyens), he came fourth in the International Classical Guitar Competition in Barbezieux in 2009 and took the Prix d’excellence in the Ceyzeriat national competition in 2010. His solo CD D’un continent, l’autre, dedicated to Villa-Lobos, Ponce and Castelnuovo-Tedesco, is released on Ad Vitam records.
In his solo recitals, Benjamin Valette interprets emblematic pieces from the repertoire, revisions of manuscripts, or even personal arrangements. His solo disc Bach, Telemann, Weiss (Ad Vitam Records) was praised by critics (4 stars Classica). The newspaper Liberation, the Classic Guitar magazine, France Musique, regularly report on his recordings. He performs as soloist and chamber musician in prestigious halls and festivals in France and abroad. Duo records have also appeared on the Ad Vitam records label: Retratos (2017), with cellist Juliette Salmona, in a program of Brazilian music and Vamos! (2018), recorded with singer Mélodie Ruvio around Spanish pieces from Falla, Turina, Rodrigo or Obrador.
