Askonas Holt is extremely delighted to announce the general management of the Chiaroscuro Quartet. Formed in 2005, the Chiaroscuro Quartet comprises violinists Alina Ibragimova (Russia) and Pablo Hernán Benedí (Spain), the Swedish violist Emilie Hörnlund and cellist Claire Thirion from France.

Dubbed "a trailblazer for the authentic performance of High Classical chamber music" in Gramophone, this highly international ensemble performs music of the Classical period on gut strings and Baroque bows. The quartet’s unique sound – described in The Observer as "a shock to the ears of the best kind" – is highly acclaimed by audiences and critics all over Europe.

An acclaimed and growing discography on the BIS label includes recordings of music by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn. The Chiaroscuro Quartet was a prize-winner of the German Förderpreis Deutschlandfunk/Musikfest Bremen in 2013 and received Germany’s most prestigious CD award, the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 2015 for its latest recording of Mozart’s Quartet in D minor, K.421 and Mendelssohn’s Second string quartet in A minor, Op. 13. Among the ensemble’s chamber music partners are renowned artists such as Kristian Bezuidenhout, Trevor Pinnock, Jonathan Cohen, Nicolas Baldeyrou, Chen Halevi, Malcolm Bilson and Christophe Coin.

Recent engagements included their enthusiastically received debut concerts at Wiener Konzerthaus and Philharmonie Warsaw. Other highlights have taken the ensemble to the Edinburgh International Festival, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, London’s Wigmore Hall, Auditorio Nacional de Música Madrid, Music Festival Grafenegg, The Sage Gateshead (recorded for BBC Radio 3), Auditorium du Louvre Paris, Théâtre du Jeu-de-Paume in Aix-en-Provence, Grand Théâtre de Dijon, Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon, West Cork Festival and for a residency in Aldeburgh.

For the 2015/16 season, the Chiaroscuro Quartet appears on stage at Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon, Amsterdam Concertgebouw and various summer festivals such as West Cork, Hindsgavl and Gstaad. They continue to perform Mozart's masterworks for piano and string quartet together with Kristian Bezuidenhout in leading concert halls such as Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Palau de la Música Barcelona, BR Munich, Meisterkonzerte Dresden, Kartause Ittingen and Theater Bern. In April 2016 the quartet embarked on its first tour to Japan playing concerts in Tokyo and Hyogo.

Since 2009, the Chiaroscuro Quartet has been artist-in-residence in Port-Royal-des-Champs, giving a concert series dedicated to Mozart’s string quartets.

Welcome to Askonas Holt, Chiaroscuro!