The DSCH - Shostakovich Ensemble is considered one of the top ensembles in the current international scene.
Based in Lisbon since its foundation, by the pianist and artistic director Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro, it is a mixed-format chamber group and constitutes a platform for meeting and interaction of excellent musicians, animated by the pleasure of making chamber music and a deep artistic complicity.
It was created by Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro in 2006, the centennial year of the birth of the composer Dmitri Shostakovich, to whom the ensemble owes its name. This tribute to a composer follows the history and experience of some of the main ensembles founded in the 20th century, such as the Beethoven Quartet (Russia), the Alban Berg Quartet (Austria), the Borodin Trio (USA), the Ysaÿe Quartet (France) or the Schönberg Ensemble (Holland). In the case of the Schostakovich Ensemble, it is also intended to praise the artistic ideal of authenticity and humanism, of rigor and passion, expressed in the autobiographical musical enigma enclosed in the hidden musical signature of Dmitri Shostakovich, the DSCH cryptogram created by the composer based on the first letters of his name and nickname, that is, the thematic musical motif "D – E flat – C – B natural", used in some of his most significant works.
The vast repertoire of the Shostakovich Ensemble includes works by composers from various periods and musical styles, from Beethoven to Schumann, from Mozart to Messiaen, from Haydn to Webern, from Brahms to Ravel, including contemporaries such as Sofia Gubaidulina, with whom the Ensemble has established close collaboration.
It was created in 2006, the Shostakovich Ensemble has also performed concerts from north to south of Portugal, namely in the cities of Bragança, Matosinhos, Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia, Viseu, Coimbra, Lisbon, Portimão and Faro, among others. In the other countries in which the Shostakovich Ensemble has performed concerts, like Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Sweden, USA or Russia, it always obtained a great receptivity of the public and excellent reviews of the musical critic. In this context, it has also unveiled the Portuguese musical heritage, premiering in some of those countries works by Portuguese composers of different periods. In 2008, the Shostakovich Ensemble became Resident Ensemble of the Belém Cultural Center, in Lisbon.
In 2018, the Shostakovich Ensemble established the DSCH Composition Prize, which aims to recognize, encourage and publicize contemporary Portuguese classical musical creation and is intended to reward the work and journey of merit of a leading Portuguese composer. Luís Tinoco, Eurico Carrapatoso and Andreia Pinto Correia were distinguished, respectively, in 2019, 2021 and 2023.
Throughout its almost 20 years of existence, the Shostakovich Ensemble has had the collaboration of outstanding musicians such as violinists Benjamin Schmid, Corey Cerovsek, Tedi Papavrami, Liza Fertschman, Renaud Capuçon, Esther Hoppe and Jack Liebeck, violists Lars Anders Tomter, Isabel Charisius and Gérard Caussé, cellists Adrian Brendel, Christian Poltéra, Gary Hoffman, Kyril Zlotnikov and Edgar Moreau, double bassists Matthew McDonald and Tiago Pinto-Ribeiro, flutists Emily Beynon, Silvia Careddu and Adriana Ferreira, oboists Ramón Ortega Quero and Jonathan Kelly, clarinetists Pascal Moraguès and Michel Portal, singers José van Dam and Anna Samuil, pianists Eldar Nebolsin, Rosa Maria Barrantes and Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro, amongst others.
Since 2006, the Ensemble recorded concerts for RTP Antena 2 and for the Mezzo channel.
2018 marks the beginning of Shostakovich Ensemble's discography, with the world's first recording of Dmitri Shostakovich's Complete Chamber Music for Piano and Strings, recorded by Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro, Corey Cerovsek, Cerys Jones, Isabel Charisius and Adrian Brendel. This double CD album, edited by Paraty label and worldwide distributed by Harmonia Mundi PIAS, received several accolades - 5 Diapasons, CLIC and Best Album of 2018 Classique News, Luister 10, Opus D’Or, etc - and great reviews from the international press such as Gramophone, Das Orchester, Diapason, The Guardian, Luister, Scherzo, among others.
The second album of the DSCH – Shostakovich Ensemble was released in 2020, dedicated to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven in celebration of the 250th anniversary of his birth. Including Beethoven's Opus 11 and 38, played by Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro, Pascal Moraguès and Adrian Brendel, the CD (Paraty / Harmonia Mundi) has received top distinctions from the specialised press.
