Aujourd'hui l' Engegård Quartet à la Philharmonie

Lundi 27 octobre 2008 à 20.00 heures à la Philharmonie
- Salle de Musique de Chambre -

Engegård Quartet

Arvid Engegård violon

Atle Sponberg violon

Juliet Jopling alto

Jan-Erik Gustafsson violoncelle

Ludwig van Beethoven: Streichquartett N° 10 Es-Dur (mi bémol majeur) op. 74 «Harfenquartett»

Béla Bartók: Quatuor à cordes N° 3 Sz 85

Edvard Grieg: Streichquartett g-moll (sol mineur) op. 27

Backstage 19:30 SMC

Pre-concert talk with the musicians (in English)

Le concert du Engegård Quartet présente trois quatuors conçus chacun dans un esprit différent: le Quatuor N° 10 de Beethoven est une œuvre de consolidation composée après trois quatuors révolutionnaires, l’Opus 59. Le Troisième Quatuor de Bartók s’affirme au contraire comme une œuvre expérimentale; il est souvent considéré comme le plus radical des six quatuors du compositeur Hongrois. Si leurs deux quatuors de cette soirée ont des visées opposées, Beethoven et Bartók ont en revanche en commun d’être des maîtres incontestés du quatuor: Beethoven domine le genre, Bartók domine son siècle. Grieg en revanche ne montre aucune affinité avec le quatuor et plutôt que de chercher à s’approprier l’idiome du genre en s’inspirant des grands classiques, il aborde le quatuor comme il ferait avec un médium qui lui est familier comme l’orchestre. La confrontation est intéressante dans la mesure où elle permettra à chaque auditeur de se faire son opinion sur l’intérêt qu’il y a ou non pour un compositeur à prendre en compte la nature intrinsèque et/ou l’histoire d’un genre. (Bernard Fournier)

This emerging quartet is named after its’ first violinist, Arvid Engegård. The idea for the quartet was born at Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival, where three of its’ members met in 2004. The Engegård Quartet had its’ debut at the Nordland Musikkfestuke 2005 and is: Arvid Engegård - violin, Atle Sponberg - violin, Juliet Jopling - viola and Jan-Erik Gustafsson - cello

Arvid Engegård was born on 13th May 1963 in Bodø. When he was eleven, Arvid was leading his first string quartet inconcerts throughout Norway, and gave his first solo performance with orchestra in Mozart's Piano Concerto KV 488. At age fourteen, Engegård won the Norwegian television Ole Bull Competition leading to tours of America.
Arvid took his instrumental diploma in Trondheim Conservatory aged sixteen. At this time Engegård played as soloist with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Oslo Philharmonic as a Norwegian Young Concert Artist. Arvid continued his studies on the violin at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he won the school's competition to perform as soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic. While in America, Engegård had masterclasses with, among others, Isaac Stern.
Engegård appeared as soloist with Oslo Philharmonic performing Vieuxtemps' Fifth Violin Concerto before going to study with Sándor Végh in Salzburg. A year after his arrival, Arvid was invited by Végh to lead Camerata Academica, a position he kept for eight years. Among many performances as leader and soloist with Camerata Academica, Arvid performed Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 4 in Vienna's Musikverein. He also recorded the complete Divertimentos by Mozart (including several violin solos most notably the Haffner Serenade) and the complete Piano Concertos by Mozart with András Schiff. During the same period Engegård recorded Bartók Contrasts for Decca.

Engegård Quartet

In 1991 Engegård was invited to be the leader of the Orlando String Quartet. The quartet was resident in Holland and performed regularly throughout Europe. Recordings from this period include Schnittke's Third String Quartet which was written for the Orlando String Quartet, Isang Yuns' String Quartet, and quartets by Haydn, Mozart, Grieg and Schostakovitch.

Arvid Engegård has appeared regularly at Europe's most prestigious chamber music festivals, including Lockenhaus, the Salzburg Festival, Musiktage Mondsee, Mozartwoche, and the International Musician's Seminar in Prussia Cove.
Since 1999 Arvid has developed a considerable career as a conductor. Orchestras he has worked with include Camerata Bern, the BBC Concert Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Camerata Academica Salzburg, Winterthur Symphony Orchestra, Ljubliana Philharmonic, Maribor Symphony
Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Roman, Musica Vita, Oslo Philharmonic, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, all the army bands in Norway, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Tromsø Symphony Orchestra and Bergen Philharmonic.
Engegård is also in demand as a violin soloist; performances in 2006-2007 include solo appearances with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Nordkøping Symphony Orchestra and Camerata Bern. Arvid Engegård is the Musical Director of military music in North Norway, the Artistic Director of Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival and in 2000 was awarded the Nordlys Prize.
The formation of the Engegård Quartet in 2006 with Arvid Engegård and Atle Sponberg on violin, Juliet Jopling on viola and Jan-Erik Gustafsson on cello, is the culmination of Arvids' lifelong love of the
string quartet. The quartet has performed live on NRK from the Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival, at Kaustinen International Chamber Music Festival in Finland, in Trondheim and throughout North Norway. In 2007, the quartet will appear at the Festspillene i Bergen, Loviisa Sibelius Festival in Finland, Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival, the Oslo Chamber Music Festival, and in the autumn will tour throughout southern Norway before recording their first CD. Plans for 2008 include an international concert tour including Sweden, Finland, Austria, Italy and Luxembourg, and appearances at festivals in Scandinavia and Ireland.

