The Citadelle Quartet is a Franco-Japanese quartet founded in 2024. Its name comes from Citadelle, the final work by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, in which the value of the citadel lies not in its stones, but in the bonds it creates between people. It is composed of Raphaël Garac and Meiko Nakahira, violins; Paolo Schena, viola; and Pauline Boudon, cello.
Since its inception, the quartet has been invited to numerous French festivals, including the Festival de La Chaise-Dieu, Festival de La Roque d’Anthéron, Rencontres Musicales de La Baule, Festival de Musique de Chambre d’Arcachon, Festival du Pontlevoy, and Musicales de l’Abbaye du Thoronet. It has shared the stage with musicians such as Miguel da Silva, François Salque, Louis Rodde, and Manuel Vioque-Judde. In 2025, following his meeting with the composer Michaël Levinas at La Roque d’Anthéron, the latter decided to write a new work for the ensemble.
The Citadelle Quartet received the “Cordes en Ballade” special prize, awarded by the Quatuor Debussy at the 2024 FNAPEC European “Musiques d’ensemble” Competition. The group also develops a significant social and educational dimension, with concerts aimed at children and its participation in the 2026 Musethica program, bringing classical music to people with limited access to concert halls.
Trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris with Jean Sulem and François Salque, and in the Concertist Cycle of the CRR de Paris with Miguel da Silva, the quartet is currently an artist-in-residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, where it works with Miguel da Silva, Corina Belcea, and Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden. It is also a resident ensemble of ProQuartet, an artist-in-residence at the Fondation Singer-Polignac, and a member of MERITA. It has also received guidance from members of the Ébène, Modigliani, Belcea, and Strada quartets, as well as from Günter Pichler, Eugene Drucker, Marc Coppey, and Kim Kashkashian. Currently, it also studies at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía with Heime Müller and Vera Martínez Mehner.
