The ensemble takes its name from an Old French word meaning ‘loved’

Praised for their warm sound, powerful stage presence, the Esmé Quartet was formed in 2016 at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, Germany by four Korean musicians who had been friends since childhood. They shared common interests and passions in music, the arts and life. The Esmé Quartet brings together four brilliant and strong musical personalities with a shared background who now form a cohesive, close-knit group that is passionately dedicated to the string quartet repertoire.

The Quartet is based in Germany and has rapidly gained a worldwide reputation as a chamber ensemble of exceptional achievement and promise. In spring 2018, the quartet won First Prize as well as four special prizes at the prestigious Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in London, and in the same year it became Laureate of the Académie du Festival d’Aix. This recognition followed prizes at the Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition, the Irene Steels-Wilsing String Quartet Competition and the 55th Possehl-Musikpreis Lübeck.

They have recently appeared at the Lucerne Festival, at Wigmore Hall and throughout the UK, at the Flagey Musiq3 Festival in Brussels, in the Lotte Concert Hall Seoul, and as a resident quartet at the 2018 Aix-en-Provence festival; also at the 2018 McGill International String Quartet Academy in Montreal, the Heidelberg String Quartet Festival, and Classic Esterházy in Eisenstadt.

The quartet has been mentored in masterclasses with artists such as Günter Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet), Eberhard Feltz, Andras ́ Keller, Christoph Poppen and Jonathan Brown (Cuarteto Casals). Esmé is currently studying under the tutelage of Heime Müller (Artemis Quartet).