12th Banff International String Quartet Competition Program

BANFF CENTRE

BISQC Banff International String Quartet Competition

Aug 29 - Sept 4, 2016

COMPETITION PROGRAM

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BANFF CENTRE

BISQC.CA

BANFF CENTRE

BISQC Banff International String Quartet Competition

Aug 29 - Sept 4, 2016

Lead Patrons: Christine and David Anderson

Supporting Sponsor:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Welcome Messages

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History and Laureates

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Process and Jury Voting Procedures

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Competing Quartets

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Schedule at a Glance

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Detailed Schedule

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Resident Audience and Passport Holder Exclusive Events

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Awards, Special Prizes and the Winner’s Tour

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Competition Director

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Preliminary Jury

71

Competition Jury

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Special Guests

82

Guest Performers

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Article: Banff at the Esterházy Palace by Keith Horner

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Article: Canadian Commission: Zosha Di Castri’s String Quartet No. 1

by Devon Murphy

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Article: Cecilia String Quartet – Xenia Project by Tamara Bernstein

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Quartet in the Community: Melba and Orville Rollefson Residency

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Székely/Rolston Young Musicians Program

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Media and Supporters

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About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

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Getting Around 3

WELCOME FROM THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA

I am pleased to send greetings to all those in attendance at the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition.

Music has the potential to carry us to a thousand different places of discovery.

During this gathering of international talent, musicians will stir the depths of audiences’ souls, rousing within them an unimaginable range of emotions.

These performances remind us of how important music is in our lives; it allows us to recognize and appreciate the hard work of those who practise this discipline.

The enthusiasm sparked by this competition reveals the power of music to bring people together, creating and strengthening bonds within the community and between nations.

I wish everyone an enjoyable concert.

David Johnston

BISQC.CA

WELCOME FROM THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF ALBERTA

As Her Majesty the Queen’s representative in Alberta, it is my pleasure to welcome everyone to the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition.

Since the inception in 1983 this world renowned competition has done a wonderful job of supporting international emerging musicians while celebrating the art of classical music. We are honoured to host these 40 extraordinary musicians from around the world and welcome them to Banff. We, as Albertans and Canadians, have a long tradition of enjoying the musical arts and experiences like this are important to the quality of life we all enjoy. It inspires us all creatively while promoting classical music and enhancing the arts and musical culture in our communities.

I would like to offer sincere congratulations to everyone behind the ongoing success of the Banff International String Quartet Competition including the quartets, juries, audience members, supporters, and staff. I wish you all the best for a wonderful week of enchanting music and an enjoyable stay in our beautiful province.

Her Honour, the Honourable Lois Mitchell, CM, AOE, LLD Lieutenant Governor of Alberta

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WELCOME FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF ALBERTA

Message from Honourable Rachel Notley Premier of Alberta On behalf of the Government of Alberta, it is my pleasure to send greetings to the Banff International String Quartet Competition.

It is an honour for our province to once again host this prestigious event, and to host the world’s leading string quartets. We are also privileged to welcome members of the distinguished jury, comprised of seven of the world’s most accomplished chamber musicians.

More than 500 string enthusiasts have also gathered from near and very far in our picturesque Rocky Mountains. I hope each of you has the opportunity to connect over spectacular performances, enlightening lectures and fellowship within the music community.

My thanks to the organizers and sponsors of this year’s competition, as well as the many volunteers whose efforts make the event possible. Good luck to all of the quartets and I hope visitors to our province will take the opportunity to explore all that beautiful Banff has to offer.

Rachel Notley

BISQC.CA

WELCOME FROM THE TOWN OF BANFF

Welcome to Banff!

On behalf of Council and the Town of Banff, it is with great pleasure to welcome all participants of the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition to our beautiful town. Whether you are competing, judging, or just enjoying the music experience, we are delighted that you have chosen to come to Banff.

An outstanding setting is only a part of what Banff has to offer visitors. It has a rich history, character, and quality of life found nowhere else in the country. From outdoors to opera, there truly is something for everyone. And to top it off, Banff still has the relaxed friendliness distinctive to small towns. I hope that during your time here you will take some time to experience some of the features that make Banff such a special place!

Welcome back and best wishes for a successful string quartet competition and an enjoyable stay in our town.

Yours truly,

Karen Sorensen Mayor

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Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is extremely proud to be located on the lands of Treaty 7 territory, and would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the past, present, and future generations of Stoney Nakoda, Blackfoot, and Tsuut’ina Nations who help us steward this land, as well as to honour and celebrate this place.

Banff Centre’s home has a long history as a sacred gathering place for trade, sharing, visions, ceremony, and celebration. That tradition continues today as leaders, artists, and creators of all disciplines meet here to realize their creative potential. It’s our pleasure to welcome you here, to witness this exchange of stories, dance, songs, and music.

BISQC.CA

WELCOME FROM THE PRESIDENT OF BANFF CENTRE FOR ARTS AND CREATIVITY

Welcome to Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and thank you for joining us for the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition.

Every day, Banff Centre welcomes artists, leaders and creators from a wide range of artistic disciplines to participate in an exchange of stories, songs, and music, while realizing their creative potential. For one memorable week during BISQC, we celebrate the absolute pinnacle of string quartet performance from the world’s best emerging quartets.

Through training programs and competitions like BISQC, Banff Centre has helped launch the careers of thousands of musicians from all around the world, and I know you’ll agree that the passion and dedication of these young string quartets is unmatched anywhere in the world. Thank you for being a part of this experience as patrons, and lovers of classical music.

We’re sincerely grateful to our Lead Patrons Christine and David Anderson and Supporting Sponsor Kun Shoulder Rest, who make this competition possible, as well as our dedicated media partners who help showcase BISQC around the world.

Enjoy yourself over these next few days and get to know some of these fantastic musicians. I look forward to seeing you during this week of extraordinary music!

Janice Price President and Chief Executive Officer

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WELCOME FROM THE COMPETITION DIRECTOR

Dear Friends, Welcome to Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity as the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC) fills our mountain campus with thrilling performances, inspiring conversation, and excitement for the future.

The music world is closely watching what happens here this week as forty young musicians vie for the opportunities a win at BISQC provides. You will witness the future of chamber music unfold in a most exhilarating way.

BISQC does not end with the announcement of our winners. Our first prize laureates receive a comprehensive three year career development program including concert tours, recordings, artistic collaborations and promotion, which provides important opportunities and stability as they launch their career.

Committed to sharing the BISQC experience, the competition is streamed live and shared with our partners at the CBC and Medici.tv for future enjoyment.

Many thanks to our lead patrons, Christine and David Anderson, and our supporting sponsor, Kun Shoulder Rest. Their generous support and that of many individual donors has enabled us to continue to fulfill our mission.

Wishing you all a fantastic week at BISQC 2016!

Warmly,

Barry Shiffman Executive Director of BISQC

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HISTORY OF BISQC

Since 1983 the Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC) has celebrated the art of chamber music while providing unparalleled career support for emerging string quartets. Intended as a one-time special event, the first BISQC was held in 1983 to mark Banff Centre’s 50th anniversary. The outstanding success of the first competition inspired organizers to make BISQC a triennial event that is now recognized world-wide.

This week, 10 of the world’s best emerging string quartets take centre stage for the 12th BISQC. Across 14 concerts, the quartets play for a distinguished jury, an eager audience, and for each other in a quest to win this prestigious international music competition.

BISQC LAUREATES

The list of BISQC winners reads as “who’s who” of the world’s most outstanding string quartets: 2013 Dover Quartet 2010 Cecilia String Quartet 2007 Tinalley String Quartet 2004 Jupiter String Quartet 2001 Daedalus Quartet 1998 Miró Quartet 1995 Amernet String Quartet 1992 St. Lawrence String Quartet 1989 Quatuor Manfred 1986 Franciscan Quartet 1983 Colorado Quartet Facing Page: The Hausmann Quartet during BISQC 2010. Photo by Don Lee. 13

THE BISQC PROCESS

This year, the BISQC preliminary jury process went digital. Applications from quartets were received from around the world through an online application portal and scored by our three preliminary jurors: Clive Greensmith, Douglas McNabney, and Philip Setzer. Following an extensive review of the initial scores, Barry Shiffman, Executive Director of BISQC, and Dr. Moses Renert, BISQC Official Mathematician, led the preliminary jurors through a comprehensive review process to select the 10 competing quartets.

The competition is open to string quartets whose members are under the age of 35 on September 1, 2016. The quartets were asked to submit a high quality unedited recording containing selections of Haydn, Mozart, or Beethoven; Romantic or Nationalist repertoire; and a 20th century work. Almost an hour’s worth of music, the repertoire shows the quartet’s range and ability. Once the invited quartets had confirmed their participation, the names of the quartets were announced to our audience and the world. Travel, accommodation, and meals are covered by BISQC to ensure that each quartet can attend the competition.

SELECTING THE WINNER

While in Banff, each of the 10 competing quartets perform four complete works selected from an extensive repertoire list, as well as a half-hour of music of their own choosing. These works are performed during four distinct rounds: the Recital Round (Monday and Tuesday), Romantic Round (Wednesday), Canadian Commission Round (Friday), and Ad lib Round (Saturday). The jury then chooses three quartets to advance to the fifth and final round on Sunday, September 4. The competition jury voting is completed under the guidance of the BISQC Official Mathematician, Dr. Moses Renert, who is recognized for his expertise in designing similar jury voting procedures for other competitions. The BISQC scoring system, based on the “Optimal Jury Scoring System” copyright number 459777 by Dr. Ernst Enns and Dr. Moses Renert, ensures absolute fairness to all competing quartets.

