Under the lens of music understood as intercultural dialogue, this program proposes a musical journey from north to south across Europe and America, framed within the 20th century. It is a voyage that explores the diverse outcomes of musical composition during those decades, shaped by the different sensibilities and characteristics of the various latitudes of both continents.

The program is divided into two parts: Europe (starting point of the north-to-south musical dialogue) and the Americas (second half of the journey and the musical dialogue between continents and styles).

The Cuarteto Matrice was born in 2016 in Madrid, the city where the musicians met and are currently based and developing their career with the ensemble, always having the objective of communicating with the audience through the different languages of music and performance. The name of the quartet itself comes from the ancient name of the city of Madrid, Matrice, an Arabic term for "mother of waters".

The members of the quartet have studied at some of the main musical institutions in Europe, such as the Royal Academy of Music of London, Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía, the Royal Conservatory of Madrid or Katarina Gurska Centre in Madrid. They have attended several masterclasses with the Kopelman Quartet’s violist Igor Sulyga. The Quartet have recently performed at some festivals across Spain as the RESIS Festival in A Coruña, Clásicos en Verano in Madrid, Sulayr Festival in Granada and FIAS Festival (Sacred Art Madrid Music Festival), where they performed the world premier of the Cuarteto nº2 by Hugo Gómez-Chao, a piece dedicated to the quartet, having great reviews from both musical press and media. The four musicians of Cuarteto Matrice have also been selected for the Musae Program promoted by the National Cultural Ministry, a project where they performed at the Sorolla National Museum and brought them a Spanish music concert series residency with the sponsorship of CNP Partners.

Cuarteto Matrice have recently performed at many cities all around Spain, such as Barcelona, Bilbao and Sevilla, including remarkable venues and music halls like, Teatro Fernando de Rojas, Círculo de Bellas Artes and Athenaeum in Madrid and also Moncloa Palace, house of the Spanish Government, where they performed in 2021 as part of an homage act holded by the Spanish Arts Ministry. They have been selected as part of the MERITA platform 2023 organized by Le Dimore del Quartetto, a program that will take them to an artistic residence in Florence in 2024 as well several concerts across Europe during the current season 2024-2025.

The centre of the MERITA project is the 38 quartets, selected from 61 applications received from 27 different countries. These early-career musicians represent a new generation of string quartets, and through MERITA, they will break new ground in European classical music.

MERITA, coordinated by Le Dimore del Quartetto, brings together 17 leading musical and cultural organizations from 12 European countries. Each offers a unique perspective on and approach to classical music in the modern world, linked by their commitment to supporting new musicians while keeping alive music’s precious heritage. By connecting emerging talent with experts in performance with impact, MERITA aims to forge a vital and sustainable future for European classical music.