The Dover String Quartet Wins First Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition

September 3, 2013 at 11:28 PM

Last week, the Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC) was held at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. You can watch excerpts from the competition on medici.tv.

Here is a list of the laureates:

• First Prize ($25,000 (CND) -- The Dover Quartet (USA)
• Second Prize ($12,000) – Quatuor Cavatine (France)
• Third Prize ($8,000) – Navarra Quartet (UK/Ireland/Netherlands)
• Székely Prize ($3,000 awarded for the best performance of a Schubert quartet) – Dover Quartet
• Canadian Commission Prize ($2,000 awarded for the best performance of Canadian composer Vivian Fung’s String Quartet No. 3, commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and The Banff Centre for the competition) – Dover Quartet
• R.S. Williams & Sons Haydn Prize ($3,000 awarded for the best performance of a Haydn Quartet) – Dover Quartet
• Esterhazy Foundation Prize (Recital in Haydn Hall at the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, for the First Prize laureate, including €2000 artist fee and travel expenses)

The Dover Quartet: Joel Link, violin; Camden Shaw, cello; Bryan Lee, violin; Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola

Below, Eric Friesen explains why a performance of a Schubert quartet followed by a 20th Century work is such a valuable test for the competing quartets.