About
Winner of the 50th “Prague Spring International Music Competition” in May 1998, the Quartetto was also awarded the “Special Barenreiter Prize for Best Performance of Mozart’s Quartet K590 based on the Original Score”, the “City of Prague “ award as best quartet, and the “Pro Harmonia Mundi” prize.
The Quartetto Prometeo was appointed resident quartet, from 1998 to 1999, at the Britten Pears Academy in Aldeburgh and was awarded the “Thomastik Infeld” prize at the International Summer Academy Prag-Wien-Budapest in 1999 for ”outstanding interpretation of a chamber music work.” It won second prize at the Concours International de Quatuors of that year in Bordeaux and, in 2000, the Special Barenreiter Prize at the ARD Munich Competition.
In 2012 it was honored to receive the Leone d’Argento, one of the highest distinctions in music in Italy, at the Biennale of Venice.
They have been invited, with great public and critical success, to the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, the Musikverein, Wigmore Hall, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Prague Spring Festival, the Mecklenburg Festival, The Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Società del Quartetto of Milan, the Amici della Musica of Florence, and many others and have toured in North and South America, Japan, Russia, and the Netherlands.
The Quartetto Prometeo enjoys collaborating with colleagues and friends -- Mario Brunello, David Geringas, Veronika Hagen, Alexander Lonquich, Enrico Pace, the Belcea Quartet, Enrico Bronzi, Mariangela Vacatello, Antonii Baryshevskyi, and Lilya Zilberstein.
Particularly intense has been the artistic relationship with Salvatore Sciarrino, Ivan Fedele, and Stefano Gervasoni, whose compositions they have recorded for ECM, Sony, and Brilliant.
Since 2013, they have been “quartet in residence” at the Accademia Chigiana of Siena, collaborating with the composition class of Salvatore Sciarrino. In 2018, they taught in the project “ Casa del Quartetto”, organized by the Foundation “Theaters of the Borciani Festival of Reggio Emilia.”
Critics write: “Quartetto Prometeo plays with special and poetic feeling, their penetrating performance carefully enhances the details while never sacrifing the overall expansive musical design” Angelo Foletto , La Repubblica
“The Prometeo’s performances are muscular and full of drive, delivered with glowing confidence, astonishingly precise, full of wit and vibrant life…. high-definition performances that look deep inside the music” David Kettle, The Strad
“This is a first-rate, finely-blended ensemble who think and play with a single, highly refined voice.” Tim Svejda, USA.
“An experience of life-changing beauty…. By turns restful, startling, and heart-stoppingly beautiful….. emotionally rich and rewarding” Rick Anderson, CDHotList.com.