Chaeann Jeon, violin I
Eunjoong Park, violin II
Yoonsun Jang, viola
Seonghyeon Park, cello
The Arete Quartet achieved remarkable success in various international music competitions. In the 2023 Mozart International Competition, they claimed the first prize and received the highest interpretation award for Mozart’s string quartet. In May 2021, at the Prague Spring International Music Competition, they became the first Koreans to win the top prize in the string quartet category, securing not only the first place but also five special awards, including the jury prize and audience prize. This unprecedented achievement marked a dominant victory without a second place and set a record as an unparalleled chamber ensemble, formed in September 2019 and debuting in the competition. In Korea, They won 1st prize at the 13th Artsylvia Chamber music Audition.
The Arete Quartet, with an average age of 26, aims to showcase the best in music by refining the essence of music, just as the name ‘Arete’ signifies achieving the highest excellence related to true purpose or realizing one’s latent potential, as in ancient Greek. Formed in September 2019, the quartet unanimously passed the audition for the Kumho Art Hall Young Chamber Concert in the same year. They made their debut stage at Kumho Art Hall Yonsei in September 2020, and the live performance of their debut stage was unusually featured on KBS FM ‘Music Hall’.
After winning the Prague Spring International Music Competition, the quartet received the highest performance award for Toshio Hosokawa’s commissioned piece ‘UTA-ORI’ at the 12th Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition, along with the German Jeunesse Musicale Scholarship. They are also recipients of the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now e.V. scholarship. Additionally, they have been invited to perform at major European festivals such as the Prague Spring International Music Festival, Barcelona Obertura Spring Festival, and Heidelberg String Quartet Festival. In Korea, they have been invited to renowned music festivals like Seoul Spring Festival of Chamber Music, Music in PyeongChang, and the Seoul Arts Center Summer Music Festival.
This April the Arete Quartet was awarded the first prize of the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition as well as several special distinctions such as the audience prize or the best interpretation of a contemporary piece.
Currently, they are under the tutelage of Kim Jaeyoung, the leader of the Novus Quartet, and Professor Christoph Poppen, studying at the Munich National University of Music’s chamber music program.