The Quartet Gerhard was formed in 2010 by a group of friends who shared a passion and respect for classical music. The group chose the name in reference to Robert Gerhard, a German composer whose family was originally from Valls and a disciple of Schönberg. Thanks to Gerhard, Schönberg and Webern took part in artistic exchanges that took them to visit Catalonia and its capital before the Franco dictatorship.

The string quartet is imbued with the spirit of that period in which culture and music were a forum for expression and exchange. Formed by Lluís Castán Cochs (violin), Miquel Jordà Saun (viola) and Jesús Miralles Roger (cello), the group has several concerts planned for France, Germany and Switzerland.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Centre d’Estudis Catalans at the Université de Paris-Sorbonne, the Quartet Gerhard will perform Vistes al mar by Eduard Toldrà, and Robert Schumann’s string quartet No. 3 Op. 41. The concert will be in the Amphithéâtre Richelieu, an emblematic place in the historic university building in Paris.

The CEC la Sorbonne was founded in 1977, but it was granted permission to open in 1974, before the dictator’s death. Directed by the lecturer Mònica Güell, it is part the Iberian and Latin American Studies Department in the Faculty of Arts and Civilizations, and it is the most important centre in Paris for teaching the Catalan language and research into Catalan culture. 

The event is organized by the CEC in collaboration with the Catalan Government’s Delegation in France, the Institut Ramon Llull and the Association for the Promotion of Catalan Culture in Paris, with the support of the Service culturel de Paris-Sorbonne.