The Gürzenich Orchestra is pleased to welcome the French Quatuor Diotima as Artist in Residence for the 2024/25 season. Founded in 1996 by graduates of the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur, the ensemble is now one of the most sought-after string quartets in the world. Their performances have been described as "thrilling and absolutely captivating," with the four musicians achieving "a level of beauty and intensity that is rare in our time," according to international press reviews.

The name of the quartet reflects the musical dual identity to which Yun-Peng Zhao (violin), Léo Marillier (violin), Franck Chevalier (viola), and Alexis Descharmes (cello) are committed: Diotima – originally a female figure from ancient Greece – is the lover of the title character in Friedrich Hölderlin's novel Hyperion (1797). Thus, it is both a nod to Romanticism and a reference to the music of our time: one of the most significant contemporary works for string quartet is Luigi Nono's Fragmente - Stille. An Diotima (1979-80).

Accordingly, the Quatuor Diotima is an outstanding interpreter of the classical-Romantic string quartet repertoire, while also passionately engaged with contemporary music. Through the fusion of classical and contemporary pieces in its programs, it offers a new perspective on music as an art form beyond time and space: As The Strad puts it, the four musicians "make music history appear once again as a grand experiment.