Tenth London International String Quartet Competition 2006

About the Competition

Arrangements for the Tenth London International String Quartet Competition held in London on 4^th - 9^th April 2006 consolidated the changes and enhancements made in 2003 with the aim of bringing the Competition closer to audiences and to the professional world of chamber music, and increasing the support for prize-winners after the Competition.

Accordingly the Preliminary Rounds of the Competition were held at the Royal Academy of Music, whose facilities, rehearsal rooms and fine concert hall were made available. The Semi-final and Final followed at the world-renowned Wigmore Hall.

The repertoire required for the Competition was as wide-ranging as before, comprising both obligatory and free-choice elements. The classical period was well represented with a compulsory choice of Haydn work, compulsory late Mozart and as in 2003 an all Beethoven Semi-final round.

The Competition offers handsome cash prizes, amongst the highest in the world for such a competition. In addition a menu of development prizes is available to assist the post-Competition development of prize-winners.

The Tenth Competition will form the central feature of London String Quartet Week 2006, which is a programme of educational and other events including masterclasses, seminars and concerts in London celebrating the art of the string quartet.

Click here for details of the Semi-final, Final and Prize-winners

Click here to find out more about the competing quartets

Click here to download the full programme

Click here to hear BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’ interview with the winners
(Monday 10th April's programme, available until Tuesday 18th April)

London String Quartet Week
4th - 10th April 2006

Now in its fourth year, London String Quartet Week is organised by the London String Quartet Foundation, whose mission is to promote the discovery and development of talent and audiences for the string quartet.

The highlight of the Week is the Tenth London International String Quartet Competition, now recognised as among the best of its kind in the world. After a tough pre-competition stage, the Invitation Jury has invited thirteen quartets to London to compete for some of the most prestigious awards. Around the Competition a lively mix of events and activities has been programmed to encourage deeper understanding of some of the greatest music that has ever been composed.

Click here for the full programme for the Week

Tenth London International String Quartet Competition

During the first four days of the Week each quartet will play two recitals for the audience and the International Jury. Recital I will comprise their choice of any one of Haydn's Op 64 or Op 76 series, plus Wolf Italian Serenade in G major, Webern Six Bagatelles Op 9 and Kurtag Twelve Microludes Op 13, the last three of which are the Competition set pieces. Recital II covers the ensemble's choice of one of the ten late Mozart quartets, and one of their two chosen pieces of any significant work composed after 1826.

The International Jury will then select 6 or 7 quartets to go through to the Semi-Finals on 8 April at Wigmore Hall, where they will perform their chosen Beethoven quartet. Only 3 or 4 quartets will go through to the Final on 9 April, where they will play the remaining chosen work composed after 1826. The final result and prize-giving will take place directly after the concert.

The competing quartets are:

Asasello Quartet (Germany), Bronte Quartet (UK), Carducci String Quartet (UK), Enso String Quartet (USA), Formosa Quartet (USA/Taiwan), Lloyd Carr-Harris String Quartet (Canada), Nador Quartet (Hungary), Navarra Quartet (UK), Pavao String Quartet (UK), Quatuor Modigliani (France), Sacconi Quartet (UK), TinAlley String Quartet (Australia), Zemlinsky Quartet (ex-Penguin Quartet, Czech Republic)

Members of the International Jury are:

Josef Kluson (viola, Prazak Quartet, Czech Republic), Martin Lovett OBE (cello, Amadeus Quartet, UK), Eckart Runge (cello, Artemis Quartet, Germany), Peter Salaff (violin, Cleveland Quartet, USA), Are Sandbakken (viola, Oslo String Quartet, Norway), Kazuki Sawa (violin, Sawa Quartet, Japan), John Fraser (Director, Recorded Productions, EMI Classics, UK), Annette Mangold (Director of Artistic Planning, Vienna Konzerthaus, Austria) and Georges Zeisel (Director, ProQuartet, France)

Illustrated Talks

A series of not-to-be-missed sessions by leading experts who are passionate about what they do. See full programme above for date, time and venue details.

‘WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR SMALL ENSEMBLES?’
04 Tuesday

John Gilhooley, Director of Wigmore Hall, chairs a distinguished line-up including members of the International Jury, for this panel discussion.

STRING INSTRUMENT WORKSHOP AND THE ACADEMY COLLECTION
05 Wednesday

David Rattray, Instrumental Custodian to the Royal Academy of Music and master violin maker and restorer, discusses the Academy's stunning collection of string instruments, gives a practical demonstration on the construction of the violin and also talks about the care, maintenance and restoration of string instruments.

