Formed in 1995 at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, Quartetto Klimt is today one of the most interesting young chamber music groups in Italy. Since its foundation it has performed in numerous concerts including prestigious Festivals in Italy and abroad. Between 1997-1999 the quartet attended for two years the master classes held by Trio di Milano in Fiesole; since 2000 the quartet has studied for various years with M.° Pier Narciso Masi. In April 1998 the quartet won first prize at the International Chamber Music Competition “Gaetano Zinetti” at Sanguinetto (VR).
A few months after its foundation the quartet was invited by: “Encontre Internationale des Enseignements Artistiques” organized by the Institute de le Marionette a Charleville-Meziéres (France); the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana ad Aosta; the “Ater Festival” in Rimini; and by the “Elba Isola Musicale d’Europa” Festival, where it captured the attention of the great Yuri Bashmet.
The following years have seen the group participating in prestigious musical seasons among which “Lingotto Musica” in Turin, the “Festival di Ravello”, “Musica Insieme” in Bologna and at the Bologna Festival, Ravenna Festival, “Amici della Musica” in Florence, “Amici della Musica” in Perugia, the “Accademia Filarmonica Romana” and “I Concerti del Quirinale” in Rome, the “Serate Musicali di Milano”, the “Festival Mozart” in Rovereto, the “Biennale” in Venice (with the Italian première of Morton Feldman’s last work); abroad, they played in Germany (“Oleg Kagan Musikfest” in Kreuth), in Spain “Festival de Santander”, in USA (Columbia University in New York). The quartet has also played a leading part in numerous live television and radio performances for RAI (Radio Televisione Italiana). In these years of intense activity, the quartet has benefited from the advice and support of artists such as Carlo Maria Giulini, Natalia Gutman, Krzysztof Penderecki (whose Sextet has been performed by the Quartet in 2012 for the first time in Italy) and Maurizio Pollini; the latter invited Klimt to perform during the award ceremony of “Una vita nella Musica” in 1999 in Venice, and in 2001 gave them the scholarship “Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli”.
In 2010 the prestigious magazine Amadeus published the two quartets for piano and strings by Robert Schumann performed by Quartetto Klimt, who was later invited by the RAI to perform these pieces live for Euroradio for the bicentenary of Schumann’s birth. In 2013 Amadeus released a second cd, with the two Piano quartets by Antonin Dvořák; in 2014 Stradivarius released the first world recording of Morton Feldman’s “Piano, violin, viola, cello”, with an extraordinary success of audience and crytics. In 2018 two new recordings will be released: Brahms’ three piano quartets for Limen Music (in CD and DVD) and Mendelsshn’s four piano quartets for Brilliant Classics.
In recognition of Klimt’s unfailing, passionate commitment to the promotion and diffusion of contemporary music, various composers, such as A.Solbiati, F.Antonioni, M.D’Amico, G. Cardini, G. Gaslini and I. Vandor have dedicated compositions to the Quartet. Its four members are Professors at Scuola di Musica di Fiesole (one of the main music schools in Europe), and since 2012 they have been teaching chamber music at Livorno Music Festival.
