Raphaël Garac, violon
Meiko Nakahira, violon
Paolo Schena, alto
Pauline Boudon, violoncelle
The Quatuor Citadelle is a French-Japanese quartet founded in 2024. Its name is taken from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s final work, in which the citadel’s value lies not in its stones but in the bonds it forges between people.
Artists in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in the class of Miguel da Silva, Corina Belcea and Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, the Citadelle Quartet are also studying at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía with Heime Müller (formerly of the Artemis Quartet) and Vera Martínez Mehner (Quarteto Casals). They are also an ensemble in residence at ProQuartet – European Centre for Chamber Music, artists in residence at the Singer-Polignac Foundation thanks to the mentorship of the Ebène Quartet, the Hermès Quartet and Lise Berthaud, and members of MERITA as part of the MERITAcubed project.
Trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris in the classes of Jean Sulem and François Salque, and in the « Cycle concertiste » program at the CRR de Paris in the class of Miguel da Silva, the Quatuor Citadelle has also received guidance from members of the Ebène, Modigliani, Belcea, and Strada quartets, as well as from Günter Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet), Eugene Drucker (Emerson Quartet), Marc Coppey (Ysaÿe Quartet), and Kim Kashkashian.
Since its founding, the Quatuor Citadelle has been invited to perform at numerous festivals in France: the Festival de la Chaise-Dieu, the Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron, the Rencontres musicales de La Baule, the Festival de musique de chambre d’Arcachon, the Festival du Pontlevoy, and the Musicales de l’abbaye du Thoronet. The quartet has shared the stage with renowned artists such as Miguel da Silva, François Salque, Louis Rodde, and Manuel Vioque-Judde. The Quatuor Citadelle regularly gives concerts for children, such as a performance created for the children at the Parc de Bagatelle in September 2025 featuring Ravel’s string quartet. In the spring of 2026, the quartet participated in a session in the Netherlands as part of the Musethica program, in partnership with the Zeist Music Days festival. This program aims to bring classical music to audiences who otherwise lack access to it: prisoners, children with disabilities, elderly people.
In 2025, the Quatuor Citadelle met Michaël Levinas at the Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron, following which the composer decided to write a piece for them.
The Quatuor Citadelle received the special “Cordes en Ballade” prize, awarded by the Debussy Quartet at the FNAPEC’s 2024 “Musiques d’ensemble” European competition.
