The Ébène Quartet’s Pierre Colombet, Gabriel Le Magadure, Mathieu Herzog (now an accomplished conductor) and Raphaël Merlin first met while studying at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatoire in 1999. Ten years later, and following studies with the Ysäye Quartet at the Paris Conservatoire, they have come to be considered one of today’s best young French string quartets, known especially for their brilliant musicality.

The ensemble’s Verbier Festival concert opened with Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" String Quartet, whose movements are each celebrated individually for their arresting musical themes. The second part of the concert featured Mozart's Divertimento No. 1. A few weeks after this performance, their Virgin Classics CD recording of Debussy, Fauré and Ravel came out, to be met with breathtaking international acclaim.