LAB OF LIFE: CHEMISTRY OF THE STRING QUARTET
05 Wednesday

Eckart Runge, International Jury member and cellist of the renowned Artemis Quartet, will converse with the Doric Quartet, and members of the audience, to illustrate some of the inner workings of a quartet, touching on issues such as democracy, leadership, conflict and discussion. The Doric Quartet will perform excerpts to illustrate Eckart's discussion points.

GREAT STRING QUARTET RECORDINGS
06 Thursday

Rob Cowan, the popular BBC Radio 3 presenter, discusses what makes a great string quartet performance, focussing on some of the Competition repertoire.

THE COUNT, THE COMPOSER AND THE STRING QUARTET
07 Friday

Mark Messenger, Head of Strings at the Royal College of Music and violinist of the Bochmann Quartet, will cast the spotlight on Beethoven's three Op. 59 quartets commissioned by Count Razumovsky. These works are all most likely to be performed the following day at the Wigmore Semi-Finals. Mark's talk will be accompanied by the up and coming Stanford Quartet from the RCM.

Free Lunchtime Concerts

To enhance the experience of all quartets who are not based in London, and to give the public another chance to hear them, there will be eight free lunchtime recitals lasting about an hour in some of London's most beautiful churches.

Masterclasses

You can listen to young aspiring quartets from all over the UK getting tips and advice from leading coaches Gabor Takacs-Nagy (violinist and founder member of the Takacs Quartet), Dr Christopher Rowland (Director of Chamber Music, Royal Northern College of Music), Ioan Davies (Director of Music, Pro Corda - The National School for Young Chamber Music Players) and Simon Rowland-Jones (violist and founder member of the Chilingirian Quartet).

Stalls and Exhibitors

Publishers, instrument makers and dealers and chamber music promoters will be exhibiting in the Royal Academy of Music 4-7 April. Come and browse and ask advice between the events.

Latest News

Artistic Director Writes

What is London String Quartet Week? Could it be a mad day of activity for all at the Museum of London? Could it be concerts featuring some of the best young talent in this country at the moment? Could it be masterclasses with the nation's leading exponents of chamber music? Could it be recitals by internationally famous quartets?

Well, London String Quartet Week 2005 was all of those things and more! Over the last two years, as Artistic Director for the London String Quartet Weeks, I have deliberately focussed on getting more young people involved in the fantastic medium of the String Quartet, partly by visiting them in schools and partly by placing string quartet activities in less than conventional venues. So what better place to kick off our week than the Museum of London? Sian Davies, animateur and education projects manager extraordinaire had made sure that every nook and cranny of this wide open space had string quartet related activities going on. At the centre were a number of presentations by Gallions and North Beckton Primary schools who had been working with the Stanford Quartet and our team of animateurs over the previous weeks.

One strand that ran through the week this year was the first ever National Youth String Quartet Competition. Audiences had the chance to hear some of the hottest young quartet talent in the surroundings of magnificent City churches and the splendour of Goldsmiths' Hall. The Azzura Quartet, comprising players from many conservatoires won the overall prize with their performance of Shostakovich's Quartet no.11, and the Chen Quartet from Chetham's School of Music won the Under 18s prize. However, one of my abiding memories of the week was a moving performance a few days later of Britten's haunting 3rd Quartet given by the outstanding Myrios Quartet from the Royal Northern College of Music.

On the Thursday night, as the rain pelted down on the roof of St. Giles' Cripplegate, the Wihan Quartet gave their 20th anniversary concert. The Wihan Quartet won both the First Prize and the Audience Prize at the Fifth International String Quartet Competition in 1991 and this anniversary concert mirrored the Quartet's winning programme of Janacek and Beethoven.

2006 sees the Tenth London International Competition so the events of London String Quartet Week will be fitted around the Preliminary Rounds - but in just a few short years the London String Quartet Weeks have evolved into a major part of the national musical landscape, reinforcing all that we know is superb about string quartets whilst gaining new audiences and breaking down the misconceptions of exclusivity.

Mark Messenger, Artistic Director - London String Quartet Week

Atrium Quartet return to UK

Just 18 months after winning both the First Prize and the Audience Prize at the Ninth London International String Quartet Competition, the Atrium Quartet from St Petersburg were back in the UK.

