Forte di Quattro (포르테 디 콰트로) is a South Korean crossover music quartet under Arts & Artist. They were formed through the first season of Phantom Singer where they were the first place winners. They eventually debuted on May 18th, 2017 with the eponymous album Forte di Quattro.
Their group name is in Italian and translates to "the strength of four." It was conceived by the members to showcase their strength as a quartet.
History[]
2016–2017: Phantom Singer and debut[]
In November 2016, Forte di Quattro, consisting of members Ko Hoon Jeong, Kim Hyun Soo, Son Tae Jin and Lee Byeo Ri, was formed as a four-member group during the first season of JTBC classical music survival program Phantom Singer. While the members initially auditioned individually, they gradually came together during the show. After becoming the first place winners as a group on the survival program during the , they signed a contract with Arts N Artists to remain a a permanent group.
On March 24, 2017, Forte di Quattro participated in the March 2017 edition of Yoon Jong Shin's "Monthly Project" musical project. The featured song, "The Last Moment", was the first official song they released since their formation as a group.
Soon afterwards, as the winners of Phantom Singer, the group began first national tour began in Suwon on May 7. They held 16 performances in 14 cities over 12 weeks, concluding on July 30. Remarkably, all 4,000 tickets for the three shows in Seoul sold out within just 15 minutes.
Forte di Quattro officially debuted with their self-titled album, Forte di Quattro, on May 18, following the pre-release of their song "Tuo Per Sempre" on April 8. The album featured some of the songs the group had performed during their time on Phantom Singer, and managed to sell 15,000 copies within three months. This achievement earned it a platinum status and ranked it fourth among the best albums of 2017 according to Interpark.[1] On September 3, an autograph session was held to commemorate the 100th day since the release of their debut album. A month later in on October 20, they released a repackage of their debut album for fans.
The group's second album, Classica, was released on November 21 of the same year. This album was characterized by songs that incorporated melodies from famous classical pieces, arranged for a quartet, and with added lyrics.
2018: "L'impossibile Vivere", Colors and more performances[]
Forte di Quattro made their debut overseas in April by performing at Bunkamura in Tokyo, which is renowned as the home of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Throughout the month of May, they conducted a series of concerts in Seoul and Busan in collaboration with Forestella. Together, they recorded and released a reinterpretation of Renato Zero's "L'impossibile Vivere".
On September 7, they released the mini album Colors and embarked on a national tour; the album comprised of six songs where all the members were involved in creating the lyrics, composing, and producing tracks.
2019–2020: Harmonia, and Summer & Winter concerts[]
On October 31, 2018, the group released "Lacrimosa", a remake song and originally composed by Mozart, known as a section of his famous Requiem mass composition. This served as a pre-release for their third studio album, Harmonia, which was officially released on November 7.
During this late quarter of 2018, Forte di Quattro initiated a series of summer and winter concerts. The summer concerts are known as Unplugged. In these concerts, the group takes the stage in a concert hall without microphones, aiming to showcase their vocal skills. The winter concerts are called Notte Stellata, and they feature a full orchestra. Many fan-films and official recorded scenes captures during the concerts became viral, thus due to their success, these concerts were made permanent reoccurring events and continue to be held to this day.
For the next two years, Forte di Quattro focused group activities in holding their Unplugged and Notte Stellata concerts.
2021: "Comes True", Phantom Singer All Stars and more events[]
In early 2021, Forte di Quattro returned to releasing original music, and released the digital single "Comes True" was released on January 26, three years after it was first presented as an unreleased song during their Colors Tour in 2018.
From January 26 to April 20, Forte di Quattro participated in Phantom Singer All-Star, a special season of Phantom Singer that brought together all the quartets formed in different seasons of the program.
On March 13, they held the Unplugged: The Classic concert, which had been postponed in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19.
