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The finals of the 15th Banff International String Quartet Competition took place on 31 August at the Banff Centre’s Jenny Belzberg Theatre in Banff, Canada. Three quartets performed a programme of their choice, with a 45-minute limit.
First place was awarded to the Poeisis Quartet from Cincinnati, Ohio. The first prize package comprises a CAD25,000 (£13,400) cash prize, as well as touring across North America with MKI Artists and across Europe with Kozertdirektion Hampl. They also receive a Banff Centre residency, a recording residency, the Southern Methodist University Peak Fellowship Ensemble-in-Residence Prize, Esterházy Foundation Residency with concerts at Haydn Hall in Eisenstadt and the Lucerne Festival, and the possibility of a two-week Chamber Music Residency at Britten Pears Arts in England.
The Arete Quartet from Seoul, South Korea, was awarded the CAD12,000 (£6,400) second prize, and the Quartet KAIRI won the CAD8,000 (£4,300) third prize. Both also receive a creative residency at the Banff Centre.
The R.S. Williams & Sons Haydn Prize, worth CAD4,000 (£2,100), for the best performance of Haydn in the first round, was awarded to the Quartet KAIRI. And the Poeisis Quartet also won the Canadian Commission World Premiere Prize, worth CAD4,000, for the best performance of the commissioned quartet by Kati Agócs, Rapprochement.
All quartets not advancing to the finals were awarded a Christine and David Anderson Prize of CAD5,000 (£2,700). These quartets are: Quatuor Elmire, Viatores Quartet, Nerida Quartet, Quartett HANA, Cong Quartet and Quatuor Magenta.
The Poiesis Quartet comprises violinists Sarah Ying Ma and Max Ball, violist Jasper de Boor and cellist Drew Dansby. They are winners of the 2023 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and 2024 Concert Artists Guild Competition. They were also recipients of the BIPOC Prize at the 2023 St. Paul String Quartet Competition.
The quartet has performed internationally, including in Uruguay in 2023 and at Italy’s Emilia Romagna Festival in 2024. The group is particularly passionate about new music and has commissioned various works. The quartet recently released its debut album featuring world premiere recordings of works by Clint Needham and Richard Stout.
The group is currently the graduate quartet-in-residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, studying with the Ariel Quartet. As graduates of the Oberlin Conservatory, they were previously mentored by Sibbi Bernhardsson of the Pacifica Quartet and the Verona Quartet.
The 2025 edition’s jury consisted of Eckart Runge, Marie Chilemme, Jonathan Crow, Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, Honggang Li, Eugene Drucker and David Ying.
This is the 15th edition of the BISQC, which takes place every three years. Past winners include the Isidore Quartet (US, 2022); Marmen Quartet and Viano Quartet (2019); Rolston Quartet (2016); Dover Quartet (US, 2013); Cecilia Quartet (Canada, 2010); Tinalley Quartet (Australia, 2007); Jupiter Quartet (USA, 2004); Daedalus Quartet (US, 2001); Miró Quartet (US, 1998) and, St. Lawrence Quartet (Canada, 1992).