Mona Quartet
France, Germany, Israel, USA
Verena Chen, violin
Charlotte Chahuneau, violin
Arianna Smith, viola
Elia Cohen Weissert, cello
Biography
“An energy never seen in the string quartet genre. The communication is so alive and so beautiful to watch, generously giving the audience access to the splendors of the score.”
Hubert Stoecklin, Classique News
Founded in 2018 at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, Mona Quartet represents the unity of four international musical personalities, establishing immediately a presence in the French capital at such venues as the Pierre Boulez Hall of the Philharmonie de Paris, the Petit Palais, Salle Cortot, Radio France’s Studio 104 as well as a feature on “Générations France Musique.” In January 2020, they were selected among the most promising young quartets from the world to perform at the Biennale of String Quartets at the Cité de la Musique. The quartet has performed with artists such as Emmanuel Pahud, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Paul Meyer, Philippe Graffin and Marie-Joseph Jude, giving debut concerts at the Edinburgh International Festival, Festival de Salon-de-Provence, Jérôme Pernoo’s Festival “Les Vacances de Monsieur Haydn”, Festival Debussy and Festival de Dinard. Mesmerised by their talent after their debut at Musique à Flaine, the pianist and composer Abdel Rahman El Bacha dedicated his piece Prélude à cordes to the young quartet and invited them to perform at the Royal Theatre in Brussels, broadcasted on Musiq3 during the Classissimo Festival. In the 2020/2021 season, they will give recitals at the Elbphilharmonie Laeiszhalle Hamburg, the Festival Quartettissimo in Hungary, and many more.
In 2019, they have been named Artists in Residence at ProQuartet in Paris, the Foundation Villa Musica in Germany, Dimore del Quartetto in Italy, Live Music Now and the Escuela Reina Sofia in Madrid with Günther Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet). Since their formation, the quartet has worked with musical pedagogues such as Luc-Marie Aguera (Quatuor Ysaÿe), François Salque, Jérôme Pernoo, Modigliani Quartet, Mathieu Herzog (Ebène Quartet), Valentin Erben (Alban Berg String Quartet), Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet) and Martin Beaver (Tokyo String Quartet).
The quartet has been awarded a prize at the Philharmonie de Paris’ 3rd Annual Tremplin as well as the Prix de l’Orangerie de Sceaux and the Prix du Méjan from their time at the Festival Ravel.