Cibrán Sierra Vázquez

Univ.-Prof. of Chamber Music⋅Strings Department⋅Institute for Chamber Music

Convinced that chamber music, with its inherent democratic and ethical principles — civility, mutual respect, attentive listening and openness — offers a model for an enlightened society, Cibrán Sierra Vázquez has devoted his artistic life to this repertoire. In 2003 he founded the Cuarteto Quiroga, which has since become central to his international career. Alongside his performing work, he is committed to passing on not only his musical expertise but also his philosophy, holding positions at the University of Gothenburg and the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón in Zaragoza, and since 2020 serving as Professor of Chamber Music at the Mozarteum University.

Cibrán Sierra Vázquez studied at the Conservatorio Superior de Música in Vigo (Galicia) and continued his training with Deborah Hamburger, Milan Vitek, Per Enoksson and Keiko Wataya at the Amsterdam Conservatory, Oberlin College (USA) and the University of Gothenburg. His musical personality was profoundly influenced by specialised string quartet studies with Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet), Walter Levin (LaSalle Quartet) and Hatto Beyerle (Alban Berg Quartet) at the Reina Sofía School in Madrid, the Basel Music Academy and the European Chamber Music Academy.

With a particular interest in ensemble playing and historically informed performance, he appears regularly as guest leader or section leader with orchestras and ensembles including the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, the Real Filharmonía de Galicia, Forma Antiqva, La Tempestad, Academia de las Luces and Oviedo Opera. He has also collaborated with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and with conductors such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Frans Brüggen, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gustavo Dudamel, Lawrence Foster, Andrew Manze, Hannu Lintu, Aarón Zapico, James Ross, Sir Colin Davis and Jordi Savall.

As a soloist he has received several awards, including the Guido Vecchi Prize (Gothenburg, 2003), First Prize at the Voldrich Competition (Sweden) and the Bärenreiter Prize at the Juventudes Musicales Competition (Spain, 2000). He has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Real Filharmonía de Galicia, the Spanish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra and the Castilla y León Symphony Orchestra, and is a committed recitalist. However, the greatest pleasure of his performance career remains chamber music, particularly his work with Cuarteto Quiroga and collaborations with musicians such as Martha Argerich, Veronika Hagen, Jörg Widmann, Valentin Erben, Javier Perianes, Eric Hoeprich, Jonathan Brown, Antje Weithaas and David Kadouch, as well as members of the Alban Berg, Hagen, Meta4, Casals, Jerusalem and Doric quartets.

Cibrán Sierra Vázquez is regularly involved in outreach initiatives and founded the chamber music season Sen Batuta in his hometown of Ourense, which ran from 2007 to 2013. As a researcher and writer, he has published articles on chamber music, programming and music education in journals and newspapers including The Strad, El País, Scherzo and RMC, and is the author of El Cuarteto de Cuerda: Laboratorio para una sociedad ilustrada (Alianza Editorial, 2014).

He plays the 1682 Nicola Amati violin “Arnold Rosé” (Cremona), generously loaned by the heirs of Paola Modiano.

The Cuarteto Quiroga, bearing the legacy of the great Galician violinist Manuel Quiroga, has been awarded major prizes at the most important international string quartet competitions (Bordeaux, Geneva, Paolo Borciani, Beijing, Paris), as well as the Spanish National Music Prize 2018, the Spanish Radio Culture Prize and the Gold Medal of the Palau in Barcelona. Cibrán enjoys worldwide touring with his string quartet, performing at the most important venues and festivals on the international scene (Wigmore Hall London, Philharmonie & Konzerthaus Berlin, Frick Collection & Lincoln Center New York, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Doelen Rotterdam, Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, Beijing National Concert Hall, Pierre Boulez Hall, Laieszehalle Hamburg, etc.). They have released seven CDs on Cobra and Harmonia Mundi, which have received unanimous acclaim from critics and audiences alike. The ensemble is considered one of the most dynamic, daring and important new generation quartets in Europe, described by The New York Times as "exquisite, precise, perfectly balanced" and by The Strad as "excellent, with an impeccable technique".