BISQC.CA

JURY VOTING PROCEDURES

Competition Jury Guidelines

The Competition Jury has these tasks: 1. To choose the winner of the R.S. Williams & Sons Haydn Prize for the best performance of a Haydn quartet.

2. To choose the winner of the Canadian Commission Prize, in honour of the R.S. Williams & Sons Company for the best performance of the commissioned Canadian composition.

3. To choose three quartets for the Final Round after four rounds of competition.

4. To rank the three prize winners after the completion of the Final Round.

The criteria for choosing the winning quartets are: 1. The winning quartet should be ready to take full advantage of an international performing career, commensurate with the career development program of the competition.

2. The winning quartet should have an abundance of technical skill and a unique artistic voice and presence.

Immediately after the Final Round is completed, the Jurors convene for a voting session. The Official Mathematician constructs a weighted ranking using these weights: Performance of the Haydn quartet: 14% Performance of the 20th-century quartet: 12% Performance of the Romantic quartet: 12% Performance of the Canadian Commission: 8% Performance of the Ad lib round: 14% Performance of the Final round: 25% Overall impression of all competition rounds: 15% Full voting procedures and Official Rules and Regulations can be found on bisqc.ca

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QUARTET BIOGRAPHIES

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AEOLUS QUARTET

USA

Nicholas Tavani, violin Rachel Shapiro, violin Gregory Luce, viola Alan Richardson, cello

Praised for combining “smoothly meshed technique with a sense of spontaneity and discovery” (Baltimore Sun), the Aeolus Quartet is committed to presenting time-seasoned masterworks and new cutting-edge works to widely diverse audiences with equal freshness, dedication, and fervor. Formed in 2008 at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the all-American quartet has been awarded prizes at nearly every major competition in the United States and performed across the globe with showings “worthy of a major-league quartet” (Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News). Mark Satola of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes, “A rich and warm tone combined with precise ensemble playing (that managed also to come across as fluid and natural), and an impressive musical intelligence guided every technical and dramatic turn.” The Aeolus Quartet previously attended Banff Centre for the Chamber Music Residency in 2011. They were the 2013-2015 Graduate Resident String Quartet at The Juilliard School, and they currently make their home in New York City.

The Aeolus Quartet has released two critically acclaimed albums of classical and contemporary works through the Longhorn/Naxos label that are available on iTunes, Amazon, and major retailers worldwide. The quartet is named for the Greek god Aeolus, who governed the four winds. This idea of a single spirit uniting four individual forces serves as an inspiration to the members of the Aeolus Quartet as they pursue their art.

aeolusquartet.com

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ARGUS QUARTET

USA Jason Issokson, violin Clara Kim, violin Diana Wade, viola Joann Whang, cello

The Argus Quartet is dedicated to reinvigorating the audience-performer relationship through innovative concerts and diverse repertoire – connecting with and building up a community of engaged listeners is at the core of the quartet’s mission.

Argus believes that today’s ensembles can honour the storied chamber music traditions of the past while forging a new path forward. In that spirit, their repertoire includes both the staples of the chamber music canon and a large number of pieces by living composers.

Recent performances include appearances at Carnegie Hall, Laguna Beach Live!, Encinitas’ Music By The Sea, the Hear Now Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, the Birdfoot Festival, and the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ in Amsterdam. During the 2016-17 season, the Argus Quartet will serve as the Ernst Stiefel Quartet in Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts.

As the Yale School of Music’s fellowship Quartet-in-Residence, the Argus Quartet will perform again at Carnegie Hall next season, and will be featured

BISQC.CA

ARGUS QUARTET

USA

Jason Issokson, violin Clara Kim, violin Diana Wade, viola Joann Whang, cello

The Argus Quartet is dedicated to reinvigorating the audienceperformer relationship through innovative concerts and diverse repertoire – connecting with and building up a community of engaged listeners is at the core of the quartet’s mission.

Argus believes that today’s ensembles can honour the storied chamber music traditions of the past while forging a new path forward. In that spirit, their repertoire includes both the staples of the chamber music canon and a large number of pieces by living composers.

Recent performances include appearances at Carnegie Hall, Laguna Beach Live!, Encinitas’ Music By The Sea, the Hear Now Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, the Birdfoot Festival, and the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ in Amsterdam. During the 2016-17 season, the Argus Quartet will serve as the Ernst Stiefel Quartet in Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts.

As the Yale School of Music’s fellowship Quartet-in-Residence, the Argus Quartet will perform again at Carnegie Hall next season, and will be featured at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and on the Oneppo Chamber Series.

argusquartet.com

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CASTALIAN STRING QUARTET

UK

Sini Simonen, violin Daniel Roberts, violin Charlotte Bonneton, viola Christopher Graves, cello

Formed in 2011, the Castalian Quartet studied with mentor Oliver Wille between 2012 and 2014 at the Hannover University of Music, Dance and Theatre, graduating with a Masters. They have also received instruction from Thomas Brandis, Levon Chilingirian, and members of the Endellion Quartet.

The Quartet has performed widely throughout Europe since winning First Prize and three special awards at the 2015 Lyon International Chamber Music Competition, and First Prize and the Audience Prize at the Kammermusik Hannover Next Generation Competition in 2013 (broadcast by NDR). In May 2016, the Quartet was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in London.

Future engagements include recitals at Wigmore Hall, the Hitzacker Festival, Hanover Chamber Music Series and Quartetaffairs in Frankfurt, the Turin Chamber Music Festival, and Festival de Musique de Conques in France. They have been invited as guest ensemble at the 2016 Peasmarsh Festival and will be Artist in Residence at the Festival Musique d’Été à Suzette near Avignon and in Aldeburgh during 2017.

Recent highlights include recitals at the Heidelberger Frühling Quartet Festival, the Ceresio Estate Festival in Lugano, the Hamburg Chamber Music Series, International MusikfestGoslar, and NDR Concert Hall in Hannover. In the UK, the Quartet has appeared at Jubilee Hall Aldeburgh, the Cheltenham Festival broadcast by BBC Radio 3, Lake District Summer Music, Purcell Room, and Kings Place. Further afield the Quartet toured China in 2013, under the auspices of the British Council.

castalianstringquartet.com

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OMER QUARTET

USA

Mason Yu, violin Erica Tursi, violin Jinsun Hong, viola Alex Cox, cello

Finalists and prizewinners of the 2016 Bordeaux International Competition in France, the Omer Quartet was named the 2013 Grand Prize and Gold Medal Winner of the 40th Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Praised by U-T San Diego for playing with a “sense of discovery and adventure, but also with considerable finesse,” they have performed across North America and Europe. The quartet is currently the resident ensemble of the New England Conservatory’s Professional Quartet Training Program directed by Paul Katz.

Established at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2009, they have appeared on the WFMT radio network and the Aspen Public Radio. As guest artists, they have performed in the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, the Western Piedmont Symphony Chamber Classics Series, the Fontana Chamber Arts, and the Palm Beach Atlantic University Distinguished Artist Series. The quartet has collaborated and performed with internationally renowned artists such as Cho-Liang Lin, the Assad Brothers, and the Borromeo String Quartet. In 2011, they were invited by Banff Centre to give a world premiere of Bob Becker’s Preludes for percussion and string quartet.

Committed to community education and advocates of civic engagement, the Omer Quartet devotes time to creating interactive programs. They recently completed a fellowship with Music for Food, a musician-led initiative directed by Kim Kashkashian for local hunger relief. As fellows, they were involved in the organization’s various educational projects, including leading assemblies and masterclasses for middle and high school music students.

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QUARTET ARPA

JAPAN

Kyoko Ogawa, violin Nao Tohara, violin Ayane Koga, viola Yu Ito, cello

Quartet Arpa was formed at Geidai (Tokyo University of the Arts) in 2013. They have studied under prominent artists, including Kiyoshi Okayama, Koichiro Harada, Yoshiko Kawamoto, and Kazunori Kawasaki. As the selected fellow ensemble at Suntory Hall Chamber Music Academy, they will complete a two year course under the guidance of Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Kikuei Ikeda, Kazuhide Isomura, and Quartet Excelsior. Additionally, they were invited to the International Summer Academy in Vienna to complete a masterclass with Yohannes Meissl.

They have performed in a number of festivals and events, including the Suntory Hall Chamber Music Garden, the Lake District Summer Music Festival in the UK, Toyama Chamber Music Festival, and the Risonare Chamber Music Seminar, where they won the First Prize in 2016. This May, Quartet Arpa was invited to Singapore to attend the collaboration program of Suntory Hall and Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. Apart from regular concert performances, they participate frequently in community engagement programs in school classrooms, museums, and other public spaces.

In 2015, they were awarded a chamber music grant from Matsuo Foundation. All of the members are currently in graduate school at Geidai (Tokyo University of the Arts).

