The Quatuor Manfred was created in 1986. It takes its name from the legendary character in the epic poem by Lord Byron, a key figure of Romanticism who inspired Schumann and Tchaikovsky.

Marie Béreau, Christian Wolff (graduates of the Conservatoire National de Région in Strasbourg and the Juilliard School in New York) and Luigi Vecchioni (a graduate of the Geneva Conservatoire) were founder members of the Quartet. Vinciane Béranger (a graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris and of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia) joined them in June 2003.

The Quartet studied technique and repertoire with the Amadeus, Melos, and Fine Arts Quartets, and with Professors Eberhard Felz and Hatto Beyerle.

In 1989, in rapid succession, it won First Prize at the Banff International Competition and the Premier Grand Prix at the Évian International Competition.

In 1987, the Quatuor Manfred chose Dijon and its Conservatoire National de Région as a permanent base, founding a string quartet class there that was one of the first in a CNR in France. In 1993, the Quartet began a musical season entitled "Quatre Archets pour Dijon", supported by the city of Dijon, and a chamber music festival in the Romanesque churches of Burgundy, "Musiques en Voûtes", with support from the Burgundy Region, DRAC (regional delegation of the Ministry of Culture) and the different départements of the region.

The Quatuor Manfred appears regularly in France and Germany. It has toured most of the countries of Europe, the Americas, South East Asia, the Middle East and West Africa. Among its regular partners are such artists as Raphael Oleg, Raphaël Pidoux, Claire Désert, Pierre-Yves Pruvot, and Pascal Moraguès.

Its repertoire of choice extends from the Romantics to the composers of the first half of the twentieth century. Always in search of innovative repertoire, the Quartet has given growing importance in its programmes to new music (Jean-Louis Gand, Suzanne Giraud, Michaël Lévinas, Arnaud Petit, J.-R. Combes-Damiens, Thierry Blondeau, Thierry Escaich, Bruno Mantovani) and to the rediscovery of little-known works (the quartets of Robert Casadesus)