"The superb Quatuor Ebene has made a name for itself not only as an elegant purveyor of classical fare but also for jazz performances," according to the New York Times. The members of this young ensemble are musical omnivores, sharing a feast of wonderful music from many eras and genres with intense technical precision and energetic performances.
"We need the inspiration by the audience," said Raphael Merlin in an interview with the NZZ in Spring 2020, this was one of the central ideas of the Ebene Quartet's Beethoven Around the World project. Between May 2019 and January 2020 the quartet recorded Beethoven's 16 string quartets in a worldwide project on six continents. With this complete recording, the four at once celebrated their 20th stage anniversary, which they then crowned with performances of the complete string quartet cycle in major European venues such as the Philharmonie de Paris or the Alte Oper Frankfurt. Invitations from Carnegie Hall New York, the Verbier Festival and the Vienna Konzerthaus were also on the agenda.
After studies with the Quatuor Ysaye in Paris as well as with Gabor Takacs, Eberhard Feltz and Gyorgy Kurtag, the unprecedented and outstanding success at the 2004 ARD Music Competition followed, marking the beginning of the Quatuor Ebene's rise to fame, which resulted in numerous other prizes and awards. For example: In 2005 the quartet was awarded the Belmont Prize of the Forberg-Schneider Foundation, in 2007 it was prizewinner of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust, and in 2019-as first ensemble ever-it was honored with the Frankfurt Music Prize.