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Berlin-Based Leonkoro Quartet Wins 2022 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition
Press Release
Date of Issue: Monday 11 April 2022
BERLIN-BASED LEONKORO QUARTET WINS
2022 WIGMORE HALL
INTERNATIONAL STRING QUARTET COMPETITION
Images for download: https://bit.ly/3LWlmto
John Gilhooly, Artistic and Executive Director of Wigmore Hall, announces winners of the 2022 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, who are:
First Prize Leonkoro Quartet
£10,000 – donated by The Dorset Foundation
Second Prize Adelphi Quartet
£6,000 – donated by Henry and Suzanne Davis
Third Prize Affinity Quartet
£3,000 – anonymous donor
Founded in 2019, the Berlin-based Leonkoro Quartet also won most of the special prizes, including the Bram Eldering Prize for the best performance of a 19th century quartet (£1,200), the Sidney Griller Award for the best performance of Sally Beamish’s Nine Fragments (£1,000), the Haydn Prize (£1,000), the Alan Bradley Mozart Prize (£1,000) and the Twentieth Century Prize (£1,000).
Additional professional development prizes awarded to the Leonkoro Quartet include a recital at Wigmore Hall, residencies at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Canada), the Avaloch Farm Music Institute in New Hampshire (USA), McGill International String Quartet Academy in Montreal (Canada), ProQuartet Centre européen de musique de chambre Paris (France) and Britten Pears Young Artists Programme in Aldeburgh (UK); as well as concerts promoted by the Esterházy Foundation in Eisenstadt (Austria) and the Leeds International Concert Season (UK).
John Gilhooly, Wigmore Hall director and chairman of the jury, said, ‘This past week had been an extraordinary celebration of the string quartet, witnessed both by our live audiences in London as well as the thousands of viewers around the world who watched the live stream. The standard of playing fills us with great confidence for the future.’
The jury members of the 2022 competition were Jonathan Brown (viola, Casals Quartet), Hélène Clément (viola, Doric Quartet), Simin Ganatra (violin, Pacifica Quartet), Louise Hopkins (cello, Head of Strings, Guildhall School of Music & Drama), Laura Samuel (violin, leader BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and ex-Belcea Quartet), Kyril Zlotnikov (cello, Jerusalem Quartet) and John Gilhooly.
The triennial competition traces its roots back to 1979, when the then unknown Takács Quartet triumphed at the first edition held in Portsmouth. Under the auspices of Wigmore Hall since 2010, and open to ensembles comprising players aged below 35 years, the competition allows quartets to demonstrate their musicality across the breadth of the genre’s repertoire, from classical to contemporary.
Media enquiries:
Dennis Chang, Bolton & Quinn
44 (0)20 7221 5000 / dennis@boltonquinn.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
Leonkoro Quartet
Jonathan Schwarz (Germany) violin
Amelie Wallner (Germany) violin
Mayu Konoe (Netherlands/Japan) viola
Lukas Schwarz (Germany) cello
Based in: Germany
Ensemble founded: February 2019
Current formation: June 2020
Average age: 24
The Leonkoro Quartet was founded in 2019 and is based in Berlin. The quartet has studied with the Artemis Quartet at the University of the Arts Berlin since its formation, and subsequently at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid with Günter Pichler. In addition, they have received tuition from teachers such as Heime Müller, Alfred Brendel, Rainer Schmidt, Oliver Wille, and Luc-Marie Aguera. The quartet received its first awards in the summer of 2019 at the International Chamber Music Competition at the Virtuoso & Belcanto Festival in Italy, where they were awarded the First Prize and the Adolfo Betti Award for the best string quartet. In 2020 they were invited by the Mozartfest Würzburg to work with Reinhard Goebel at the MozartLab. In 2021, despite the global pandemic, in addition to winning the First Prize at the Alice Samter Chamber Music Competition and the Second Prize at the Sound & Explanation Competition organised by the Association of Arts and Culture of the German Economy, they received the Second Prize and the coveted Audience Prize at the Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition in Italy. During the 2021-2022 season, the Leonkoro Quartet will be performing at chamber music series and festivals throughout Germany.
Adelphi Quartet
Maxime Michaluk (Belgium) violin
Esther Agusti Matabosch (Spain) violin
Marko Milenkovic (Serbia) viola
Nepomuk Braun (Germany) cello
Based in: Austria and Germany
Ensemble founded: January 2017
Current formation: January 2020
Average age: 29
The Adelphi Quartet was formed in 2017 and studied with Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet) at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg; it has received invaluable support and guidance from Eberhard Feltz and Valentin Erben. In 2020 the Adelphi Quartet won First Prize in the Irene Steels-Wilsing Foundation Competition at the Heidelberg String Quartet Festival, and in 2021, Third Prize at the Paolo Borciani Competition in Italy. Concert highlights include recitals in Germany at the Hitzacker Summer Music Festival and Chamber Music Wiesbaden, and in Austria at the Mondsee Music Festival and the International Mozarteum Foundation. The quartet has given performances of Schubert's String Quintet with Valentin Erben of the Alban Berg Quartet at the Villa Musica in Germany and undertaken exchange programmes at McGill University in Montreal, and with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. This season they make their debut at Wigmore Hall, return to the Heidelberg String Quartet Festival and give recitals for the ‘Hindemith Days’ series in Frankfurt and ‘Les Voix Intimes’ String Quartet Festival in Belgium. The individual members have studied with, among others, Igor Ozim, Benjamin Schmid, Rainer Schmidt, Thomas Riebl, Lawrence Power, Heinrich Schiff and Clemens Hagen.
Affinity Quartet
Josephine Chung (Australia) violin
Nicholas Waters (Australia) violin
Ruby Shirres (Australia) viola
Mee Na Lojewski (Australia) cello
Based in: Australia
Ensemble founded: January 2015
Current formation: June 2021
Average age: 28
Australia’s Affinity Quartet was formed in 2015; since then, the ensemble has benefited from training at IMS Prussia Cove, the Young Talents Residency of the Amsterdam String Quartet Biennale, as well as private tuition with members of the Belcea, Brodsky, Doric and Kuss Quartets, Professors Heime Müller, Rainer Schmidt and Oliver Wille, and Dr Robin Wilson. The quartet’s touring schedule between 2016-20 included acclaimed performances at the Amsterdam String Quartet Biennale, ‘Les Voix Intimes’ String Quartet Festival in Belgium, the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice, the Mirabell Palace in Salzburg, and in the UK at St Martin in the Fields, Southbank Centre, City Music Society, and Prussia Cove International Musicians Seminar. The Affinity Quartet was also invited as string quartet in residence at the 2021 Australian Festival of Chamber Music. The Australian National Academy of Music has been formative for Affinity Quartet: three members are alumni, one is a current student and the ensemble also won ANAM’s 2015 Chamber Music Competition. The Affinity Quartet champions works by Australian and contemporary composers as well as works from the classical canon, including the complete string quartets of Janácek, Haas, Britten and Panufnik. In 2022 the quartet is commissioning new work from Australian composers and will perform in Melbourne Recital Centre’s Local Heroes series.
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