Quatuor Hermès

The flourishing career of the Quatuor Hermès takes its members on tours worldwide. The quartet is a regular guest in the United States, where it performs at prestigious halls including the Kennedy Center inWashington and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in NewYork.

Its trajectory has been punctuated by a number of decisive encounters, notably with the Ravel, Ysaÿe and Artemis quartets, with whom the four musicians trained and developed a shared musical philosophy, and with such outstanding personalities as Eberhard Feltz in Berlin, and later Alfred Brendel, an immense inspiration with whom they now work regularly.

The Quatuor Hermès has received numerous prestigious awards, among them ‘Révélation Musicale de l‘Année’ at the Prix de la Critique 2014-15 and the Nordmetall Ensemble Preis 2013 at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival. It also won the First Prizes of the Geneva International Competition 2011, the FNAPEC Competition 2010, the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition 2009, and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York.

The four musicians were Artists in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel from 2012 to 2016. Since 2015 they have received support from the Fondation d’Entreprise Banque Populaire and the Fondation Singer-Polignac in Paris.

Their last rendition of Schubert two major works, was acclaimed by international critics, and has been awarded CHOC of the French magazine Classica, as well as CD of the week of the Bavarian Radio BR-Klassik. They also received similar accolades for their previous recordings of Debussy, Ravel, and Dutilleux quartets, as well as the complete Schumann string quartets.

Elise Liu plays a violin by Carlo Tononi on loan from Talents & Violon'celles.

Since August 2016, Omer Bouchez has been playing a 1796 violin by Joseph Gagliano on loan from Mécénat Musical Société Générale.

Lou Chang plays a viola made for her by Riccardo Bergonzi (Cremona) in 2017.

Yan Levionnois plays a 1703 cello by David Tecchler, generously loaned by private patrons.

HERMES QUARTET
Omer Bouchez, violin
Elise Liu, violin
Yung-Hsin Lou Chang, viola 
Yan Levionnois, cello

June 2022