The Isidore String Quartet has been named the winner of the the 14th Banff Worldwide String Quartet Competitors (BISQC) in Alberta, Canada. The American ensemble – comprising violinists Phoenix Avalon and Adrian Steele, violist Devin Moore and cellist Joshua McClendon – obtained the highest prize of CAD $25,000; a live performance tour of Europe and the US; residencies on the Banff Centre, Meadows College, Lucerne Pageant and Britten Pears Arts; and training, profession steering and mentorship.
Second prize, together with CAD $25,000, went to Opus14 from Norway/Sweden, whereas third prize, together with CAD $8,000, went to the Balourdet Quartet from the USA.
The competition passed off over seven days throughout which 9 quartets from around the globe (beforehand chosen by a Preliminary Jury) carried out 4 programmes: the twenty first Century Haydn Spherical, the Romantic Spherical, the Canadian Fee Spherical, and the Recital Advert-Lib Spherical. Three quartets have been then chosen to advance to a fifth and closing spherical, performing a whole work of Beethoven for a sold-out viewers within the Jenny Belzberg Theatre.
Serving on this 12 months’s Banff jury have been cellist Estelle Choi, violinist James Ehnes, violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez, violinist Barnabás Kelemen, violinist Catherine Manson, violinist Károly Schranz, and cellist Solar-Gained Yang.
Fashioned in 2019 as a part of the Juilliard College‘s chamber music programme, the Isidore Quartet has been mentored by Joseph Lin, Astrid Schween, Laurie Smukler, Roger Tapping and Joel Krosnick. The quartet has participated within the Honors Chamber Music program at Juilliard, given recitals at Alice Tully Corridor, Morse Corridor and Paul Recital Corridor, and collaborated with members of the Juilliard Historic Efficiency division. They will even take part within the 2022 Ravinia Steans Music Institute.
Launched in 1983 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, the competition is open to quartets of all nationalities whose members are underneath the age of 35. Earlier winners embody the Marmen, Viano, St Lawrence, Miró, Daedalus, Jupiter, TinAlley, Cecilia, Dover, and Rolston string quartets.
Picture: Toby Winarto