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QUARTET BERLIN-TOKYO

I S R A E L/J A PA N

Tsuyoshi Moriya, violin Dimitri Pavlov, violin Eri Sugita, viola Ruiko Matsumoto, cello

Quartet Berlin-Tokyo have received esteemed recognition and multiple prizes on an international level. These include ‘’Young Concert Artists Audition New York’’, ’’Joseph Joachim’’ Chamber Music Competition, prestigious “Franz Schubert” competition, ‘’Carl Nielsen International Competition’’, Second & Public Prize at the ‘’Salieri Zinetti’’ competition, First & Public Prize at the ‘’Orlando Quartet Competition’’, prestigious Matsuo-Foundation Japan, ’’Irene Steels-Wilsing’’ Foundation, ‘’HSBC Laureates’’ France and Special Prize at the ARD String quartet competition in Munich, Germany.

The ensemble has performed at numerous national and international concert venues, including Hamburg Laeiszhalle, Berlin Philharmonic, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In addition, the four young musicians were invited to renowned festivals such as the Oslo Chamber Music Festival, residency at ‘’Aix en Provence’’ Festival France, the Takefu International Music Festival, and the Heidelberger Frühling. They are currently studying with Professor Oliver Wille (Kuss Quartet) at the University of Music, Hannover.

Quartet Berlin-Tokyo was given its name at the suggestion of the world–renowned Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa. But there is more to the name than reference to these two metropolises; it is rather about a path running between them, same as the relation between two places, people and notes – and this is precisely the issue the young artists are engaged with.

It is therefore not coincidental that they feel committed to the music of Béla Bartók and his striving for a synthesis between East and West.

quartetberlintokyo.com

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ROLSTON STRING QUARTET

CANADA

Luri Lee, violin Jeffrey Dyrda, violin Hezekiah Leung, viola Jonathan Lo, cello

Grand prize winner of the Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition and prize winners of the M-Prize and Bordeaux International String Quartet Competitions, the Rolston String Quartet has performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe in venues such as the Kennedy Center, Harris Hall, Koerner Hall, and the Auditorium de Bordeaux. Notable collaborations include performances with renowned artists Andrés Díaz, Gil Kalish, Mark Morris, Jon Kimura Parker, Barry Shiffman, and Miguel da Silva. Additionally, they have worked with composers John Luther Adams and Brian Current.

Currently the Graduate Quartet-in-Residence at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, the quartet has also participated in residencies and fellowships at the Académie musicale de Villecroze, Aspen Music Festival, Banff Centre, Robert Mann String Quartet Institute, and the Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Festival. Mentored primarily by James Dunham, Norman Fischer, and Kenneth Goldsmith, they have received additional guidance from Steven Dann, Paul Kantor, Barry Shiffman, Miguel da Silva, Mark Steinberg, and Alasdair Tait.

The Rolston String Quartet was formed in the summer of 2013 at Banff Centre’s Chamber Music Residency. They take their name after the Canadian violinist Thomas Rolston, founder and longtime director of the Music and Sound Programs at Banff Centre.

rolstonstringquartet.com

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TESLA QUARTET

RUSSIA/SOUTH KOREA/USA

Ross Snyder, violin Michelle Lie, violin Edwin Kaplan, viola Serafim Smigelskiy, cello

Dubbed “technically superb” (The Strad), the Tesla Quartet has garnered top prizes at numerous international competitions, including the Gold Medal at the 2012 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Third Prize and the Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Work at the Sixth International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna, and Third Prize at the 2012 London International String Quartet Competition.

The London Evening Standard called their rendition of the Debussy Quartet “a subtly coloured performance that balanced confidently between intimacy and extraversion.”

Newly appointed as the String Quartet-in-Residence at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada, the Tesla Quartet also holds a community residency in Hickory, North Carolina that includes performances and workshops at local colleges, universities and in the public school system, as well as a dedicated chamber music series. They have studied at Banff Centre’s the Chamber Music Residency, and were formerly the Graduate Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Colorado where they studied with the Takacs Quartet. The quartet performs regularly across North America, with recent international appearances in Austria, France and their debut at London’s Wigmore Hall. The 2016-17 season includes debut performances in China at the Beijing National Center for the Arts, the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, and at the Sejong Performing Arts Center in Seoul, South Korea.

Inspired by Nikola Tesla’s words, “though free to think and act, we are held together, like the stars in the firmament, with ties inseparable,” the Tesla Quartet views music as this incredible, binding force, and strives to create meaningful connections with their audiences.

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U LY S S E S QUARTET

CANADA/USA/TAIWAN

Christina Bouey, violin Rhiannon Banerdt, violin Colin Brookes, viola Grace Ho, cello

Winners of the Grand Prize and the Gold Medal in the Senior String Division of the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Ulysses String Quartet was founded in the summer of 2015. Hailing from Canada, the United States, and Taiwan, members have performed in prestigious halls such as Esterházy Palace, Carnegie Hall, and the Taiwan National Concert Hall. Their exciting first season together has included concertizing with the Halcyon, Listen Closely and Massivemuse Series. Ulysses Quartet has a partnership with Groupmuse and headlines their major concerts. Members perform on instruments and bows graciously on loan from the Canada Council of the Arts Instrument Bank and the Maestro Foundation.

The name Ulysses pays homage to Homer’s hero Odysseus and his 10-year voyage home. Additionally, the quartet’s base in Washington Heights, New York City, lies in close proximity to the resting place of former U.S. president, Ulysses S. Grant.

The Ulysses Quartet believes intensely in the power of music to inspire, enlighten, and bring people together. They are committed in sharing this passion by increasing access and appreciation for classical music while enhancing audience engagement. To this end, the quartet offers interactive programs and workshops for all ages that demystify traditional repertoire while introducing new and exciting works. Their programs invite participants to learn about the inner workings of the string quartet, and explore connections that music makes with our world today, through the rich history of its creation.

ulyssesquartet.com

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VERONA QUARTET

CANADA/USA/SINGAPORE

Jonathan Ong, violin Dorothy Ro, violin Abigail Rojansky, viola Warren Hagerty, cello

Hailed by critics as “thoughtful, impressive musicians” (Cleveland Classical), the Verona Quartet, formed in 2013, are winners of the 2015 Victor Elmaleh Concert Artists Guild Competition. Until 2015, the quartet was in residence at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and is currently the Graduate Resident String Quartet at The Juilliard School.

The Verona Quartet are Musical America’s New Artist of the Month for May 2016.

The Verona Quartet have been top prize winners at numerous competitions, including First Prize and Audience Prize at the Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition, Alice Coleman Grand Prize at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition, Second Prize at the 2016 M-Prize Competition, Silver Medal and ProQuartet-CEMC Prize at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, Bronze Medal at the Seventh Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, Silver Medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and Bronze Medal at the Eighth Osaka International Chamber Music Competition where critics lauded their “sensational, powerhouse performance” (Classical Voice America).

The Verona Quartet’s work as both performers and strong proponents of music education and outreach has taken them to Europe, the UK, Asia, the Middle East, and across North America where they have been featured at esteemed venues, including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, the Beethoven-Haus, the Melbourne Recital Centre, and on both NPR and PBS. Upcoming projects include concerts at La Jolla SummerFest, Kneisel Hall Music Festival, teaching and performing at the Indiana University String Academy, and their Carnegie Hall debut in the winter of 2017.

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CONCERT SCHEDULE ERIC HARVIE THEATRE

DAY 1

DAY 2

DAY 3

Monday August 29

Tuesday August 30

Wednesday August 31

Recital Round

Recital Round

Quartets perform a recital of Haydn and a 20th century work.

Quartets perform a recital of Haydn and a 20th century work.

Romantic Round

Concert 1 2 P.M.

Concert 3 10:30 A.M.

Concert 2 7:30 P.M.

Concert 4 2 P.M.

Concert 5 7:30 P.M.

Quartets perform a complete quartet from the romantic or nationalistic repertoire.

Concert 6 10:30 A.M. Concert 7 2 P.M. Concert 8 7:30 P.M.

Performances will start on time. Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of the Front of House staff.

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DAY 4

DAY 5

DAY 6

DAY 7

Thursday September 1

Friday September 2

Saturday September 3

Sunday September 4

Special Event

Canadian Commission Round

Ad lib Round

Finals

All quartets perform the newly commissioned composition by Zosha Di Castri.

All quartets perform a selection of work of their own choosing, totalling no more than 30 minutes.

The three finalists perform a quartet

by Beethoven or Schubert.

Concert 9 2 P.M.

Concert 11 10:30 A.M.

Late afternoon – Announcement of the winning quartet

Concert 12 2 P.M.

SPIN CYCLE: The Afiara String Quartet and DJ Skratch Bastid.

7:30 P.M.

Alumni Gala Features pianist Jon Kimura Parker performing with the 2013 First Prize Laureates, the Dover Quartet.

Concert 14 2 P.M.

Concert 13 7:30 P.M.

Late evening Announcement of the three finalists

Concert 10 7:30 P.M.

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DAY 1 Monday August 29 2 P.M.

