Quatuor Ébène was founded in 1999 at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatory in France. The group first came to international attention in 2004 when it won first prize in the string quartet category at the ARD International Music Competition, also taking the Audience Prize, two prizes for interpretation, and the Karl Klinger Foundation Prize.[1] The next year, the group won the Belmont Prize from the Forberg-Schneider Foundation.[2] In 2006, Quatuor Ébène released its first recording, a live recording of three Haydn quartets, to critical acclaim. In 2009, BBC Music Magazine named the quartet "Newcomer of the Year" for its recording of the Ravel, Fauré, and Debussy string quartets.[3] The same album won the group Recording of the Year at the 2009 Classic FM Gramophone Awards.[4] In 2010, the group was named Ensemble of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique Classique.[5]NPR named Ébène's album Fiction one of its 50 favorite albums of 2011, describing the quartet's performance as brimming with "silky smoothness and Gallic finesse".[6]
New York Times music critic Allan Kozinn highlighted the group's versatility, describing the group as "a string quartet that can easily morph into a jazz band".[7]
