The Esmé String Quartet and Yekwon Sunwoo are a group of accomplished musicians who have collaborated on various projects. The Esmé Quartet is a German-based Korean string quartet, known for their dynamic and passionate performances. Yekwon Sunwoo is a South Korean pianist, winner of the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The Esmé String Quartet appeared with MCMS in 2022.

Esme Quartet is one of the most dynamic and multi-faceted string quartets of its generation, winning audiences and reviewers over with its infectious energy and immaculate ensemble playing. The four South Korean musicians’ ensemble was the first all-female string quartet to win the first prize and four special prizes, including the Mozart and the Beethoven Prize, at the 2018 International String Quartet Competition at London’s Wigmore Hall: a sensational launch of an international string quartet career.

This great success in competition also proved the springboard for worldwide concert activities, ranging from the USA to Europe’s great musical centres and all the way to Asia, where they were celebrated during a prestigious residency at Seoul’s Lotte Concert Hall during the past season. Furthermore, innumerable concert tours and guest appearances have taken the Esme Quartet to festivals and concert halls such as the Lucerne Festival, the Verbier Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Flagey Musiq3 Festival in Brussels, L’Auditori in Barcelona, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Heidelberg String Quartet Fest and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. In the summer of 2018, they were also the Quartet in Residence at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.

In 2019, the Esme Quartet became HSBC Winner of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, also taking first prize at the 55th Possehl Music Prize in Lubeck. Its debut CD, featuring works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Unsuk Chin and Frank Bridge and released in early 2020 by Alpha Classics, won a 5-star review from Diapason d’Or and was named one of the best classical albums of 2020 by WQXR Radio in New York. In October of that year, the Esme Quartet also received the Hans Gal Prize of the German Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz and the Villa Musica Foundation.

The four musicians, who are bound by many years of friendship, have studied with Heime Muller (Artemis Quartet) in Lubeck and with Oliver Wille (Kuss Quartet) in Hanover. They also received important artistic impulses from Gunter Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet), Alfred Brendel, Eberhard Feltz, Andras Keller (Keller Quartet), Christoph Poppen and Jonathan Brown (Cuarteto Casals). In its concerts, the Esme Quartet, whose name is derived from medieval French and means “beloved”, is celebrated for its spellbinding dynamics, stylistically assured interpretations and perfect ensemble playing, which has also aroused the interest of many renowned guest artists as demonstrated most recently by their collaboration with Eckart Runge, the long-time cellist of the Artemis Quartet.
 

Yekwon Sunwoo:

Gold medallist of the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Yekwon Sunwoo has been hailed for his “unfailingly consistent excellence” (International Piano) and celebrated as “a pianist who commands a comprehensive technical arsenal that allows him to thunder without breaking a sweat” (Chicago Tribune). A powerful and virtuosic performer, he also, in his own words, “strives to reach for the truth and pure beauty in music”.

The first Korean to win Cliburn Gold, Yekwon’s 19/20 season includes appearances with Fort Worth and Tuscon Symphonies and the Bucheon Philharmonic and debuts with Washington Chamber Orchestra, Royal Danish Orchestra and Danish Radio Orchestra amongst others as well as a debut appearance at the Vail Festival with Dallas Symphony. Recital highlights include Four Season Arts, San Antonio Arts and the Stadttheater Aschaffenburg

An avid chamber musician, Yekwon’s collaborators include Benjamin Beilman, Linus Roth, Andrei Ioni??, Sebastian Bohren, Isang Enders, Tobias Feldmann, Gary Hoffman, Anne-Marie McDermott and the Jerusalem and Brentano Quartets. He has also toured Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama with the Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation, performed at Chamber Music of Lincoln Center’s Inside Chamber Music Lectures and been invited to the Summit Music, Bowdoin International and Toronto Summer Music Festivals. In addition to the Cliburn Gold Medal, Yekwon won first prizes at the 2015 International German Piano Award, the 2014 Vendome Prize held at the Verbier Festival, the 2013 Sendai International Music Competition and the 2012 William Kapell International Piano Competiton.

Program:

Haydn: String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 33, No. 2
Debussy: String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10

Intermission

Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34