Quatuor ébène (known as the Ébène Quartet in English) is a Paris-based string quartet (violins Pierre Colombet and Gabriel Le Magadure, viola Mathieu Herzog, and cello Raphaël Merlin) that embraces crossover approaches with unabashed enthusiasm. They will begin a North American tour in March, beginning in California and working their way east to a debut performance in Zankel Hall of Carnegie Hall. Along the way they will make their San Francisco debut on March 8 in Herbst Theatre under the auspices of San Francisco Performances (SFP).
Last year they released a Virgin Classics CD entitled Fiction, which took all of the stylistic cross-references from Pulp Fiction and ran off wildly with them in all directions (as if Quentin Tarantino had not done enough of that already). Thus, it is no surprise when they decide to perform jazz improvisations on the same program that includes string quartets by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven (which is what they plan to do when they get to Carnegie Hall). The program they have prepared for their evening at Herbst is a bit more traditional. Mozart will be there in the form of the K. 421 D minor quartet. They will also perform Alexander Borodin’s second quartet in D major, some of whose themes found their way into the pop repertoire by way of the musical Kismet. The second half of their program will be devoted to Maurice Ravel’s F major quartet, although the odds are good that they will cut loose with some of their jazz for an encore.
This recital will take place at 8 PM on Thursday, March 8, in Herbst Theatre (410 Van Ness Avenue). Tickets are on sale for $60, $50, and $38. Further information may be obtained from SFP at 415-392-2545. Tickets may also be purchased through the Web page for this event.
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