“The Rosamonde String Quartet played Berg and Beethoven with sharp-pointed attack and intellectual energy" and "leanness and clarity are evidently the corporate goals, and vigorously pursued.”

"The strength of their ensemble is obvious. Tonally the Rosamonde are very much a unit : balance is finely judged, and quality of colour and the intensity are clearly arrived at through a communal decision. In Faure Quartet, this rich validity was impressive. In the Debussy, they showed a really exceptional command of the ebb and flow that so often characterizes Debussy's handling of tempo."

The members of the ROSAMONDE STRING QUARTET (formed in 1981) studied together at the Paris Conservatoire (C.N.S.M) where they all graduated with Premiers Prix.

As a quartet they trained at the Paris Conservatoire and Yale University. Their meeting and friendship with Raphael Hillyer, who was violist for 25 years with the Juilliard Quartet, was decisive: it was he who introduced them in their early years to the Tanglewood Festival in the United States. From Eugene Lehner, violist of the Kolish Quartet and a friend of Schoenberg and Bartók, they received the heritage of the teaching of the great Viennese masters of the early twentieth century.

At the International Competition in Evian in 1983 the ROSAMONDE QUARTET was unanimously awarded the Prize for the best performance of contemporary works and the Special Prize of the international jury of critics. In 1986 it won First Prize at the International String Quartet Competition organised by the Union of European Radios in Salzburg. The ROSAMONDE STRING QUARTET has an international career.

It appears regularly in the United States and in the great European concert halls, including the Mozarteum in Salzburg, London's Wigmore Hall, Bruckner Haus in Linz and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris.

Critics worldwide have hailed "the beauty of its tone", " the precision of its style", "the refinement and elegance of its phrasing, directly inherited from the french school of quartet playing".

Agnès SULEM  first violin
Thomas TERCIEUX  second violin
Jean SULEM  viola
Xavier GAGNEPAIN  cello

Agnes Sulem-Bialobroda

Agnes Sulem-Bialobroda

Née dans une famille de musiciens, Agnès Sulem a commencé très tôt l'étude de la musique. Elle a étudié au Conservatoire de Nice puis au Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris où elle obtint un 1er Prix de Violon et 1er Prix de Musique de Chambre à l'unanimité. Elle a mené, parallèlement à son cursus musical, des études scientifiques de haut niveau.

Agnès Sulem est, depuis sa fondation en 1981, le premier violon du Quatuor Rosamonde. Lauréat de plusieurs concours internationaux (Evian 1983, Salzburg 1986), le Quatuor Rosamonde mène une carrière internationale et sa discographie est riche et variée.

Agnès Sulem s'est produite en soliste avec divers orchestres. Elle est professeur de musique de chambre (classe de quatuors) au CNSM de Lyon et elle est régulièrement invitée à donner des Master classes de quatuor.

Agnès Sulem est chevalier de l'Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur.