Eleonora Matsuno, violin
Ida Di Vita, violin
Jamiang Santi, viola
Cosimo Carovani, cello

On May 18, 2023, after four rounds in which 10 quartets from all over the world competed, Quartetto Indaco won the International Chamber Music Competition in Osaka, Japan. The Competition, one of the most important on the international scene and among the few for string quartet recognized by the World Federation of International Music Competitions, awarded the First Prize and two other special prizes to the Italian ensemble, for a total of 3,000,000 yen along with dozens of concerts in Japan and in Europe.

This victory has a historic significance: it is the first time that an Italian quartet has won the first prize in one of the great competitions for string quartets, a sign of the very high level now reached by Italian musicians. This is confirmed by the important victories achieved at the Chopin, Paganini and Liszt Competitions of 2021, but also of the inspiration and joyous creative freedom of Quartetto Indaco, which convinced the international jury and its President, the great Japanese cellist Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi.

“…Quartetto Indaco from Italy, who chose to perform Schubert’s final quartet (D887). Their tightly knit interpretation of this work felt the most complete and seasoned of the three performances and above all, they breathed and sounded as one…”  (Par Nahoko Gotoh, 23may 2023 )

“… Sound quality, impeccable together and
commitment to making the dialogue between the instruments intelligible … ”
(Gaetano Santangelo, Amadeus)

The Quartetto Indaco was founded in 2007 at the Fiesole Music School, thanks to the impetus of Piero Farulli and Andrea Nannoni, and is now considered one of the most interesting Italian string quartets of its generation.

After graduating in Fiesole, the Quartetto Indaco follows specialization courses with exponents of the major quartets of our time (among others, Hatto Beyerle and Günter Pichler of the legendary Quartet Alban Berg and Rainer Schmidt of the Quartet Hagen) obtains a Master’s in Chamber Music in 2017 at the Musikhochschule of Hannover, under the guidance of Oliver Wille (Kuss Quartett) and perfected at the Chigiana Academy of Siena.
After winning the special “Jeunesses Musicales” prize at the 2014 “Premio Paolo Borciani” International Competition, he was among the finalists of the same Competition in 2017 and has won several international awards and scholarships.

Particularly appreciated by the public for its extraordinary communication, the Quartetto Indaco has always received excellent reviews from specialized critics who have defined its performances as “an amazing fireworks display, so brilliant that the walls of the hall barely contained it”.

“Compact ensemble, full of enamel and exuberance”, the Quartetto Indaco highlights its artistic qualities in a vast repertoire, from classical to contemporary, with a particular predilection for 19th and 20th century authors. In addition, the Quartetto Indaco carries out in-depth research on Italian authors and is dedicated to the diffusion of new musical languages.

The quartet also recorded complete quartets of the composer Giovanni Albini for Brilliant Classics and the album “Songs after the Apocalypse” by Andrea Portera for Ema Vinci S.r.l.
In 2020 the release of the cd “Northern Lights” dedicated to nordic composers such as Grieg, Rachmaninov and Sallinen, and containing a piece by Cosimo Carovani, composer and cellist of the quartet.
For 2021 the ensemble is carrying out the publishing and recording project “Dante21” in collaboration with the publishing house “Sconfinarte”, which involves 34 living Italian composers for the 34 cantos of Dante’s Inferno.

Since 2017 the quartet has taken part in the international project “Le Dimore del Quartetto” and has been quartet in residence for “HighScore Festival” in Pavia and of the Milano Classica Chamber Orchestra.