Recital Round Concert 1

ARGUS QUARTET USA String Quartet in D Major, Op. 76 No. 5 (1797)

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)

Allegretto Largo. Cantabile e mesto Menuetto. Allegro Finale. Presto

String Quartet No. 4, Sz. 91 (1928)

Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945)

Allegro Prestissimo, con sordino Non troppo lento Allegretto pizzicato Allegro molto INTERMISSION

AEOLUS QUARTET USA String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 64 No. 6 (1790)

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)

Allegro Andante Menuetto: Allegretto Finale: Presto

String Quartet No. 6, Sz. 114 (1939) Mesto - Vivace Mesto - Marcia Mesto - Burletta Mesto - Molto tranquillo

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Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945)

TESLA QUARTET

DAY 1

RUSSIA/SOUTH KOREA/USA String Quartet in B minor, Op. 33 No. 1 (1781)

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)

Monday August 29 7:30 P.M.

Allegro moderato Scherzo: Allegro di molto Andante Finale: Presto

Recital Round Concert 2

Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945)

String Quartet No. 6, Sz. 114 (1939) Mesto - Vivace Mesto - Marcia Mesto - Burletta Mesto - Molto tranquillo INTERMISSION

VERONA QUARTET CANADA/SINGAPORE/USA String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 50 No. 1 (1787)

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)

Allegro Adagio non lento Menuetto: Poco allegretto Finale: Vivace

String Quartet No. 5, Sz. 102 (1934)

Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945)

Allegro Adagio molto Scherzo: alla bulgarese Andante Finale: Allegro vivace

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DAY 2 Tuesday August 30 10:30 A.M.

Recital Round Quartets perform a recital of Haydn and a 20th century work.

Concert 3

ROLSTON STRING QUARTET CANADA String Quartet in G Major, Op. 77 No. 1 (1799)

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)

Allegro Moderato Adagio Menuetto: Presto – Trio Finale: Presto

String Quartet No. 2, ‘Intimate Letters’ (1928)

Leoš Janáček (1854 – 1928)

Andante - Con moto – Allegro Adagio – Vivace Moderato - Andante – Adagio Allegro - Andante – Adagio INTERMISSION

CASTALIAN STRING QUARTET UK String Quartet in G Major, Op. 76 No. 1 (1797)

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)

Allegro con spirito Adagio sostenuto Menuetto. Presto Allegro ma non troppo

String Quartet No. 6, Sz. 114 (1939) Mesto - Vivace Mesto - Marcia Mesto - Burletta Mesto - Molto tranquillo

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Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945)

QUARTET ARPA

DAY 2

JAPAN String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 33 No. 2 (1781)

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)

2 P.M.

Allegro moderato cantabile Scherzo. Allegro – Trio Largo sostenuto Finale. Presto

String Quartet No. 5, Sz. 102 (1934)

Tuesday August 30

Recital Round

Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945)

Quartets perform a recital of Haydn and a 20th century work.

Concert 4

Allegro Adagio molto Scherzo: alla bulgarese Andante Finale: Allegro vivace INTERMISSION

OMER QUARTET USA String Quartet in D Major, Op. 76 No. 5 (1797)

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)

Allegretto Largo. Cantabile e mesto Menuetto. Allegro Finale. Presto

String Quartet No. 1, ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ (1923)

Leoš Janáček (1854 – 1928)

Adagio con moto Con moto Con moto - Vivace - Andante - Tempo I Con moto

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DAY 2 Tuesday August 30 7:30 P.M.

Recital Round Quartets perform a recital of Haydn and a 20th century work.

Concert 5

U LY S S E S Q U A R T E T CANADA/TAIWAN/USA String Quartet in D Major, Op. 76 No. 5 (1797)

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)

Allegretto Largo. Cantabile e mesto Menuetto. Allegro Finale. Presto

String Quartet No. 4, Sz. 91 (1928)

Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945)

Allegro Prestissimo, con sordino Non troppo lento Allegretto pizzicato Allegro molto INTERMISSION

QUARTET BERLIN-TOKYO I S R A E L/J A PA N String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 33 No. 4 (1781)

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)

Allegro Moderato Scherzo: Allegreto Largo Presto

String Quartet No. 5, Sz. 102 (1934) Allegro Adagio molto Scherzo: alla bulgarese Andante Finale: Allegro vivace

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Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945)

TESLA QUARTET

DAY 3

RUSSIA/SOUTH KOREA/USA String Quartet in F Major (1903)

Maurice Ravel (1875 – 1937)

Wednesday August 31 10:30 A.M.

Allegro moderato Assez vif, très rythmé Très lent Vif et agité

Romantic Round Quartets perform a complete quartet from the romantic or nationalistic repertoire.

ARGUS QUARTET USA

Concert 6

String Quartet in D minor, ‘Voces intimae’, Op. 56 (1909)

Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957)

Andante - Allegro molto moderato Vivace Adagio di molto Allegretto (ma pesante) Allegro INTERMISSION

AEOLUS QUARTET USA String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat Major, Op. 105 (1895)

Antonín Dvořák (1841 – 1904)

Adagio ma non troppo—Allegro appassionato Molto vivace Lento e molto cantabile Finale. Allegro non tanto

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DAY 3 Wednesday August 31 2 P.M.

Romantic Round Quartets perform a complete quartet from the romantic or nationalistic repertoire.

CASTALIAN STRING QUARTET UK String Quartet in F Major (1903)

Maurice Ravel (1875 – 1937)

Allegro moderato Assez vif, très rythmé Très lent Vif et agité

QUARTET BERLIN-TOKYO I S R A E L/J A PA N

Concert 7

String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 51 No. 2 (1873)

Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)

Allegro non troppo Andante moderato Quasi Minuetto, moderato Finale. Allegro non assai INTERMISSION

OMER QUARTET USA String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 (1893)

Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)

Animé et très décidé Assez vif et bien rythmé Andantino, doucement expressif Très modéré

U LY S S E S Q U A R T E T CANADA/TAIWAN/USA String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51 No. 1 (1873)

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Allegro Romanze. Poco Adagio Allegretto molto moderato e comodo Allegro

Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)

ROLSTON STRING QUARTET

DAY 3

CANADA Maurice Ravel (1875 – 1937)

String Quartet in F Major (1903)

Wednesday August 31 7:30 P.M.

Allegro moderato Assez vif, très rythmé Très lent Vif et agité

Romantic Round

VERONA QUARTET CANADA/SINGAPORE/USA

Quartets perform a complete quartet from the romantic or nationalistic repertoire.

Concert 8

String Quartet No. 4 in E minor, Op. 44 No. 2 (1837)

Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847)

Allegro assai appassionato Scherzo. Allegro di molto Andante Presto agitato INTERMISSION

QUARTET ARPA JAPAN String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 51 No. 2 (1873)

Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)

Allegro non troppo Andante moderato Quasi Minuetto, moderato Finale. Allegro non assai

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Thank you for supporting extraordinary music making and training.

BISQC thanks Wilder and Davis, official competition luthier, for their support of the quartets. wilderdavis.com

DAY 4

SPIN CYCLE (2015)

Thursday September 1 7:30 P.M.

Special Event Afiara Quartet and Skratch Bastid

SPIN CYCLE brings together the Afiara Quartet (Second Place Laureates at BISQC 2010) and Skratch Bastid in an innovative conversation between two distinct musical worlds.

This concert features compositions from four of Canada’s leading young composers, Kevin Lau, Laura Silberberg, Rob Teehan, and Dinuk Wijeratne. These composers were commissioned by Afiara Quartet to write new works for a string quartet inspired by popular themes. Performed by Afiara Quartet, each of these works was then remixed by DJ Skratch Bastid, to create four new solo works for scratch DJ, which were then ‘re-re-mixed’ by the original four composers.

These re-composed works are performed live in the form of a quintet (Afiara String Quartet + DJ Skratch Bastid).

DAY 5 Friday September 2 2 P.M.

Canadian Commission Round All 10 quartets perform the world premiere of Quartet No. 1 by Zosha Di Castri Concert 9

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STRING QUARTET NO.1 (2016) Zosha Di Castri - Program Notes If I were a writer or a painter, I would express myself in words or images. But seeing as I am neither, I trust that music on its own has the potential to resound in meaningful ways. Quartet No.1 is both purely abstract and sonically concrete. It does not aim to represent a story nor evoke a pre-determined external source of inspiration, yet because the compositional process stems from close (some might say microscopic) interactions with actual sound files and improvisations in a digital audio workstation, the music is in fact very grounded in an audible reality.

Though some composers fear the medium of the string quartet due to its historical weight or supposed timbral homogeneity, I see in it both an invitation to build upon a rich legacy, and an opportunity to explore an enormously varied sound palette for contemporary experimentation. This piece requires virtuosic shifts between quickly contrasting modes of expression, while also demanding the physical internalization of a dense thicket of activity.

A close listening will reveal recurring motives, like the swellingsliding “warp” chord heard at the beginning, as well as returning textures, which range from wonky unisons to pointillistic reverse sounds, percussive strumming to squeaky insectile chatter, zips, squeals, ricochets, and lightening-speed hocketing glissandi.

Escaping the agitation and frenzy are moments of melodic beauty, microtonal introspection, and a delicate fabric of timesuspending harmonics.

The challenge thus lies for the interpreters to find an organic flow and personal reading on the relationship between these constant changes, and to effectively play with the listener’s sense of expectation – recollecting moments we have already heard, leading us on to what is just around the corner, and revealing how this relates to our experience of the present.

World Premiere

Rolston String Quartet (Canada) Argus Quartet (USA) Omer Quartet (USA) Ulysses Quartet (Canada/USA/Taiwan)

DAY 5 Friday September 2 2 P.M.

