2012 Competition

Nationality: Romania

The Arcadia Quartet came into being while its founding members – violinists Ana Bogatila and Rasvan Dumitru, violist Marcel Camenita and cellist Török Zsolt – were still students at the “Gh. Dima” Music Academy of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The two changes of violist (Cristian Suarasan in October 2007 and Traian Boala in April 2009) have not hindered the Quartet’s achievements.

The quartet has participated in several masterclasses both in Romania and abroad, with renowned ensembles including the Belcea, Ad Libitum, Artis, Voces and Bartók quartets, and with artists such as Ferenc László, Avedis Koyoumdjian, Johannes Meissl, Hatto Beyerle, György Kurtág, Ferenc Rados, Anner Bylsma, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Miguel da Silva, Valentin Erben, Rainer Schmidt, Eberhard Feltz, Stefan Metz, Christoph Richter, Christophe Giovaninetti, Peter Cropper and Petr Prause, among others.

The Arcadia Quartet has recently become a member of the ECMA (European Chamber Music Academy).

In September 2009, the Quartet participated in its first international competition, the “Gianni Bergamo” Classic Music Award in Lugano, Switzerland, where they won Second Prize (First Prize was not awarded), after which followed the First Internationales Kammermusikwettbewerb Hamburg, where the ensemble enjoyed tremendous success, winning First Prize, the “Johannes Brahms” Special Prize and the “Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy” Special Prize. In June 2011 it won the Internationaal Kamermuziek Concours Almere.

Since September 2010, the members of Arcadia Quartet have been postgraduate students at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, studying with Johannes Meissl in his chamber music class.

Visit Arcadia Quartet's official website.

Nationality: Poland

The Meccorre String Quartet was established in 2007.

In 2011 it was awarded both the Finalist and and the Special Awards at the 9th Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition in Reggio Emilia. In 2010 the Quartet received the First Prize at the International Chamber Music Competition in Weiden (Second and Third Prizes were not awarded), and in 2009 it won First Prize at the Max Reger International Chamber Music Competition in Sondershausen. The Quartet was tutored initially by members of the Camerata Quartet, and since 2009 has been studying with the Artemis Quartett at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.

The Meccorre String Quartet has further developed its skills during masterclasses at the Reggio Emilia String Quartet Festival, Beethoven Haus Masterclass in Bonn, and the Jeunesses Musicales in Weikersheim, among others, held by prominent artists such as Barthold Kuijken, Heime Müller, Antonello Farulli, Peter Cropper, the Kuss Quartet, and Cuarteto Casals.

The Quartet has made numerous recordings for Bayerischer Rundfunk, Rai3, Radio Merkury and NDR. Its performance of Schubert’s "Death and the Maiden" for Polish TV Kultura was nominated for the “Gwarancje Kultury 2011”, a competition featuring the best accomplishments on the Polish cultural scene.

Since 2010, the Meccorre String Quartet has been hosting and organising the International Chamber Music Festival “Q’arto Mondi” in Poznan, featuring top quartets from all over the world.

Visit Meccorre String Quartet's official website.

Nationality: USA

The Tesla Quartet was formed at the Juilliard School in 2008 and won Second Prize at the J.C. Arriaga Chamber Music Competition only a few months after its inception. The Quartet (violinists Ross Snyder and Michelle Lie, violist Megan Mason, and cellist Kimberly Patterson) currently holds a fellowship as the Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the University of Colorado-Boulder, where they study with the world-renowned Takács Quartet.

The Quartet has enjoyed a busy performing schedule, with concerts throughout Colorado, most notably in Harris Hall at the 2010 Aspen Music Festival. The Quartet is also active in the grassroots chamber music organization known as Classical Revolution and can be found performing informal concerts in local bars and cafés.

In addition to its work with the Takács Quartet, the Tesla Quartet has been coached by the Tokyo String Quartet, the Artis Quartet, James Dunham, Curtis Macomber, Robert Mann, Sylvia Rosenberg, Michael Tree, and members of the Emerson, Kronos and Leipzig quartets.

Recently the Quartet participated in an innovative workshop with laptop performance technology in collaboration with the Boulder Laptop Orchestra. It was also the central ensemble in a unique series of masterclasses on classical improvisation, presented by David Dolan from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. This past summer the Quartet held a fellowship at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and in 2010 they were fellows at the Aspen Music Festival’s Center for Advanced Quartet Studies.

Visit Tesla Quartet's official website.

Nationality: USA

Dover Quartet (formerly The Old City String Quartet) has won the praise of some of the greatest chamber musicians of our time. Formed at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008, the ensemble draws from the musical lineage of both the Vermeer and Guarneri quartets, but brings a youthful enthusiasm and musical conviction to the repertoire that is truly its own. Joseph Silverstein said of the group: ‘The Old City String Quartet is one of the finest string quartets I have ever heard. I expect to see the ensemble reach international acclaim.’

The ensemble’s recording of the Mendelssohn and Debussy quartets, released last spring by the audiophile label Unipheye Music, was awarded the Blue Moon award by the highly respected audiophile website 6moons.com. The album’s review by David Kan proclaimed that ‘…the maturity in these interpretations is phenomenal and disproportionate to the age [of the group.]’

Members of the Quartet have appeared as soloists with some of the world’s finest orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony and BBC Concert Orchestra.

Dover Quartet was named Gold Medalist and Grand Prize winner of the 2010 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, was awarded Second Prize in the 2009 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and as an ensemble has attended music festivals such as Artosphere and La Jolla SummerFest. The ensemble worked intensively at the Curtis Institute with such renowned chamber musicians as Shmuel Ashkenasi, Arnold Steinhardt, Joseph Silverstein, and Peter Wiley, and is currently the Graduate String Quartet in Residence at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston, Texas.

Visit Dover Quartet's official website.