bio

Excellence et kindness

The quartet repertoire is recognized as particularly demanding in the classical world. Thus the Zaïde Quartet founded ISQA (the International String Quartet Academy) in 2021, an international and intergenerational academy in which quartets can exchange and provide necessary technical, musical, physiological and psychological support in a holistic approach. From great masters to young stars, all are invited to research and play together, receive valuable advice and improve in an atmosphere of mutual respect.

The musicians also have a special bond with the NoMadMusic label and its artistic director Hannelore Guittet, who has accompanied them since their first recording project and with whom they have already produced seven albums.

The quartet is also known for its diverse repertoire, which ranges from classical quartets to contemporary works, including those of Iannis Xenakis, Jonathan Harvey, Wolfgang Rihm and Sofia Gubaidulina.

Over the years, the Zaïde quartet has forged close friendly and artistic ties with several composers such as Bryce Dessner, Suzanne Giraud, Francesca Verunelli and Cécile Buchet, from whom it commissioned several pieces.

They also collaborate with big names in jazz: Michel Portal, Marion Rampal, Sylvain Rifflet, Yaron Herman and join forces with different companies such as the Sydney Dance Company in the show “Impermanence” with Bryce Dessner’s music.

While being part of the heritage passed down by the great figures of the quartet, the four musicians offer interpretations inspired by their “imaginary laboratory”: the connection of sound with the body, artistic risk-taking and interactions with the public.

The Zaïde Quartet is an “associated artist” of the Singer-Polignac Foundation and is supported by the City of Dijon, the DRAC Bourgogne Franche-Comté and Indosuez Wealth Management.

Charlotte Maclet plays a 1769 Milanese violin by Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi on loan from the El Pasito association.

Leslie Boulin Raulet plays a violin by Jacques Bocquay from 1715.

Céline Tison plays a viola by Sebastian Rauch from 1720.

Juliette Salmona plays a cello by Claude-Augustin Miremont from 1876.

*Lauréates of numerous international competitions: ARD 2012, Beijing International Music Competition 2011 (1st prize), Charles Hennen 2010, Banff 2010, Bordeaux 2010, Vienna 2012 (1st prize). 

*concert halls: Wigmore Hall in London, Philharmonies in Berlin, Cologne and Paris, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Konserthuset in Stockholm, Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Jordan Hall in Boston, Merkin Hall in New York , Hong Kong, Korea, Brazil etc… 

*The great masters: Hatto Beyerle, Erbherard Feltz, Goran Gribajecvic, Johannes Meissl, Gordan Nicolic and Gábor Takács-Nagy.

First violin : Charlotte Maclet
Second violin : Leslie Boulin Raulet
Viola : Céline Tison
Cello : Juliette Salmona

our name : Zaïde

It is always difficult to choose a name. One must grow up with it, get old with it, say it whenever one meets someone else and repeat it whilst articulating exaggeratedly when one cannot be understood. In the case of a string quartet, following a long and challenging struggle over it, once a name has finally been found one is forever having to explain the reasons for that choice. It is probably the name which finds you rather than the other way around, since, in our case, we all recognised ourselves immediately at the mention by one of us of Zaïde, Mozart’s unfinished Singspiel. Firstly, because of its immediate musical impact, as one hears a short, sharp sound, and, also, the fact that to a French person, the Z and the dieresis lend it an exotic note, and make one feel like travelling. And the name starts to resonate… Zaïde is the heroine of a drama and it follows that our quartet is the heart of the story that we are beginning to write together. The Singspiel genre (a popular version of operas), inspires us too. From the German “singen” meaning to sing, and “spielen” to play. Sing, because the voice is always a model for us and an ideal for any musician. It is the first of all instruments and probably the most expressive. Play, because in the world of classical music, also pompously called “serious” music, we notice that a professional artist’s interpretations often lack the simple and crucial element of music as play, in the sense of a child would understand it, from the latin word « jocus » meaning joke! Playing, “das Spiel”, before referring to a musician’s interpretation, means drama, and the pleasure of inhabiting another character. Which refers us back to words, to language which is the basis for eighteen century music, the century of Haydn and Mozart, the cradle of string quartets. Speaking is what we wish to do with our quartet and it is the first function of the genre: four people meeting to share a musical discussion among themselves and with an audience, with one single voice or several, in an infinite number of combinations. We find this far more rewarding than speaking alone. And then, close to Zaïde, we find Mozart. We could not have imagined better patronage than that of the Viennese rockstar: Mozart occupies a privileged place in the genesis of our discipline but, especially, he knows how to speak to everyone: his music reaches equally to the aristocrat, to the bourgeois or to the peasant. It speaks equally to the sentimental listener, to the intellectual, the novice or the specialist, to those from the age of the Enlightenment or to our contemporaries… And since Zaïde is an unfinished work, we cannot wait to pursue it…