Medici.tv and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation are carrying, live and free, the Banff International String Quartet Competition, which not only presents outstanding ensembles, but provides an example of promoting the country’s new music. There are 11 new works co-commissioned for the competition by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and The Banff Centre (see list below).
The BISQC Awards disburse $200,000 in cash and prizes, including the offer of a Banff Centre residency with a compact disc recording, a set of bows from internationally-renowned Canadian bow maker François Malo, and a recital tour of Europe and North America arranged by The Banff Centre.
This year’s winner: Houston’s Dover Quartet. Formed at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008, when its members were just 19 years old, the Dover draws from the musical lineage of both the Vermeer and Guarneri Quartets. The Dover consists of violinists Joel Link and Bryan Lee, violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, and Camden Shaw.
The Dover Quartet will participate in the 2013-2014 Morrison Artists Series, with the following free events on May 2, 2014: master class, 2-4 p.m.; pre-concert talk, 7 p.m.; concert, 8 p.m.
For over 30 years, the Banff competition showcased young musicians on their way to the big time, including some of these now-famous quartets, well known in our neck of the woods: St. Lawrence String Quartet (1992), Miró Quartet (1998), Daedalus Quartet (2001), and Jupiter String Quartet (2004).
The competition is open to quartets of all nationalities whose members are all under the age of 35. Unidentified copies of quartets’ audition recordings are reviewed by a preliminary jury of three, who pick 10 quartets to come to Banff to play for a second jury of seven. Both juries consist of members (or former members of) the world’s leading quartets. Jurors of past competitions have included members of the Alban Berg, Colorado, St. Lawrence, Orford, Budapest, Juilliard, Prague, Kolish, Takacs, Tokyo, Vermeer, Cleveland, Smetana, Borodin, and Quartetto Italiano, among others.
During preliminary sessions the quartets perform works from the classical, romantic, and contemporary repertoires, as well as the co-commissioned works:
Vivian Fung, String Quartet No. 3
Ana Sokolovic, Commedia della Arte
Kelly Marie Murphy, Dark Energy
Stewart Grant, String Quartet No. 2, Banff Variations
John Estacio, Test Run
Chan Ka Nin, Quartet No. 3
Heather Anne Schmidt, Phantoms
Marjan Mozetich, Lament in the Trampled Garden
Allan Bell, Arche II
John Hawkins, Three Archetypes
Harry Somers, Movement for String Quartet
After hearing each quartet play five complete works in the preliminary rounds of the competition, the jury selects three quartets to go onto the final round. They perform once more on the finals, after which the jury announces a winner.
During the week-long event, audiences can stay at The Banff Centre along with the competitors. The BISQC resident audience program has grown significantly since 1998, and has helped to create the festival-like atmosphere during the competition.