Winner of the 50th “Prague Spring International Music Competition” in May 1998, the Quartetto Prometeo was also awarded the “Special Barenreiter Prize for Best Performance of Mozart’s Quartet K 590 Based on the Original Score”, the “City of Prague” award as best quartet, and the “Pro Harmonia Mundi” prize. The Quartetto Prometeo was appointed resident quartet, from 1998 to 1999, at the Britten Pears Academy in Aldeburgh and was awarded the “Thomastik Infeld” prize at the Internationale Sommer Akademie Prag-Wien-Budapest in 1999 for “outstanding performance of a chamber music work.” It won second prize at the Concours International de Quatuors of that year in Bordeaux and, in 2000, the Special Barenreiter Prize at the ARD Munich Competition. Then, in 2012 it was honored to receive the Leone d’Argento, one of the highest distinctions in music in Italy, and at present is quartet-in-residence at the prestigious Accademia Filarmonica Romana.
The Quartetto Prometeo’s brilliant international career has included performances at the Concertgebouw, the Musikverein, Wigmore Hall, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Prague Spring Festival, the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Società del Quartetto of Milan, the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Musica Insieme in Bologna, Waterfront Hall in Belfast for the BBC, Grand Théatre in Bordeaux, Foundation Royaumont, Auditorium Musée d’Orsay in Paris, Boswil Festival, Schloss-Elmau Kammermusikfest, Wurzburg Mozartnacht, Le Printemps Musical de Saint-Cosme, Engadiner Festwochen, Kammermusikfest in Saarbrucken, Rencontres Musicales de Fontainbleau, Colmar Festival, Sanssouci Festival in Potsdam, as well as tours in North and South America, the Netherlands, Russia, Japan, and elseware. The Quartetto Prometeo enjoys performing with their friends and colleagues — Mario Brunello, David Geringas, Veronika Hagen, Alexander Lonquich, Enrico Pace, Stefano Scodanibbio, the Belcea Quartet, and others.
One of the characteristics of the Prometeo is their constant experimentation with interactions between classical repertoire and musical expressions of our time. Their close collaboration with Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino resulted in his dedicating two pieces to them, the Esercizi di Tre Stili and the recent Quartetto No. 8, commissioned by the Società del Quartetto of Milan together with the MaerzMusik Festival Berlin, the Ultima Festival Oslo, and the Aldeburgh Festival, recorded for Kairos together with his other recent works for string quartet. The Quartetto Prometeo collaborates regularly with composer Ivan Fedele and in 2011, premiered Moroloja Kai Erotika for string quartet and voice, commissioned by the Accademia Filarmonica Romana and dedicated to them.
After the successful recording of the complete Schumann String Quartets for Amadeus, their new releases include: for Kairos a monografic CD dedicated to Salvatore Sciarrino, for Brilliant a CD, the Opera Omnia for quartet by Hugo Wolf, for ECM a CD dedicated to Stefano Scodanibbio, for LimenMusic a CD/DVD with works by Beethoven and Schubert, as well as quartets by Szymanowski for Brilliant, and a monografic CD dedicated to Ivan Fedele. In the Spring of 2015 their first recording for SONY Classics, Arcana, was released.
Vincitore della 50° edizione del Prague Spring International Music Competition nel 1998, il Quartetto Prometeo è stato insignito anche del Premio Speciale Bärenreiter come migliore esecuzione fedele al testo originale del Quartetto K 590 di Mozart, del Premio Città di Praga come migliore quartetto e del Premio Pro Harmonia Mundi.
Nel 1998 il Quartetto Prometeo è stato eletto complesso residente della Britten Pears Academy di Aldeburgh e nel 1999 ha ricevuto il premio Thomas Infeld dalla Internationale Sommer Akademie Prag-Wien-Budapest per le “straordinarie capacità interpretative per una composizione del repertorio cameristico per archi” ed è risultato secondo al Concours International de Quatuors di Bordeaux.
Nel 2000 è stato nuovamente insignito del Premio Speciale Bärenreiter al Concorso ARD di Monaco.
Riceve il Leone d’Argento 2012 alla Biennale Musica di Venezia.
Si è esibito nelle più importanti sale tra cui Concertgebouw di Amsterdam, Musikverein, Wigmore Hall, Aldeburgh Festival, Prague Spring Festival, Mecklenburg Festival, Accademia di Santa Cecilia di Roma, Società del Quartetto di Milano, Amici della Musica di Firenze, Teatro La Fenice.
Ha collaborato con musicisti quali Mario Brunello, David Geringas, Veronika Hagen, Alexander Lonquich, Enrico Pace, Stefano Scodanibbio, Quartetto Belcea, Enrico Bronzi, Mariangela Vacatello, Lilya Zilberstein.
Particolarmente intenso è il rapporto artistico con Salvatore Sciarrino, Ivan Fedele e Stefano Gervasoni.
Ha inciso per Ecm, Sony e Brilliant.
Dal 2013 è “quartetto in residence” all’Accademia Chigiana di Siena in collaborazione con la classe di composizione di Salvatore Sciarrino e dal 2019 tiene corsi di quartetto presso Accademia musicale Santa Cecilia di Portogruaro e dal 2020 a Roma nell’ambito di Avos Project.