
On 18 May 2023, after four rounds in which ten quartets from all over the world competed, the Quartetto Indaco won the International Chamber Music Competition in Osaka, Japan. The competition, among the most important on the international scene and among the few for quartets recognised by the Federation of International Music Competitions, awarded the Italian ensemble the First Prize and two other special prizes.
This victory has a historic significance: it is the first time that an Italian Quartet has won First Prize at one of the great string quartet competitions, a sign of the very high level now reached by Italian musicians, confirmed by the important victories at the Chopin, Paganini and Liszt Competitions in 2021, but also of the inspiration and happy creative freedom of the Indigo Quartet, which convinced the International Jury chaired by the great Japanese cellist T. Tsutsumi. The Quartetto Indaco was founded in 2007 at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, thanks to the impetus of P. Farulli and A. Nannoni, and is now considered one of the most interesting Italian string quartets of its generation.
He specialised with exponents of the leading quartets of our time including, among others, H. Beyerle and G. Pichler of the legendary Alban Berg Quartet and R. Schmidt of the Hagen Quartet, earning his Master’s Degree in Chamber Music in 2017 at the Musikhochschule Hannover, under the guidance of O. Wille of the Kuss Quartet, and later also at the prestigious Accademia Chigiana with whom he collaborates by giving concerts both in Italy and abroad.
The Quartet was awarded the Scotese Prize in 2017, the ‘Boersen Club Hannover’ and after winning the Special Prize ‘Jeunesses Musicales’ at the International Competition ‘Premio Paolo Borciani’ 2014, it was among the finalists of the same competition in 2017 and won several international prizes and scholarships. A ‘compact ensemble, full of polish and exuberance’, the Indigo showcases its artistic qualities in a wide repertoire, from classical to contemporary, with a particular predilection for 19th and 20th century composers. It has recorded for Brillant Classics the complete Quartets by Pavia composer Albini and with Ema Vinci S.r.l. after winning the SIAE ‘per chi crea’ 2019 competition the Quartet ‘Canti dopo l’Apocalisse’ by A. Portera.
In 2020 the first album was released, published with Ema Vinci and dedicated to the music of the north entitled ‘Northern Lights’ with works by Grieg, Sallinen, Rachmaninov and Carovani. Since 2021 he has been pursuing the publishing and recording project ‘Dante21’ in collaboration with the Contemporary Publishing House ‘Sconfinarte’ in Milan, involving 34 living Italian composers for the cantos of Dante’s Inferno. He is currently part of ‘Le Dimore del Quartetto’ and is Quartet in residence at the HighScore Festival in Pavia and of the Orchestra Milano Classica.
Eleonora Matsuno plays the violin J. B. Villaume 1869
Ida di Vita plays the violin Anonimo 1832
Jamiang Santi plays the viola A. Stalmach 2019
Cosimo Carovani plays the cello C. Claudot 1840
Music by Rachmaninov, Sallinen, Grieg and Carovani

The musical project conceived by the Quartetto Indaco is dedicated to the lights of the North and to the phenomenon of the aurora borealis. The Quartetto Indaco has wisely connected authors and pieces of music through different leading themes that intertwine perfectly, giving the whole project unity and organicity. The musical path outlined here becomes a real journey in the northern hemisphere in search of a privileged point to observe the sublime grandeur of the polar aurora. To show us the way, as mentioned, some thematic “compasses”: the earth and the song are those that emerge in a more predominant way.
Music by Giovanni Albini

Giovanni Albini is a fascinating figure in contemporary art, as he developed a unique and personal compositional technique in which the course of the music is designed by mathematical patterns (Albini is a mathematician as well as a composer).
This new recording presents 9 string quartets, written over a period of 15 years, which serve as a seismograph of his compositional activity. The quartets are partly single-movement and partly multi-movement, averaging 6 minutes in length.
The quartets offer a fascinating listen to the music of a brilliant mind, an original personality, witty and warm. Excellent performances by the Italian Quartetto Indaco.
Music by Giovanni Albini

Seven pieces, each of which starts from the allegorical figure of “the seven seals” of the Apocalypse, which the evangelist John claims to have seen in a vision described in the last book of the Bible. Each movement therefore has an initial section that musically manifests itself as an emblem of archetypal figures and events: the seven seals, as an emblem of modern society. Perhaps our age has within it the seeds of the dogmatic and archetypal Apocalypse described in the Bible. The seven seals are emblematic figures easily recognizable in events that modern society places before our eyes on a daily basis; in their description they appear as follows: at the opening of the first four seals, four knights appear, following the invitation of creatures and cherubs, who, with a voice of thunder, say “Come” (a word that will find musical correspondence as a “signal” that gives the incipit to the structural development).
Quartetto Indaco was born from the desire of four very different musicians and friends to share their life and musical experiences and put them at the service of an artistic research under a different and fresh point of view. Individual experiences as backs of orchestras, baroque repertoire and praxis, composition, solo career and teaching make their group very heterogeneous, and the clashes-meetings between their different personalities result in the extremely extroverted musical tension that distinguishes their performances, which range from classical to contemporary repertoire, and also include special projects in which the ensemble tries its hand at different performing arts, such as acting, singing and cultural insights to offer a rich and engaging experience.