Throughout that year, the group actively took part in various major events, such as the 27th Dream Concert at Seoul World Cup Stadium, and the World is One 2021 concert. They were also invited to participate in the 2021 Chuseok project, Bloom Korea, Shim Soo-bong.
2022: METAPHONIC[]
On February 24, 2022, Forte di Quattro pre-released the new songs "Ophelia" and "Winter Lullaby". On March 5, they began a national tour to promote the group's upcoming fourth studio album, Metaphonic , which was officially released on March 24. The concept of this album aimed to blend symphonic and digital sounds. Its name was created by merging the words "meta" signifying abstract and virtual, and "phonic" meaning voice and sound.
The members participated in various events, including the concert for the 77th anniversary of Korea's Liberation Day and the KBS Korean Festival.
On October 2 and 3, the Unplugged Concert: Metaphonic took place, presenting the fourth album in an unplugged concept.
In late 2022, member Son Tae Jin participated as a contestant in MBN reality trot survival show Burning Trotman. He eventually became the first place winner and thus earned the highest "prize jackpot" in the history of survival show auditions in Korea with a culminative total of 629.67 million won ($449,446.46).[2][3][4]
2023: "Our Story"[]
In 2023, they released a the digital single "Our Story" on January 20, which was another song written and composed by the group members themselves.
Members[]
| Name | Voice range | Position | Year(s) active |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ko Hoon Jeong (고훈정) | Lyric baritone | Leader | 2017–present |
| Kim Hyun Soo (김현수) | Leggero tenor | N/A | 2017–present |
| Son Tae Jin (손태진) | Bass-baritone | N/A | 2017–present |
| Lee Byeo Ri (이벼리) | Spinto tenor | Maknae | 2017–present |
Discography[]
Studio albums[]
- Forte di Quattro (2017)
- Forte Di Quattro Repackage (2017)
- Classica (2017)
- Harmonia (2019)
- Metaphonic (2022)
Mini albums[]
- Colors (2018)
Digital singles[]
- "Tuo Per Sempre" (2017)
- "L'impossibile Vivere" (2018)
- "Lacrimosa" (2019)
- "Comes True" (2021)
- "Ophelia" (2022)
- "Winter Lullaby" (2022)
- "Our Story" (2023)
Features[]
- Yoon Jong Shin - "Monthly Project 2017 March Yoon Jong Shin" (2017)
Filmography[]
Competition shows[]
- Phantom Singer (JTBC, 2017) - contestants
- Phantom Singer All-Star (JTBC, 2021)
Concerts[]
Solo concerts[]
- Forte di Quattro (2017)
- Classica (2017-2018)
- Colors (2018-2019)
- Harmonia (2019-2020)
- METAPHONIC (2022)
Notte Stellata concerts[]
- Notte Stellata with Forte di Quattro (2019)
- Notte Stellata 2020 with Forte di Quattro (2020)
- Notte Stellata 2021 with Forte di Quattro (2021)
Unplugged concerts[]
- Unplugged Concert (2019)
- Unplugged Concert II (2019)
- Unplugged Concert: The Classic (2020)
- Unplugged Concert: METAPHONIC (2022)
- Unplugged Concert: A Classic Odyssey (2023)
Participating concerts[]
- Phantom Singer Gala Concert concerts (2017) (with Ingihyunsang and Hpresso)
- Phantom vs Phantom concerts (2018) (with Forestella)
- Illuso: Masterpieces of Autumn concerts (2019) (with Forestella, Miraclass and Ingihyunsang)
- Phantom Singer All Star Gala Concert concerts (2021)
Trivia[]
- The group name is often abbreviated as "포디콰" (Fodiqua) and FDQ.
- The members always stand from left to right on stage in this order: Son Tae Jin, Lee Byeo Ri, Ko Hoon Jeong and Kim Hyun Soo.
- The members have collaborated on several occasions with pianist and composer Oh Eun Chul, who has created various musical arrangements for the quartet and accompanied them in several concerts and televised performances.