The Cecilia Quartet, formed by Maxence Mouriès, Margarida Campos, Bernardo Ferreira and Filipa Rodrigues in Porto, awarded with the 2nd Prize in the Prémio Jovens Músicos (RTP/Antena 2) in 2025 and Gilberta Paiva Competition in 2024, was selected to join the MERITA Platform within the MERITAcubed project. The Quartet has been praised as “an exceptionally promising young ensemble whose artistic maturity, sensitivity, and commitment to contemporary creation distinguish them within the new generation of European chamber musicians” (Peter Rundell, 2025).

One of its main goals is to commission new pieces from contemporary composers, expanding the string quartet repertoire and fostering a fruitful dialogue between creators and performers. In parallel, the group is dedicated to rediscovering rarely performed works, such as Ligeti and Bartók, challenging conventions and broadening the audience’s perception of the expressive possibilities of a string quartet, never forgetting the importance of exploring the canonical works for string quartets of composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Shostakovich among others.

In parallel, the quartet promotes, when relevant, a brief moment of dialog before the concert, seen as a space for sharing and contextualization. Far from proposing a closed idea of the pieces, this moment has as its goal to offer some clues for an active listening, from the interpretative vision of the group, allowing every listener to construct their own path of meaning freely and individually during the musical experience.

With its first agency contract signed with Artway, the Cecília Quartet now enters a new phase, seeking its voice as a quartet on both the national and international stages, without losing sight of what defines it: a deep dialogue between its members, a commitment to innovation, and the belief in chamber music as a collective act of creation. With a young career still, but already full of clear purpose and significant achievements, the quartet positions itself as one of the ascending voices of the new Portuguese musical scene.