The French ensemble will now perform on a set of Stradivari instruments made available by the Habisreutinger-Huggler-Coray Foundation
(Source The Violin Channel – June 13, 2026)
The Ébène Quartet, based in Paris, France, has announced the acquisition of four instruments manufactured in the 17th and 18th centuries by the renowned Italian violin maker Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737). The two violins are the "Piatti" from 1717 and the "King George" from 1710, both made during Stradivari's Golden Period. The viola is the "Gibson" from 1734, which is considered Stradivari's last remaining viola, and the "De Kermadec-Bläss" cello from 1698 was made when Stradivari was in his fifties.
Violinist Pierre Colombet of the Ébène Quartet will now perform on two violins: the "Piatti" from 1717, kindly made available to him by a generous sponsor through the Beare's International Violin Society, and a violin by Matteo Goffriller from 1736, generously made available to him by Gabriele Forberg-Schneider, who has also lent him a bow by Charles Tourte.
Gabriel Le Magadure will perform on the "King George" violin from 1710. He has also performed on the former violin of Baron Rothschild Peter Guarneri from Venice, kindly made available to him by the Miller-Porter Collection through the Beare's International Violin Society, and on a violin with a Guarneri label from circa 1740, also lent by Gabriele Forberg-Schneider. He uses a bow by Dominique Pecatte from circa 1845, which has also been made available to him by Gabriele Forberg-Schneider.
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Violist Marie Chilemme of the quartet performs on two violas: the Gibson from 1734, generously loaned by the Stradivari Foundation Habisreutinger, and a viola from 1625, made by Marcellus Hollmayr in Füssen, loaned by Gabriele Forberg-Schneider. Cellist Yuya Okamoto has performed on a cello by Giovanni Grancino from 1682, made in Milan, and will now perform on the recently acquired De Kermadec-Bläss cello from 1698.
The Ébène Quartet studied with the Quatuor Ysaÿe in Paris, as well as with Gábor Takács, Eberhard Feltz and György Kurtág. The group's success came after winning the ARD International Music Competition in 2004. Highlights from the past season include concerts at the Salzburg Festival, at the Berliner Philharmonie, the Megaron Theater in Athens, Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York City.
"It is an enormous pleasure and great honor for us to announce that Quatuor Ébène now has the privilege of performing on four Stradivarius instruments!" the quartet shares. "These instruments will become our best friends and will be able to speak with each other. "The opportunity to elevate our artistic skills and our standards to the highest level thanks to these prestigious instruments is an ongoing quest, and we appreciate every day the opportunity we have been given," they add. "There is an exciting and inspiring mission ahead of us, and we want to express our sincere gratitude to the Stradivari Foundation Habisreutinger-Huggler-Coray and our generous sponsor, the Beare's International Violin Society, who give us the opportunity to play these jewels and try to reach the unreachable."