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Here are the 10 quartets taking part in the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition

From Aug. 26 to Sept. 1, they'll compete for a prize package worth more than $300,000.

From Aug. 26 to Sept. 1, they'll compete for a prize package worth more than $300,000

CBC Music ·
An aerial view of the Banff Centre. (Paul Zizka/Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity)

The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity has announced the 10 quartets selected to take part in the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition.

The quartets are:

  • Callisto Quartet (U.S.)
  • Eliot Quartett (Germany/Russia/Canada) 
  • Marmen Quartet (U.K.)
  • Omer Quartet (U.S.)
  • Quatuor Agate (France)
  • Quatuor Elmire (France) 
  • Ruisi Quartet (U.K.)
  • Ulysses Quartet (Canada/U.S. /Taiwan) 
  • Vera Quartet (Spain/U.S.)
  • Viano String Quartet (Canada/U.S.)

These 10 ensembles will converge on the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity between Aug. 26 and Sept. 1 to compete for a total prize package valued at more than $300,000, not to mention the prestige that comes with a first-place finish.

They were chosen by a preliminary jury comprising cellist Christopher Costanza, violinist Jonathan Crow and violist Milena Pajaro van de Stadt.

Canadian competitors

Three of the competing quartets have Canadian members: Eliot Quartett's second violinist, Alexander Sachs, hails from Vancouver; Ulysses Quartet's violinist Christina Bouey was born in Toronto and plays a 1820 Joannes Franciscus Pressenda violin on loan from the Canada Council; and Viano String Quartet includes Canadians Lucy Wang (violin) and Tate Zawadiuk (cello).

Canada's Rolston Quartet won 1st prize at the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition. (Bo Huang)

"The Banff International String Quartet Competition is like the Olympics of chamber music," says executive director Barry Shiffman via press release. "We can hardly wait to welcome these wonderful artists to Banff."

Once the competition begins, these 10 quartets will compete in four rounds:

  1. Recital round: a quartet by Haydn plus a work composed after 1905.
  2. Romantic round: a complete work from the Romantic period.
  3. Canadian commission round: a new work by composer Matthew Whittall.
  4. "Schubert Plus" round: A Schubert quartet plus a work of their own choosing.

Three quartets will advance to the final round to perform a quartet by Beethoven.

First prize includes $25,000 in cash, a residency at the Banff Centre and the production of a professional recording, a concert tour in North America and Europe, and a two-year paid tenureship as ensemble in residence at Southern Methodist University's Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas, Texas.

The finalists and prize winners will be selected by a jury comprising Gillian Ansell (New Zealand), Martin Beaver (Canada), Adrian Fung (Canada), David Harrington (U.S.), Nobuko Imai (Japan), Philip Setzer (U.S.) and Ursula Smith (U.K.)

For more information on the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition, head over here.

Watch Rolston Quartet's first prize-winning performance from the final round of the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition:

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