Canadian Commission Round All 10 quartets perform the world premiere of Quartet No. 1 by Zosha Di Castri Concert 9

Co-commissioned

by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, in partnership with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Americas Society.

INTERMISSION

Quartet Berlin-Tokyo (Israel/Japan) Castalian String Quartet (UK) Verona Quartet (Canada/Singapore/USA) INTERMISSION

Quartet Arpa (Japan) Tesla Quartet (Russia/South Korea/USA) Aeolus Quartet (USA)

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BISQC.CA

ALUMNI GALA

DAY 5 Friday September 2 7:30 P.M.

DOVER QUARTET

USA

Alumni Gala

Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola

Features pianist Jon Kimura Parker performing with the 2013 First Prize Laureates, the Dover Quartet.

Camden Shaw, cello

Concert 10

Joel Link, violin Bryan Lee, violin

String Quartet No. 1, "From My Life" (1876)

Bedřich Smetana (1824 - 1884)

Allegro vivo appassionato Allegro moderato à la Polka Largo sostenuto Vivace INTERMISSION

DOVER QUARTET JON KIMURA PARKER, PIANO

CANADA

Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34 (1864)

Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897)

Allegro non troppo Andante, un poco Adagio Scherzo: Allegro Finale: Poco sostenuto—Allegro non troppo

Tonight’s gala concert is in memory of John Martin.

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DAY 6 Saturday September 3 10:30 A.M.

Ad lib Round All quartets perform a selection of work of their own choosing, totalling no more than 30 minutes.

Concert 11

QUARTET ARPA JAPAN String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat Major, Op. 74 (1809)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)

Poco adagio — Allegro Adagio ma non troppo Presto Allegretto con variazioni

CASTALIAN STRING QUARTET UK

The Four Quarters, Op. 28 (2010)

Thomas Adès (b. 1971)

i – Nightfalls

String Quartet No. 3 in B-flat Major, Op. 67 (1875)

Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)

Agitato (Allegretto non troppo) – Trio – Coda

The Four Quarters, Op. 28

Thomas Adès

ii - Serenade: Morning Dew

String Quartet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 41 No. 1 (1842)

Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856)

Adagio

The Four Quarters, Op. 28 iv - The Twenty-fifth Hour INTERMISSION

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Thomas Adès

VERONA QUARTET

DAY 6

CANADA/SINGAPORE/USA Six Bagatelles for String Quartet, Op. 9 (1913)

Anton Webern (1883 – 1945)

10:30 A.M.

Mässig Leicht Bewegt Ziemlich Fließend Sehr Langsam Äußerst Langsam Fließend

String Quartet No. 1, ‘Métamorphoses nocturnes’ (1954)

Saturday September 3

Ad lib Round

György Ligeti (1923 – 2006)

All quartets perform a selection of work of their own choosing, totalling no more than 30 minutes.

Concert 11

Allegro grazioso Vivace, capriccioso A tempo Adagio, mesto Presto – Prestissimo molto sostenuto – Andante tranquillo Più mosso Tempo di Valse, moderato, con eleganza, un poco capriccioso Subito prestissimo Subito: molto sostenuto Allegretto, un poco gioviale Allarg. Poco più mosso Subito allegro con moto, string. poco a poco sin al prestissimo Prestissimo Allegro comodo, gioviale Sostenuto, accelerando – Ad libitum, senza misura Lento

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DAY 6 Saturday September 3 2 P.M.

U LY S S E S Q U A R T E T CANADA/TAIWAN/USA String Quartet No. 2, ‘Intimate Letters’ (1928) Andante - Con moto – Allegro Adagio – Vivace Moderato - Andante – Adagio Allegro - Andante - Adagio

Ad lib Round All quartets perform a selection of work of their own choosing, totalling no more than 30 minutes.

Leoš Janáček (1854 – 1928)

ARGUS QUARTET USA

Concert 12

String Quartet No. 1* (2014)

Eric Guinivan (b. 1984)

Flowing Freely Fierce *This commission has been made possible by the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program, with generous funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Chamber Music America Endowment Fund.

Satellites (2016) Geostationary Spectral Sunrise Dimensions INTERMISSION

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Garth Knox (b. 1956)

TESLA QUARTET

DAY 6

RUSSIA/SOUTH KOREA/USA Italian Serenade (1887)

Hugo Wolf (1860 – 1903)

La oración del torero (Prayer of the Bullfighter), Op. 34 (1925)

Joaquín Turina (1882 – 1949)

Allaqi (2009)

Marcus Goddard (b. 1973)

Saturday September 3 2 P.M.

Ad lib Round All quartets perform a selection of work of their own choosing, totalling no more than 30 minutes.

Concert 12

AEOLUS QUARTET

USA String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 (1827)

Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847)

Adagio – Allegro vivace

Ariel Ascending (1995)

Christopher Theofanidis (b. 1967)

I. begins with a breath; gliding effortlessly

String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 (1893)

Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)

Andantino, doucement expressif

String Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Op. 59 No. 3 (1806)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)

Allegro molto

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DAY 6 Saturday September 3 7:30 P.M.

Ad lib Round All quartets perform a selection of work of their own choosing, totalling no more than 30 minutes.

Concert 13

QUARTET BERLIN-TOKYO I S R A E L/J A PA N String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95 (1810)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)

Allegro con brio Allegretto ma non troppo Allegro assai vivace ma serioso – Più Allegro Larghetto espressivo – Allegretto agitato – Allegro

String Quartet No. 3, ‘Hunting Quartet’ (2003)

Jörg Widmann (b. 1973)

OMER QUARTET USA String Quartet No. 1, Sz. 40 (1909)

Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945)

Lento Allegretto Allegro vivace INTERMISSION

ROLSTON STRING QUARTET CANADA Quartettsatz in C minor, D. 703 (1820)

Franz Schubert (1797 -1828)

Allegro assai

String Quartet No. 3, Sz. 85 (1927) Prima parte: Moderato Seconda parte: Allegro Recapitulazione della prima parte: Moderato Coda: Allegro molto

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Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945)

FINALS

DAY 7 Sunday September 4

During the Final Round, three quartets take the stage and perform one complete work of Beethoven or Schubert.

Following the performance, the competition winners will be announced and the awards and special prizes presented.

All resident audiences and weekend package buyers are invited to join us for a special final meal on the first floor of the Kinnear Centre for Creativity and Innovation.

After dinner, everyone is invited to celebrate the quartets at Banff Centre’s Maclab Bistro at 9 p.m.

2 P.M.

Finals The three finalists perform a quartet

by Beethoven or Schubert.

Concert 14

Late afternoon – Announcement of the winning quartet

Dine with us Fresh, local and infused with creativity.

Enjoy fine dining, bistro or buffet options just steps away from theatres and gallery spaces.

Ticket buyers enjoy exclusive offers banffcentre.ca/dining Reservations: 1.403.762.6300

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RESIDENT AUDIENCE AND PASSPORT HOLDER EXCLUSIVE EVENTS

The lecture series is generously supported by: B&E Electronics Ltd. This open masterclass series is generously supported by: The Rolston and Székely families, and in part by the SOCMI Fund for Excellence of the Royal Conservatory of Music.

DAY 1

DAY 3

Monday August 29

Tuesday August 30

Wednesday August 31

Choosing a Winner

Concert Hall Design

Joel Krosnick

Barry Shiffman, Executive Director of BISQC, and Dr. Moses Renert, Official Mathematician for BISQC, discuss the importance of voting systems and their impact on results.

Marianne McKenna, a founding partner of KPMB Architects, discusses architecture, acoustics, and its impact on both listener and performer.

Lecture 1 10 A.M.

Open Masterclass Students from the Székely/ Rolston Young Musicians program receive coaching from celebrated cellist, Paul Katz Rolston Recital Hall 4:30 P.M.

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DAY 2

Lecture 2 9 A.M.

Open Masterclass Students from the Székely/ Rolston Young Musicians program receive coaching from BISQC Mentor-inResidence, Joel Krosnick Rolston Recital Hall 4:30 P.M.

Former cellist of the legendary Juilliard String Quartet, Joel Krosnick, is joined in conversation with Barry Shiffman Lecture 3 9 A.M.

DAY 4

DAY 5

DAY 6

DAY 7

Thursday September 1

Friday September 2

Saturday September 3

Sunday September 4

Excursions and Reception

Zosha Di Castri

David Harrington

Dover Quartet

Various day off excursions are offered to our resident audience.

All are welcome to join us for a reception at the Walter Phillips Gallery, Butterfly Garden.

Walter Phillips Gallery 4 P.M.

Canadian composer, Zosha Di Castri, in conversation with Barry Shiffman about her commissioned piece for BISQC.

From the ground-breaking Kronos Quartet in conversation with Adrian Fung from the Afiara String Quartet.

Eric Harvie Theatre

Lecture 5 9 A.M.

Open to all resident audience, passport holders, and single ticket purchasers.

Life after a First Prize at BISQC with the Dover Quartet, interviewed by Mervon Mehta, Executive Director of Performing Arts at the Royal Conservatory of Music Lecture 6 10 A.M.

Lecture 4 1 P.M.

Open Masterclasses and Lectures are only open to resident audience and passport purchasers, unless otherwise noted.

