Luïc Rio, violin
Philippe Bernhard, violin
Laurent Marfaing, viola
François Kieffer, violoncello
The Amedeo Modigliani Quartet won the 2006 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York and the 2005 Young Concert Artists European Auditions in Paris. In addition to the Princeton University Concerts Prize, the ensemble was also awarded the Jerome L. Greene Foundation prize sponsoring their New York début at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, the Washington Performing Arts Society Prize sponsoring their début at the Kennedy Center, as well as the Gulbenkian Foundation Concert Prize for an appearance in Paris, among others.
In addition to this appearance in Princeton, the Modigliani Quartet will be heard in Texas, New York State, Washington State, and in California. In Europe, they perform in Bilbao, Lisbon, Prague, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, and throughout France, including a concert at the Louvre (Paris). The Quartet made its Tokyo début last May.
The Amedeo Modigliani Quartet was formed in 2003 by four young musicians studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSM). It was soon admitted to the prestigious string quartet class at the Conservatoire National de Région de Paris (CNR), where its members worked with Dana Hovora, Marie Bereau, and the Ysayë Quartet.
At the 2004 TROMP International Stirng Quartet Competition in Eindhoven (its first international competition) the Modigliani was awarded First Prize, the Audience Prize, the Young Jury’s Prize, and the Willem Vos Prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary work. Its members have received scholarships from the Forum Musical International de Normandie, the Cziffra Foundation, and the FNAPEC European Chamber Music Competition. The Amedeo Modigliani Quartet is the recipient of a grant from the Fondation Groupe Banque Populaire. ’Cellist François Kieffer plays an instrument by Grancino dated 1700, on loan from Geoffrey Simon, Artistic Director of the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation.
At only nineteen years of age, French pianist Jean-Frédéric Neuburger won the 2006 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, also winning the John Browning Memorial prize and the Rhoda Walker Teagle Prize sponsoring his New York début at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall in December, 2006. Young Concert Artists also presented his début recital at Washington’s Kennedy Center. Mr. Neuburger had previously won First Prize in the 2005 Young Concert Artists European Auditions in Paris
Mr. Neuburger recently performed in Tokyo as soloist in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto with Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic. He has also appeared as soloist with the Baden-Baden Philharmonic, Danish National Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra.
He has given recitals at the prestigious festivals of Auvers sur Oise, Radio-France-Montpellier, the Roque d’Anthéron Piano Festival, and at the Chopin Festival at Duznicki. Other recitals include those at the Auditorium du Louvre, Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, and the Chopin-Gesellschaft in Darmstadt, Germany.
Born in 1986, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger began piano study with Claude Maillols at the Académie Maurice Ravel at the age of nine, and also developed an interest in the organ and composition, which he studied with Emile Naoumoff and Jean-François Zygel. He entered the Conservatoire national Supérieur de Musique de Paris in 2000, where he received highest honors in piano, accompaniment, and chamber music in the classes of Jean-François Hisser, Jean Koerner, Itamar Golan, Christian Ivaldi, and Marie-Françoise Bucquet. Mr. Neuburger currently studies with Reiko Hozu and Vladimir Krainev.
Mr. Neuburger’s impressive list of awards includes First Prize at the 2002 Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists; Second Prize and the Beethoven Prize at the 2004 International José Iturbi Competition in Valencia (Spain), Third Grand Prix, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France Prize, the Audience Favorite Prize, and the Sacem prize at the 2004 Long-Thibaud Competition (Paris); and Second Prize at the 2005 London International Piano Competition.
Two CDs of Mr. Neuberger’s playing are available on the DiscAuvers label: the complete Chopin Études (released in 2003), and another recording of Chopin works (released in 2006).