Currently formed by Fernando de Lima, João Luiz, Fabio Ramazzina and Sidney Molina, Quaternaglia Guitar Quartet has been a strong international reference of artistic excellence and magnificence of repertoire written for four guitars. Throughout the past ten years, the group has established a real canon of original inedited pieces, almost all of them written by Brazilian composers. The group performance started to call the attention of the international critics in 1998, after it had been awarded with the "Ensemble Prize", at the International Guitar Contest of Havana (Cuba), and also after its participation in several important guitar and chamber music series in the United States, such as Guitarists of the World, the American Guitar Society Concert Series (Los Angeles), Fort Worth Classical Guitar Society (Dallas/Fort Worth), Friends of Music (Stamford), and Round Top Festival Hill.

The release of the album Forrobodó in Europe, by Carmo/ECM label (2000), and produced by Egberto Gismonti, was the first register of an original repertoire of great virtuosity - almost integrally dedicated to the quartet - and has set an example to the most important guitar ensembles at the present time. Among the pieces of the album, it is important to highlight "Baião de Gude" and "A Furiosa", written by Paulo Bellinati, and "Forrobodó", written by Egberto Gismonti. The album Antique, released in 1996 by the COMEP label, has transcriptions of Renaissance, baroque and classical pieces. The album was one of the finalists of the "Sharp Prize", in the "Classical Music" category, and prompted the group to receive the "Carlos Gomes Prize", as the best chamber ensemble of the year (1997), award given by the Culture Secretary of São Paulo.

According to the critics of the Los Angeles Times: "Quaternaglia Guitar quartet was attracted by opportunity to add experience and s pice to a young genre, creating a canon of fire" and "an aura of purity pervaded the concert of the Brazilian guitar quartet, that met all the requirements with equanimity and intelligence in its California debut". The critics of the Fort Worth Star Telegram wrote: "The four Brazilians performed the entire concert from memory and with a precise interaction" and "not a note was out of place, and every nuance of interpretation was in harmony at this concert that thrilled the crowd".

Quaternaglia's first concert took place in São Paulo, in 1992, and since then the quartet has participated in the main chamber and guitar events in Brazil, such as the SESC International Guitar Festival of São Paulo, Latin American Seminary of Guitar, Villa-Lobos Festival, Guitars: Tendencies and Traditions in São Paulo, International Music Festival of Pará, Winter Festival of Campos do Jordão, and Chamber Music Festival of Curitiba. Among the concert halls where the quartet has performed we can highlight Saint Peter Theater, Municipal Theater, Latin America Memorial Theater and Artistic Culture Theater, all in the city of São Paulo; Municipal Theater, Cecília Meireles Hall and Municipal Theater of Niterói, in Rio de Janeiro; Theater of Peace, in Belém; other theaters of Brazilian capitals like Goiânia, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, and in cities of the countryside of São Paulo.

Prior to Fernando de Lima and João Luiz, which became members of Quaternaglia in 2002, three other famous Brazilian guitarists performed with and Sidney Molina and Fabio Ramazzina in the quartet: Breno Chaves, Eduardo Fleury and Paulo Porto Alegre. The group's debut album, released by the JHO label, in 1995, which includes the first recording of the transcription written by Sergio Abreu of "Bachianas Brasileiras n. 1", by Villa-Lobos, along with the integral recording of the pieces for four guitars written by Leo Brouwer - composer with whom the group keeps close contact - became an example of artistic production and technique to the most important recording works of Brazilian classical guitar throughout the second half of the nineties. The creative and mature proposal of the chamber guitar work of Quaternaglia was immediately recognized by specialized publications like Classical Guitar Magazine and Les Cahiers de la Guitare.

Since its première abroad in the International Guitar Festival of Montevideo (1996), the group has been performing in cities like Buenos Aires, Caracas, Havana, New York, Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles, Washington, Dallas, Houston, Princeton, Phoenix and Tucson, among others. It is also important to highlight Quaternaglia's performances as a soloist, when invited for instance by the Brazilian Symphonic Orchestra, the Symphonic Orchestra of Santos, the Symphonic Orchestra of Santo Andre, the Villa-Lobos Chamber Orchestra and the Culture Symphonic Orchestra. Among the main pieces of its concert repertoire we highlight the "Andaluz Concert", by Joaquén Rodrigo, which was presented as part of the celebration of the composer's centenary the "Concert for Four Guitars and Orchestra", written especially for the group by the Brazilian composer Estércio Marquez Cunha, and a successful adaptation of the "Concert for Four Harpsichords and Orchestra", by J. S. Bach. The didactic activity of the quartet must be also highlighted, with special distinction to its lectures and master classes in various Brazilian capitals, and institutions in the United States, such as the Texas Christian University, Brookhaven College and California State University, besides the organization of National Guitar Festivals at Mozart Musical Conservatory, in São Paulo, since 1995.

For the 2003-2004 season Quaternaglia is preparing the recording of a new album, including pieces by Radamés Gnattali, Sergio Molina, Paulo Tiné, Rodrigo Vitta and Douglas Lora, and the Brazilian première of the "Concert for Four Guitars and Orchestra", written by Leo Brouwer.

 

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