Space is limited for the Open Masterclasses, and seating is provided on a first come, first served basis.

Lectures are approximately 45 minutes in length and are held in Kinnear Centre for Creativity and Innovation, First Floor excluding Lecture 4.

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World–Class Inspiration

Calgary Pro Musica Calgary Pro Musica

2016–2017 Concert Series

Join Calgary Pro Musica to hear compelling ensembles and outstanding chamber music.

Trio Jean Paul � Israeli Chamber Project � St. Lawrence SQ New Orford SQ with Cho-Liang Lin & Orion Weiss Karina Gauvin with Les Boréades � Hugo Wolf Quartet Gryphon Trio with Patricia O’Callaghan Scott St. John, Shauna Rolston & Katherine Chi

C A LG A RY P R O M U SIC A.C A

INFO @CALGARYP ROMUSI CA.CA

2016 EDITION

MANULIFE COMPETITION

NOVEMBER 22 TO 26, 2016 Follow every step of the Competition broadcast live on the Web at OSM.CA

Presented by

In collaboration with

AWARDS AND SPECIAL PRIZES

First Prize Laureates One quartet will be awarded a customdesigned, three-year artistic and career development program worth over $150,000 which includes: • $25,000 cash prize • Winner’s Concert Tours in career-building markets in Europe and North America, arranged by Banff Centre • A three-week residency at Banff Centre including the recording and production of an album, as well as coaching and mentorship opportunities with established artists

Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance Prize The Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance is proud to offer a fully funded, four-week residency to the winning quartet of BISQC 2016. Overlooking the UNESCO World Heritage District at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and the stunning Atlantic Ocean, LAMP provides the successful quartet the opportunity to work and perform with its distinguished faculty, to create and present broad community outreach programming, and to perform in its 1895 concert hall, a $18,600 value.

The R.S. Williams & Sons Haydn Prize

Second Prize Laureates • $12,000 cash prize • A fully-funded creative residency at Banff Centre including coaching and mentorship opportunities with established artists, a $15,000 value

$3,000 for the best performance of a Haydn quartet from Round One.

Canadian Commission Prize, in honour of the R.S. Williams & Sons Company

Third Prize Laureates • $8,000 cash prize • A fully funded creative residency at Banff Centre including coaching and mentorship opportunities with established artists, a $15,000 value

$3,000 for the best performance in Round Three of the new commissioned quartet by a Canadian composer.

Esterházy Foundation Prize Recital in Haydn Hall and the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt (Austria), for the First Prize Laureates. Prize includes artist fee and travel expenses.

Career Development Awards Upon completion of the first four rounds of BISQC, all quartets not selected to the Final Round of the competition will receive a career development award of $4,000.00.

BISQC.CA

WINNER’S TOUR

The Banff International String Quartet Competition is proud of the many partnerships we have developed with concert presenters big and small, from east to west, who have supported our mission by providing opportunities for the winners of BISQC to perform for audiences world-wide.

As part of their First Prize, the winning quartet will embark on the following concert tours: • Germany, France, Italy and The Netherlands under Konzertdirektion Hampl in January/ February 2017 • Austria as part of the Esterházy Foundation Prize in June 2017 • Germany and Czechia under Konzertdirektion Hampl in June 2017 • North America in Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 • Touring in Fall 2017 with pianist Luca Buratto, Honens 2015 Prize Laureate • 1st Amsterdam String Quartet Biennial in January 2018 • Europe in Winter 2018 In Europe, BISQC has concert agreements in principle with: • Wigmore Hall, London, UK • Abteilung Schule, Bildung und Kultur, Berlin, Germany • Philharmonische Gesellschaft Bremen, Germany • Bruchsaler Schlosskonzerte, Bruchsal, Germany • Magistrat der Stadt, Fulda, Germany • Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, Germany • Kulturmanagement, Ludwigshafen, Germany

• Klosterkonzerte Maulbronn, Germany • Kammermusikalische Vereinigung Trier, Germany • Kammermusik im Stadthaus, Ulm, Germany • Brixner Initiative Musik und Kirche, Brixen, Italy • String Quartet Bienniale Amsterdam, The Netherlands • Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, The Netherlands • Esterházy Foundation, Eisenstadt, Austria In North America, BISQC has concert agreements in principle with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Kelowna Chamber Music Society, BC Music in the Morning, Vancouver, BC Coast Recital Society, Sechelt, BC Calgary Pro Musica, AB Cecilian Concerts, Regina, SK Virtuosi Concerts, Winnipeg, MB Brandon University Pro Series, MB Prairie Debut Women’s Musical Club, Toronto, ON Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, ON Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, Kingston, ON Festival of the Sound, Parry, ON Montreal Chamber Music Festival, QC Whitehorse Concerts, YK La Jolla Chamber Music Society, CA Chamber Music Concerts, Ashland, OR Norton Building Concert Series, Lockport, IL

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PEOPLE

BISQC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BARRY SHIFFMAN Canadian violinist and violist Barry Shiffman has a rich and varied career as a performer, recording artist, teacher, and administrator. Shiffman made his debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the age of 15. In 1989, he co-founded the St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ). During his 17 years with the quartet he appeared in over 2,000 concerts in venues around the globe, and recorded several critically acclaimed discs under an exclusive contract with EMI Classics.

In addition to performing and recording, Shiffman is a soughtafter violin and viola teacher and chamber music coach. As part of his role in the St. Lawrence, Shiffman served as artistin-residence at Stanford University from 1998 to 2006 and as visiting artist at the University of Toronto from 1995 to 2006.

Passionately committed to the composers of our time, he has been involved in the premieres of hundreds of new works, both in the St. Lawrence Quartet and beyond. From 2006-2010, he served as Director of Music Programs at Banff Centre. Shiffman is currently the Artistic Director of the Centre’s Summer Music Programs and Executive Director of the Banff International String Quartet Competition. In addition to his work at Banff Centre, Shiffman serves as the Executive Artistic Director of Vancouver’s Music in the Morning Concerts.

Since the fall of 2010, he has been Associate Dean and Director of Chamber Music at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), and directs the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists. A sought after juror, he has served on the jury of the Tchaikovsky and Montreal Violin Competitions, as well as London’s Wigmore Hall, Geneva, Banff, and Lyon String Quartet Competitions.

He is the recipient of the Nadia Boulanger Prize for Excellence in the Art of Teaching awarded by the Longy School of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary.

He makes his home in Toronto with his wife Robin, daughters Lily and Zoe.... and dogs Fergus and Rosie.

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January 27th — February 3rd 2018

Also featuring Diamanda Dramm, Evelyn Glennie, Gary Hoffman, Jörg Widmann. More to be announced…

www.sqba.nl © Molina Visuals

Muziekgebouw - Concert Hall of the 21st Century

Brentano String Quartet Cuarteto Casals Quartetto di Cremona Quatuor Danel DoelenKwartet Doric String Quartet Dudok Quartet Emerson String Quartet Hagen Quartett O/Modernt String Quartet Cuarteto Quiroga Ragazze Quartet Ruysdael Quartet Signum Quartett Winner of BISQC 2016

PRELIMINARY JURY

CLIVE GREENSMITH Clive Greensmith has been a member of the Tokyo Quartet since 1999. He has held the position of principal cellist of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. As a soloist, he has appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, and the RAI Orchestra of Rome. He has won several prizes, including Second Place in the inaugural “Premio Stradivari” held in Cremona, Italy. He has served on the faculties of the Royal Northern College of Music, Yehudi Menuhin School, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is currently on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. Greensmith’s recording of Brahms Sonatas with Boris Berman was released on the Biddulph label.

DOUGLAS MCNABNEY Violist Douglas McNabney is one of Canada’s distinguished chamber musicians. He has toured extensively throughout Canada, Europe, and the United States, recording for numerous labels. His recording on the Oxingale label of the Mozart Divertimento with Jonathan Crow and Matt Haimovitz was nominated for a Canadian JUNO Award in 2007, and he performed on the recent Dorian recording of Mahler with the Smithsonian Chamber Players that was nominated for a Grammy in 2008. Formerly Artistic Director of the Domaine Forget International Festival and Academy, he is currently Professor of Chamber Music at the Schulich School of Music of McGill.

He was appointed Artistic Director of Toronto Summer Music in August 2010.

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PHILIP SETZER Violinist Philip Setzer is a founding member of the Emerson String Quartet, which has received eight Grammy Awards, three Gramophone Awards, and the coveted Avery Fisher Prize, and has performed cycles of the complete Beethoven, Bartók, and Shostakovich string quartets in the world’s musical capitals, from New York to Vienna. The Noise of Time, a ground-breaking theatre collaboration between the Emerson Quartet and Simon McBurney about the life of Shostakovich, was based on an original idea of his. As a soloist, he has appeared with the National Symphony, Aspen Chamber Symphony, Memphis Symphony, New Mexico Symphony, Puerto Rico Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Anchorage Symphony, and on several occasions with The Cleveland Orchestra. He has also participated in the Marlboro Music Festival. He has been a regular faculty member of the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshops at Carnegie Hall and the Jerusalem Music Center. His article about those workshops appeared in The New York Times on the occasion of Isaac Stern’s 80th birthday celebration. He is also a professor at SUNY Stony Brook and has given master classes at schools around the world, including The Curtis Institute, London’s Royal Academy of Music, The San Francisco Conservatory, UCLA, The Cleveland Institute of Music, and Mannes College. He studied with Josef Gingold and Rafael Druian, and at The Juilliard School with Oscar Shumsky.

