“La Pépinière del Quartetto” (“The seedbed of Quartets”) project arises from the will to support and spread among young musicians the love and practice of String Quartet, the most profound and essential genre of Western Music.
In this project, eight European string quartets – of young and very young age – will meet, get to know and compare each other. Young musicians will have the opportunity to explore new interpretation perspectives and new ways to try out quartet practice thanks to the international experience of great musicians who dedicated all their lives to String Quartet, chamber music and music teaching.
After four days of intensive learning, as well as performances and music seminars, the peak of the project will be in Cremona, in the gorgeous Arvedi Hall of the Violin Museum, where a String Quartet competition will be held in a non-conventional way: it will offer a setting similar to international competitions but in a sort of “protected mode”. During the competition, the young musicians will be accompanied by their workshop tutors in order to emphasize the constructive aspect of this experience above the competitive aspect. One of the main objectives of this project is to encourage and strengthen the ability to overcome stage fright and competition stress. During the workshop, teachers will evaluate the eight groups and there will be a preliminary selection before the competition in order to avoid that young quartets not ready for such experience might get a traumatic disappointment from this competitive event.