Quatuor Ardeo

Born in 1983, Joëlle Martinez studied the cello at the Toulouse Conservatory and the Conservatory National Superior of Paris in the class of R.Pidoux, P.Muller, X.Phillips, parallel to which she followed the class of B.Cocset and C.Coin in baroque cello.

At a very early age, she became interested in chamber and orchestral music. She took part in the 2000 tour of the French Youth Orchestra and played under the baton of Michel Plasson, Myung-whun Chung, Jesús López-Cobos and others. She was a founding member of the Ardeo Quartet, with which she has performed since 2001, winning numerous international prizes (Moscow, Bordeaux, Melbourne, Paolo Borciani, FNAPEC) as well as prizes voted on by the public and by music critics.

With the quartet, she has benefited from the teaching of R.Schmidt (Hagen Quartet) at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid, W.Levin at the Horchschule in Bâle, and the Hagen Quartet at the Mozarteum in Salzbourg. Nominated « Rising Stars », the Ardeo Quartet has been selected by the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) to tour across famous venues as Philharmonies of Cologne, Paris and Luxembourg, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Townhall Birmingham, Konzerthaus Vienna and Dortmund, Laeiszthalle Hamburg, Konserthus Stockholm, Megaron Athens, Auditori Barcelona, Casa da Musica Porto, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian Lisbon, Palace of Arts Budapest, Barbican Centre in London, Festspielhaus Baden Baden. 

She holds a teaching diploma (certificat d’aptitude), and teaching is at the heart of her professional interests. She conducts regular chamber music and cello masterclasses under the auspices of the Toulouse and Créteil conservatories, and has participated in the “parcours culturel” teaching programme in partnership with Pro-Quartet and the Réseau Ambition Réussite, working in schools in Paris’s 18th arrondissement.

In parallel with her career in the quartet, Joëlle Martinez is invited as a soloist in different festivals: Chaillol Festival, Musique et Patrimoione, Haute Auvergue, (France), Fiver Festival (Spain), Davos Festival (Switzerland), Prussia Cove chamber music seminar (IMS Festival England), Kuhmo festival (Finland)…She enjoys the privilege of sharing the stage with prestigious musicians: Svetlin Roussev, Hartmut Rohde, David Geringas, Carsten Schmidt, Alasdair Beatson, Manuel Hofer, Reto Bieri, James Boyd, Guillaume Vincent, Misa Yang, Xénia Maliarevitch, David Violi, Jérôme Pernoo, Alain Meunier…

She is frequently invited to play in some prestigious orchestras such as Toulouse Capitol National Orchestra, Paris Chamber Orchestra, Dissonances Chamber Orchestra. She is invited as first cello with the orchestra “Les Musiciens du Louvre” with Marc Minkowski and played with them as a soloist in the Cologne Philarmonie and Dotmund Konzerthaus.

Joëlle Martinez just created the Festival Hirondelle dedicated to chamber music that takes place in Cantal and Aveyron.

July 2017