BISQC.CA

COMPETITION JURY

VERA BETHS Vera Beths was born in Haarlem, Holland. In 1969 she won the First Prize of the Dutch National Oskar Back Competition, and in that same year she was awarded the Prix d’Excellence. Winning the Oskar Back Prize enabled her to study in New York with Ivan Galamian. In the summers spent in the USA, she played at Rudolf Serkin’s Marlboro Festival in Vermont. She now teaches at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and, in the United States, at Marlboro.

Having an extensive repertoire, Vera is much in demand as a concerto soloist with the various Dutch symphony orchestras.

A champion of contemporary music, she spent many years with the Rondom Kwartet which specialized in this repertoire. Peter Schat, Louis Andriessen, Willem Breuker, Misha Mengelberg, Geert van Keulen, Philip Glass, and John Adams are among the many composers who have dedicated works to her.

In the realm of more traditional chamber music, Vera also enjoys a splendid reputation as a result of her concerts with Archubudelli, an ensemble founded by Anner Bylsma, Jürgen Kußmaul, and herself. Using instruments strung with gut strings, they gave exciting performances of eighteenth and nineteenthcentury music. The core Archibudelli trio frequently expanded to allow for the performance of larger chamber works, including not only the mainstream repertory, but also many lesser-known Romantic period works. For Sony Classical’s Vivarte series, Archibudelli made numerous CDs (often collaborating with the Smithsonian Chamber Players); many of these have received prestigious awards.

Supported by Irene Maria Bakker.

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DENIS BROTT Founder, Executive and Artistic Director of the internationally renowned Montreal Chamber Music Festival (1995) and Professor at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal (1989), cellist Denis Brott is recognized internationally as one of Canada’s finest performing musicians. His career began in 1973 when he won Second Prize in the Munich International Cello Competition. His concert tours have taken him to four continents and numerous festivals, including Marlboro, Sitka, Santa Barbara, Toronto, Ottawa, Parry Sound, and Banff.

His many solo recordings include the three Brahms Sonatas for cello and piano and Homage to Piatigorsky, perhaps his best known recording. It received this accolade from Yo-Yo Ma: “His playing throughout is exemplary, full of the rich sound and technical wizardry the master exemplified. I think Piatigorsky would be proud.”

A devoted chamber musician, Denis spent eight years in the Orford String Quartet (1980 – 1988) during which time he recorded 25 CDs. Especially acclaimed were the recordings of the complete string quartets of Beethoven on the Delos label, which won the Grand Prix du Disque (1988) and two JUNO Awards (1985, 1987) for Best Chamber Ensemble Classical Recording. Denis has also appeared as a guest with prestigious ensembles, including the Guarneri, Emerson, Tokyo, and Fine Arts String Quartets.

In 2015, Denis received the prestigious Order of Canada to recognize his outstanding achievement, dedication to the community, and service to the nation.

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ISABEL CHARISIUS Isabel Charisius is one of the finest violists and chamber musicians of her generation. As a member of the legendary Alban Berg Quartet, in addition to solo performances and engagements with various leading orchestras, Isabel has appeared regularly at the most prestigious venues in Europe, North and South America, and Asia. Isabel is regularly invited to perform on both the viola and the violin with distinguished ensembles and great soloists at international festivals and concert venues.

Alongside her intense concert activity, Isabel has for many years been dedicated to training new generations of musicians. She is an internationally recognized teacher of viola and chamber music. Her prolific teaching activity includes a professorship at the Musikhochschule Köln (2005-2012), the Musikhochschule Lucerne (since 2006) as well as a wide range of masterclasses at some of the most prestigious academies and institutions.

Students of Isabel can regularly be found among the winners of international competitions. Many of them are also members of the world’s finest ensembles and orchestras. The ensembles trained by Isabel include among others the string quartets Heath, Signum, Schuman, Navarra, Amaryllis, and Belenus as well as the piano trios Atos and Morgenstern.

Isabel plays the extraordinary “ABQ-viola” by Laurentius Storioni (1780), a viola by Peter Greiner (1999) and a special violin by Joannes Udalricus Eberle (1753).

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YOSHIKO NAKURA Yoshiko Nakura graduated from Toho Gakuen Music High School and College with highest honors. She continued to study music on a scholarship at the Julliard School of Music where she formed Tokyo String Quartet. Under the coaching of Julliard Quartet, Tokyo String Quartet won First Prize both at ARD International Music Competition Munich and The Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition. The quartet toured around the world, appeared in many international music festivals, and released their recordings on Deutsche Grammophon label.

Their debut album received the Grand Prix du Disque Montreux.

After leaving the Tokyo String Quartet, she expanded her activity as a soloist as well as an educator in Europe and in the United States. She frequently performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and participated in the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. At the same time, she taught at the Philadelphia Musical Academy, the Smith College and the Hamburg Conservatory. Later, she became a guest concertmaster of Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and played as a member of Bamberg String Quintet.

After spending 20 years abroad, she returned to Japan and joined the Nippon Octet, the Mito Chamber Orchestra, and the Saito Kinen Orchestra. She currently is a professor emeritus at Ferris University and teaches at Toho Gakuen School of Music. She regularly gives recitals and plays in chamber music concert series. Yoshiko is one of the most active artists in the world of music. She studied violin with Ryosaku Kubota, Jeanne Isnard, Hideo Saito, Yuriko Kuronuma, Kenji Kobayashi, Paul Makanovitzky, Ivan Galamian, and Felix Galimir.

BISQC.CA

GEOFF NUTTALL Hailed by The New York Times as “intensely dynamic” with “stunning technique and volitality,” violinist Geoff Nuttall cofounded the St. Lawrence String Quartet in 1989. As first violinist of this world-renowned foursome, he has performed well over 1,500 concerts throughout North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

Currently under an exclusive contract with EMI Classics, they received two Grammy nominations for their latest release Yiddishbbuk, a collection of works by the Argentinean-American composer Osvaldo Golijov. Their premiere recording of Robert Schumann Quartets won a JUNO Award, granted by the Canadian Academy for Arts and Sciences for Best Classical Album, as well as the coveted German critic’s award Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.

Since winning the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Young Concert Artist Auditions in the early 90s, the St. Lawrence String Quartet has become a regular at some of North America’s most esteemed music festivals, including Mostly Mozart, Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Bay Chamber Concerts, and Spoleto USA, where Mr. Nuttall currently serves as Artistic Director of Chamber Music.

With the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Geoff served as graduate ensemble-in-residence at the Juilliard School, Yale University, and Hartt School of Music, acting as teaching assistants to the Juilliard, Tokyo, and Emerson String Quartets, respectively.

In 2005 he performed Gyorgy Kurtag’s Kafka Fragments for soprano and violin in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall with Dawn Upshaw, staged by Peter Sellars. He is now on faculty at Stanford University, where the St. Lawrence String Quartet has been ensemble-in-residence since 1999, and makes his home in San Francisco with his wife, violinist Livia Sohn.

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PETER SALAFF Peter Salaff, Director of String Chamber Music at the Cleveland Institute of Music, was a founding member of the Cleveland Quartet, with whom he has received seven Grammy Award nominations, a Grammy award, and “Best of the Year” awards from Time and Stereo Review for recordings of more than 50 chamber works on major labels. He has performed numerous concerts with the Quartet, including many tours of the former Soviet Union, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, and Israel, in addition to tours across the U.S. and Canada.

He has coached chamber music and given master classes in many conservatories and universities in the U.S., as well as in Germany, Japan, Israel, and New Zealand. He has taught as a performing faculty member at the University of Concepcion in Chile, the State University of New York at Buffalo, the Eastman School of Music, and, during summers at Interlochen, Michigan, the Kneisel Hall Music Festival, Chamber Music in the Mountains at Echo Glen, the Aspen Music Festival, the Norfolk Festival, the Killington Music Festival, PhoenixPhest, and the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival in Germany. He now spends his summers teaching and performing at the Music Academy of the West.

Since 2012 he has taught at the Perlman Music Program.

He has been a judge at many chamber music competitions, including the London International String Quartet Competition, the Fischoff Competition, the Yellow Springs Competition, and the Coleman Competition. Peter received the Yale School of Music Alumni Association’s Certificate of Merit in 1979. He was reappointed to the CIM faculty in 1995.

BISQC.CA

ALASDAIR TAIT Scottish cellist Alasdair Tait studied at the RNCM with Emma Ferrand and Ralph Kirshbaum and Basel with Thomas Demenga.

As cellist of the Belcea Quartet until 2006 he performed around the world at most of the world’s most prestigious venues and was ‘Resident Quartet’ for five years at London’s Wigmore Hall.

He recorded for EMI CD’s of Schubert, Brahms, Britten, Mozart, Fauré and Barber and collaborated with Ian Bostridge, Thomas Adès and Thomas Kakushka, with discs being awarded both a Gramophone Award and Diapason d’Or. The quartet were twice recipients of the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award and were the first BBC New Generation Artists.

