Program :

Divertimento en ré Majeur K.136 de Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  

Quatuor en mi bémol Majeur de Fanny Mendelssohn 

Quatuor en fa mineur, Op.80 de Félix Mendelssohn 

Biography of the Armingaud Quartet

The Quatuor Armingaud was born of the complicity of four musicians whose friendship matured over many years before circumstances finally allowed them to come together musically to form a string quartet.

The ensemble draws on the diversity of each musician’s background. It forges its musical identity by drawing on years of experience playing with national orchestras in Europe, Asia and the United States, and with chamber music ensembles that have won numerous international competitions. The teaching received from the greatest artists in the field guides its aesthetic approach.

The ensemble has chosen a name that reflects its professional roots in the Occitanie and Nouvelle Aquitaine regions, as well as the particular instrumental characteristics of its members: three of them, violinists by training, alternate the roles of violinist and violist in the quartet, depending on the works and their preferences.

Jules Armingaud, a leading figure in nineteenth-century chamber music, was an ideal mentor for them. Born in Bayonne, and noticed and adopted by the Parisian music scene, Jules Armingaud founded a quartet bearing his name in 1855, with Édouard Lalo, another famous violinist and great personal friend, as viola player before taking over as second violinist a few years later. For many years, this first Armingaud Quartet distinguished itself as one of the leading chamber music ensembles of the day, being chosen by the renowned pianist Clara Schumann to accompany her on her Paris tours. Its members’ commitment to the great Germanic repertoire (Mendelssohn, Beethoven) and their involvement in showcasing the French repertoire of the time were particularly remarkable.

So it was with humility and respect that Fanny Spangaro, Jean-Louis Constant, Jean-Baptiste Jourdin and Tristan Liehr decided to adopt the name ‘Quatuor Armingaud’ as a tribute to this brilliant 19th-century ensemble.