They embarked on a hectic programme of 10 concerts in 17 days, travelling to a number of places far and wide - Milverton, Plymouth, Galway and Nottingham - before returning to London to give their professional debut at Wigmore Hall on 21^st November 2004. The Wigmore Hall concert was sold out, and the Quartet was received very warmly. They then travelled north to give two more concerts in Preston and Alnwick, and then left the UK for a concert in Geneva before returning to St Petersburg.

The core of their repertoire, unsurprisingly, was Borodin, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich, but they also performed Schumann, Mozart, Beethoven and Bartok.

The Tour was part of their prize and was organised by Connaught Artists on behalf of LSQF.

Quite apart from taking their first steps onto the UK's musical stage, the four Russians were visiting all the venues for the first time and making many new friends. Anna Gorelova, cellist, said “For months we have been studying English in preparation for our visit”. Subsequently she had the chance, together with her colleagues, of speaking the language on BBC Radio 3's ‘In Tune’, on which they featured on 19^th November.

The Quartet's CD on EMI's ‘Debut’ Series was extremely well received when it was released last year, and was played on Radio 3.

The Atrium were then back in the UK in March 2005 for the second leg of their tour, with concerts in Whitehaven, Haslemere, Woking and Cardiff. In between the UK concerts, they took masterclasses with the Alban Berg Quartet in Paris.

Neville Abraham writes: “The difficulties of making your reputation on the international stage are especially difficult if you do not live in the West, like the Atrium. LSQF's role and the support we provide are absolutely essential to give them the best chance.”

The Atrium Quartet will be back in the UK for a two week tour in October 2006. Their own website can be viewed at www.atriumquartet.com

Professor Barry Ife CBE joins LSQF Board

The LSQF Board has been strengthened by the appointment of Professor Barry Ife, recently appointed Principal of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Neville Abraham says: “I am delighted that Barry has agreed to join us. Not only does he have a distinguished record in the London academic world and especially in Hispanic Studies and in Spanish keyboard music, but his recent appointment to head the GSMD will mean much closer relations between LSQF and another of London's renowned music conservatoires”.

Johnston Quartet update

Marie Bitlloch (cello) sends this update from the Quartet, second prize winners in 2003 of the London International String Quartet Competition:

“We are happy to announce that Sara Bitlloch has recently joined the Johnston String Quartet as our new leader. We are now in the process of changing our name, and announced it officially at the occasion of our concert in the Brahms and Schumann festival in Manchester on January 7th 2005. We have become the Elias String Quartet.

“We spent most of last term in Paris where we had a series of concerts, travelling to England for concerts and to Cologne for lessons, as in September we joined the Alban Berg Quartet class at the Hochschule in Cologne. We have also enrolled in the Pro Quartet programme.

“In December 2004, we recorded with Sandrine Chatron, harp player, for a CD that should come out in March for the Ambroisie label (under the name of Elias Quartet, of course).

“After Christmas 2004, we revert to being based in Manchester. Projects include a one month residency in Aldeburgh (at the Britten-Pears school) where we will be having coaching with Hugh Maguire. We are hoping to take part in Prussia Cove in April, and a Pro Quartet course with Paul Katz in June.

“Future concerts include a tour of Wales, concerts in Aldeburgh, playing the Trout Quintet with Tom Poster and going to Stockholm for a concert and some master classes.”

Ruth Wheal appointed General Manager of LSQF

Ruth Wheal joined LSQF as General Manager in July 2004, having previously been Head of Event Management at the Barbican Centre. Ruth has also worked for the LSO, Blackheath Halls and the Wigmore Hall and now combines the LSQF job with looking after Joseph, aged 2½, and working for the London Symphony Chorus. Ruth says “I am really enjoying the work for LSQF, as it is a good mixture of the new and the familiar. Working with the Atrium Quartet during their UK tours in November and March was very rewarding and organising the new Youth Competition was a real challenge; I was amazed by the talent and commitment of the young performers. Seeing the results of our primary schools' education project at the Museum of London during LSQW 05 was truly uplifting, and it was wonderful to meet so many of our Supporters at the recent Final of the Youth Competition, and at the Atrium Quartet Musical Soiree last November”.

New contact details for LSQF

Ruth Wheal, General Manager
8 Woodlands Road
Romford RM1 4HD
tel and fax: 01708 761423
email: info@playquartet.com
website: www.playquartet.com

Archive

Gala Fundraising Concert, October 2008