Established in April 2002, the Mendelssohn Ensemble is composed of young musicians based in Belgium, each having finished their studies with the highest Honors in Belgian and foreign institutions such as the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, the Queen-Elisabeth Music Chapel of Belgium, the Royal College of Music (London), the Juilliard School (New York) or the Indiana University (Bloomington-USA).
The members of the Mendelssohn Ensemble are Concertmaster of chamber orchestra, Viola-solo of symphonic orchestra, occupying teaching positions in various establishments such as Royal Music Conservatories, First Prizes and prize winners of national and international competitions, and prize winners of the National Competition of Music Axion Classics (Dexia). The Mendelssohn Ensemble also receives support from the Foundation Carlo Van Neste.
Each musician is active in the field of chamber music. One can find their names in festivals and concerts venues in most European countries as well as in Brazil, Korea, Israel, Japan and United States, for radio and television, as soloists (with most of the principal orchestras of Belgium) and in chamber music with other international artists.
The Mendelssohn Ensemble's repertoire centres around the string quintet and sextet literature with or without piano. Besides masterpieces and famous works of the repertory, the Mendelssohn Ensemble also performs works rarely played and collaborates with composers in order to promote these forms of chamber music in today's music.
In the past 2 seasons, the Mendelssohn Ensemble performed in major Concert Series in Belgium such as the Festival des Midis-Minimes (Brussels), the Festival de Lasne, the New Consonant Music Series 'Les Plaisirs' (Brussels), the Astoria Concert Series (Brussels) and 'Les Nuits de Beloeil' among others. Next season, the ensemble will also perform in the 'Concerts de Midi de Bruxelles' Series and at the 'Concerts de Midi de Liège' Series.
The Mendelssohn Ensemble has released a CD published by Contréclisse with Tchaïkovsky's String Sextet Souvenir of Florence, Dvorak's first Piano Quintet opus 5 and a World Premiere, the 3 Croquis for string quintet of Belgian composer Michel Lysight. They also gave the World Premiere of Hexagramme by Michel Lysight (String Sextet version) as well as the Souvenir du Présent by Kris Oelbrandt. Other premieres are scheduled for next season, particularly for piano quintet.