This evening, Competition director Barry Shiffman announced that the Ariel String Quartet (Israel / U.S.), the TinAlley String Quartet (Australia), the Tokai Quartet (Canada), and the Zemlinsky Quartet (Czech Republic) have been chosen as finalists in the 2007 Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC) at The Banff Centre. After five days of juried concerts focused on classical, Romantic, and 20th-century repertoire, the finalists were chosen from a group of the world’s most accomplished young string quartets.
On Sunday, September 2, at 7:30 p.m., these four quartets will go into a final round of performance before a full house in The Banff Centre’s Eric Harvie Theatre. Each will present Webern’s Six Bagatelles, followed by:
Mozart, Quartet No. 19 in C Major, K. 465, “Dissonant’ — Ariel
Beethoven, Quartet in F major, Opus 18, No. 1 — TinAlley
Mozart, Quartet No. 20 in D major, K. 499, “Hoffmeister” — Tokai
Mozart, Quartet No. 19 in C Major, K. 465, “Dissonant’ — Zemlinsky
The performance will be streamed live on the CBC Radio 2 website. On September 3 at 8:00 p.m. (8:30 NT), CBC Radio 2’s “Canada Live’ with host Katherine Duncan will feature the winning performance from the final round, and selected highlights from the week of competition. Many of the quartet performances are available on CBC Radio 2’s Concerts on Demand website.
Banff International String Quartet Competition
Founded in 1983 to mark the 50th anniversary of The Banff Centre, BISQC is a triennial competition that helps support emerging careers, and raise awareness of classical music. Recognized by the World Federation of International Music Competitions, it is among the top events of its kind. During the competition, from August 28 to September 2, each of the participating quartets performed a range of repertoire in multiple performances before an audience of more than 900 listeners. The Finals evening on September 2 is followed by the presentation of the RBC Awards.
First prize includes $20,000, a quartet of bows made by Canadian bow-maker François Malo, a North American and European concert tour, and the offer of a residency at The Banff Centre including the recording of a compact disc engineered and recorded by the Centre’s Music and Sound Department. The second prize award is $12,000, with $8,000 for third prize, $5,000 for fourth prize, and $5,000 in additional awards.
The Banff International String Quartet Competition is generously supported by RBC Financial Group through the RBC Foundation.
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High-resolution, downloadable images
Further information on BISQC and bios of all participating quartets