Sponberg studied with Isaac Schuldman at Norway’s Conservatory and with Herman Krebbers in Amsterdam. He has participated in masterclasses with Isaac Stern, Shlomo Mintz, Henryk Szeryng and Mstislav Rostropovitsch. Atle Sponberg is leader of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and is often invited to lead the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. He has given recitals and chamber music performances at the Bergen Festival, Oslo Chamber Music Festival, Elverum Festival and Risør Chamber Music Festival, performing with artists such as Lars Anders Tomter and Truls Mørk. Sponberg has released many CDs, from Norwegian folk music and Argentinian tango to classical music, including a CD of duos for violin and cello with Øystein Birkeland.

The English viola player Juliet Jopling studied with David Takeno while at Cambridge University and with Thomas Riebl at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. She was awarded the Martin Trust’s Trevor Snoad Award in 1992, leading to a performance of Walton’s Viola Concerto with The Philharmonia (London), and is a prizewinner of the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. She has given recitals and chamber music performances in festivals around Europe. Juliet is a founding member of the Quince Quartet, the Ensemble Sándor Végh (which was recently Ensemble in Residence in Vienna’s Musikverein) and is the Artistic Director of Kerry’s International Chamber Music Festival.

Jan-Erik Gustafsson began the cello aged 8, and completed his soloists’ diploma in Stockholm in 1992. He is a prizewinner of many international competitions and in 1994 was taken on by Young Concert Artists in America. He recently gave his recital debut in New York, which lead to numerous engagements throughout the USA. Gustafsson has performed as soloist with most of the Scandinavian orchestras and many orchestras abroad. Since 1998, Jan-Erik Gustafsson has been the Artistic Director of the Sibelius Festival in Lovisa. His records are released by the Finnish record company Ondine. Gustafsson plays a Testore from 1718 which belongs to Finland’s Cultural Foundation.

The Engegård Quartet

L’Engegård Quartet a été formé en 2006 avec Arvid Engegård et Atle Sponberg au violon, Juliet Jopling à l’alto et Jan-Erik Gustafsson au violoncelle. Le quatuor s’est déjà produit dans de nombreux festivals en Scandinavie et a joué en direct sur NRK à l’occasion du festival international de musique de chambre de Lofoten, du festival de musique de chambre d’Oslo et des Festspillene à Bergen, et retransmis en direct sur la radio finnoise lors des journées Sibelius à Lovissa. L’Engegård Quartet s’est produit, entre autres, avec Leif Ove Andsnes dans le Quintette pour piano de Brahms, avec Marianne Beate Kielland dans Il Tramonto de Respighi et dans des Lieder de Mahler, et avec Nobuko Imai, Kim Kashkashian et Steven Tenenbaum dans les Quintettes à cordes de Mozart. 2008 est une année d’exploration de nouveaux territoires pour l’Engegård Quartet, tant sur le plan géographique que musical. Le quatuor travaillera avec Nils Økland sur une création mondiale du Quintette pour Harding Fiddle (instrument norvégien) et quatuor à cordes de Ricardas Kabelis au Festspillene de Bergen, et avec Frode Hartley sur une autre création mondiale: le Quintette pour accordéon et quatuor à cordes de Maja Ratke au Nordland Music Festival à Bodø. L’Engegård Quartet a été réengagé pour la seconde ou troisième fois par de nombreux festivals scandinaves en 2008: Festspillene à Bergen, au festival international de musique de chambre de Lofoten, aux journées Sibelius de Lovissa. Le quatuor se produira pour la première fois aux Festspillene d’Elverum à l’invitation du Vertavo Quartet, au Nordlys Festival à Tromsø et au Church Festival à Kristiansand. Cette année, l’Engegård Quartet se produira également dans toute l’Europe: en Suède, en Angleterre (à l’Oxford Chamber Music Festival), en Irlande (au Kerry’s International Chamber Music Festival), et au Luxembourg. L’Engegård Quartet fera paraître son premier CD en 2008 (Grieg, Haydn et Solberg pour le label 2L – Lindberg Lyd) et enregistrera un second CD, un enregistrement-anniversaire du répertoire pour quatuor à cordes de Catharinus Elling chez Toccata Classics.