Quatuor Cambini-Paris

The Quatuor Cambini Paris is one of the few French groups applying period instruments to the music of the Classical period. The quartet has revived the work of several mostly forgotten French composers of the era. The Quatuor Cambini Paris, or Cambini Quartet of Paris, was formed in 2007 and named for Giuseppe Maria Cambini, a Paris-based Italian composer who was apparently a rival of Mozart's during his sojourn there. The quartet's members since its founding have been violinist Julien Chauvin, a graduate of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague; violinist Karine Croquenoy, who received a graduate degree at the Paris Conservatory; violist Pierre-Éric Nimylowycz, who studied violin and viola at the Paris and Lyon Conservatories, and received a musicology degree at the Sorbonne; and cellist Atsushi Sakaï, a native of Nagoya, Japan, and a student of American cellist Harvey Shapiro. All are members of French historical instrument ensembles, including Les Talens Lyriques. The quartet's repertory includes not only the quartets of Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, and Mendelssohn, but also the quartets of French composers Hyacinthe Jadin, Félicien David, and Louis Théodore Gouvy. The new quartet quickly gained bookings at major venues in France and beyond, including the Auditorium at the Louvre Museum, the Versailles Baroque Music Center, and the Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venice, Italy. The group has been a festival favorite, appearing at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and the Festival of Lubéron. It has played with cellist Alain Meunier, cellist and conductor Christophe Coin, and other French early music specialists. The Quatuor Cambini Paris made its recording debut on the MBF label with an album of quartets by François Devienne, Pierre Vachon, and its namesake Cambini in 2007. On the Timpani label in 2010 it issued an album of Hyacinthe Jadin's quartets that earned the Golden Diapason Prize. A 2012 album of quartets by David on the Ambroisie label earned the coveted "ffff" designation from the weekly magazine Télérama and several other awards. The quartet has also recorded for Naïve and Aparte; on the latter label they teamed with pianist David Lively on a recording of piano-and-quintet versions of Chopin's piano concertos.
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