Raphaël Merlin, artist around the world

Member of the Quatuor Ebène and conductor

It is a monumental undertaking that has just been awarded a Victoire de la Musique Classique 2021 in the category "Recording of the Year".

Indeed, recording the complete Beethoven Quartets is already a high point in the life of a string quartet, but recording it in concert, from April 2019 to January 2020, during seven stages of a forty-concert world tour, shows a strong artistic choice, an authenticity and an artistic maturity that is no longer to be demonstrated with regard to the Quatuor Ebène.

Associated with a social and ecological approach, the "Beethoven around the world" project dates back to 2014, when New York's Carnegie Hall invited the Quatuor Ebène to perform the complete string quartets by Beethoven in 2020, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth.

Raphaël Merlin, the quartet's cellist, an accomplished musician and an outstanding passer-by, tells us here about this crazy project: https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/l-invite-du-jour/raphael-merlin-violoncelliste-du-quatuor-ebene-88441

It is a great pride for RSB Artists to accompany Raphaël Merlin in the development of another facet of his immense artistic career, that of orchestral conducting.

Founder in 2014 of the "Forces Majeures", a dynamic and versatile ensemble of chamber musicians (traditional repertoire, creation, jazz...), which immediately received international success, Raphaël Merlin conducts many concerts, notably alongside Nicholas Angelich, Sayaka Shoji, Edgar Moreau, Sarah Nemtanu, Inva Mula, Florian Sempey, Amel Brahim-Djelloul, Marc Mauillon ...

Two discs crown the development of this collective: a "Rossini" programme, recorded with the mezzo Karine Deshayes (Aparté/2016), then the concertos by Gulda and Offenbach, recorded alongside the cellist Edgar Moreau (erato/warner classics/2019).

Raphaël Merlin has also already performed at the Vichy Opera (Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini) and as conductor of the Rouen Opera Orchestra, for a project entitled "Création habitants", conducted jointly with the choreographer Alban Richard, director of the CCN.

To find out more about Raphaël Merlin, click here!

Photo credit: © DR