Alongside his now full-time role as Chief Executive of Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT), he was Head of Chamber Music at Guildhall School of Music and Royal Northern College of Music, taught at the Reina Sofia in Madrid and is a regular professor on the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA) and at Aldeburgh Music. He is frequently invited as jury member on international competitions such as Melbourne, Wigmore and Vienna/ Haydn Competitions. In 2016, Alasdair was awarded the ABO (Association of British Orchestras) Artist Manager of the Year.

Alasdair has also collaborated with artists including Piotr Andrezewski, Christian Zacharias, Kathryn Stott, Imogen Cooper, Aleksander Madzar, Robert Levin, Isabelle van Keulen, Valentin Erben, Borodin Quartet, Heinz Holliger, Michael Collins, Simon Keenlyside, Dame Anne Murray and Christine Schäfer.

Alasdair also works as a psychodynamic psychotherapist in private practice in London.

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SPECIAL GUESTS

JOEL KROSNICK MENTOR-IN-RESIDENCE

Joel Krosnick has performed as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician around the world. As a member of the Juilliard String Quartet since 1974, he has performed the great quartet literature throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. With his sonata partner of more than 30 years, pianist Gilbert Kalish, Joel has performed recitals throughout the U.S. and Europe.

A dedicated teacher, Joel is chair of the cello department of The Juilliard School. A recipient of the Chevalier du Violoncelle Award from the Eva Janzer Memorial Cello Center at the Indiana University School of Music, Joel holds honorary doctoral degrees from Michigan State University, Jacksonville University, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

The BISQC Mentor-in-Residence program is supported by an anonymous donor.

ZOSHA DI CASTRI COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE

Zosha Di Castri is a Canadian composer and pianist living in New York. Her compositions have been performed in Canada, the U.S., Germany, and France by ensembles such as the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, members of the Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie, l’Orchestre de la francophonie, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, and JACK Quartet. She was recently named a laureate of the Third International Composer’s Competition for the Hamburger Klangwerktage Festival and had a new piece performed at Acanthes in Metz by members of the Orchestre national de Lorraine. Zosha is interested in creating and performing interdisciplinary works, and composes both instrumental, mixed, and purely electronic music.

BISQC.CA

DA-HONG SEETOO GUEST AUDIO ENGINEER

Six-time Grammy Award-winning recording producer Da-Hong Seetoo is a Curtis Institute and Juilliard School–trained violinist, Da-Hong Seetoo has emerged as one of a handful of elite audio engineers, using his own custom-designed microphones, monitor speakers, and computer software.

His recent clients include the Borromeo, Dover, Danish, Escher, Emerson, Miró, and Tokyo String Quartets; the Beaux Arts Trio; pianists Daniel Barenboim, Yefim Bronfman, Derek Han, and Christopher O’Riley; violinist Gil Shaham; cellist Truls Mørk; the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; New York Philharmonic; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; and Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

His recording with the Emerson String Quartet for Deutsche Grammophon, Intimate Letters, garnered the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance.

The Guest Audio Engineer position is supported in part by funds from the Sylvia and Jack Chetner Endowment.

MOSES RENERT LECTURER AND OFFICIAL MATHEMATICIAN

Dr. Moshe (Moses) Renert is a well-known mathematics educator and a recognized authority on Mathematics Curriculum and Pedagogy. He is the co-founder of Renert School, a cutting-edge K-12 private school in Calgary dedicated to nurturing students’ passions. The school is Alberta’s preeminent math school, as evidenced by students’ standings in provincial, national, and international math contests. In his spare time, Moshe is an avid music lover and an accordion player.

Together with Dr. Ernst Enns, he has developed the innovative Optimal Jury Scoring System for fair judging of music competitions. The system is used by various competitions, including the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Honens International Piano Competition.

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ADRIAN FUNG LECTURER

As the founding cellist of the critically acclaimed Afiara Quartet, Adrian Fung is a winner of the Concert Artist Guild International Competition in New York, the Young Canadian Musicians Award, top prizes at the Munich ARD and Banff International String Quartet Competitions, and the Székely Prize for Best Interpretation of Beethoven. He produced Afiara Quartet’s JUNO-nominated SPIN CYCLE, which CBC Music and Forbes both named one of the Top 10 Classical Albums of 2015 and which the Toronto Star called “one of the most attentiongrabbing concerts of the year.” Adrian is Vice-President for Innovation at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, as well as Artistic Director of Mooredale Concerts, and Consulting Artistic Director of Festival of the Sound.

DAVID HARRINGTON LECTURER

David Harrington is the founder and Artistic Director of the Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet. For more than 40 years, the Kronos Quartet has pursued a singular artistic vision, combining a spirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to continually re-imagining the string quartet experience. In the process, Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential groups of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 50 recordings of extraordinary breadth and creativity, collaborating with many of the world’s most intriguing and accomplished composers and performers, and commissioning more than 850 works and arrangements for string quartet.

BISQC.CA

MARIANNE MCKENNA LECTURER

Marianne McKenna, a founding partner of KPMB Architects was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2012 for crafting “architecture that enriches the public experience.” The design for the Royal Conservatory TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, with its acclaimed Koerner Hall, earned KPMB its 11th Governor General’s Medal, as well as numerous awards for architectural excellence. For her leadership of this project, Marianne was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Conservatory in 2011. In 2010, Marianne was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women. She has taught at McGill University, L’Université de Montréal, and the University of Toronto and lectured and acted as guest critic at Yale University.

MERVON MEHTA LECTURER

Mervon Mehta’s career in the arts has seen him on both sides of the curtain. A student of the late Sanford Meisner, Mehta has performed as an actor in over 100 theatrical productions, including residencies at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, and two seasons at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Since April of 2009, Mehta has been the Executive Director of Performing Arts for The Royal Conservatory.

He oversaw the launch of Koerner Hall and is responsible for programming Koerner Hall’s successful series of classical, jazz, world music, and pop concerts, as well as overseeing all of the other performances and events throughout The Conservatory’s home at the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning.

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GUEST PERFORMERS

AFIARA QUARTET The Afiara Quartet is a dynamic and award-winning ensemble, described as “a revelation” (La Presse) with performances balancing “intensity and commitment” and “frequent moments of tenderness” (Montreal Gazette). After residencies at The Juilliard School and San Francisco State University, the Afiara are currently Fellowship Quartet at the Royal Conservatory of Music. The ensemble is winner of the Young Canadian Musicians Award, Concert Artist Guild, Munich ARD, and Banff International String Quartet Competitions, including the latter’s Székely Prize for the best interpretation of Beethoven.

The Afiara has performed throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia, at such venues as Carnegie Hall’s Zankel and Weill Halls, the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Library of Congress in DC, Sao Paulo’s Museum of Modern Art, Pro Musica of San Miguel de Allende, London’s Wigmore Hall, Austria’s Esterhazy Palace, Munich’s Prinz Regenten Theatre, Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw, and the Royal Library in Copenhagen.

Their relentless pursuit of beauty and discovery is documented in over 25 commissions of new music, new educational outreach initiatives for school children funded by the Ontario Arts Council, and projects with jazz virtuoso Uri Caine, Latin Grammy Award-winning producer Javier Limon, and groundbreaking scratch DJ, Kid Koala.

BISQC.CA

SKRATCH BASTID Over the past 15 years, Canada’s own Skratch Bastid has been spreading his skills and name around the world to one sweaty crowd at a time. What first started at DJ competitions like DMC, ITF, and Scribble Jam where he became a certified entertainer and show favorite has now affected the four corners of the globe, establishing him as a “DJ’s DJ” and a true master of the craft recognized by the best in the game.

At the rate of over 150 shows a year over the last decade, his reputation as one of the hardest working DJs in the world comes as no surprise. Increasingly heralded for his comfort and versatility in different styles – hip hop, funk, disco, club, rock and just about anything that makes people dance – Bastid has rocked dance floors in Asia, Europe, Down Under, and everywhere in between. With an incomparable hold in his country where he has become a staple of Canadian DJ history, he now celebrates his culture and community in his home base of Toronto and throughout Canada with the annual Bastid’s BBQ held every summer.

This relentless approach to live performance always gives him a leg up as a producer, helping him craft some of the most critically-acclaimed production work in Canadian hip hop, including the JUNO nominated Situation album with Buck 65 and Shad’s Flying Colours, among others. His own remixes and blends have also amassed millions of plays and become supreme ammo for selectors around the world.

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DOVER QUARTET The Dover Quartet catapulted to international stardom following a stunning sweep of the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, becoming one of the most in-demand ensembles in the world. The New Yorker recently dubbed them “the young American string quartet of the moment,” and The Strad raved that the Quartet is “already pulling away from their peers with their exceptional interpretive maturity, tonal refinement and taut ensemble.” In 2013-14, the Quartet was the first ever Quartet-in-Residence for the venerated Curtis Institute of Music, and is now faculty Quartet-in-Residence at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music.

In addition to winning the Grand Prize and all three Special Prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Dover Quartet has continued to receive accolades. In 2015, they awarded the highly prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, and shortly thereafter, Lincoln Center awarded the quartet the annual Hunt Family Award as part of the organization’s Emerging Artist Awards. In its early years, the quartet also won grand prize at the Fischoff Competition and special prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition.

The Dover Quartet was formed in 2008 at the Curtis Institute of Music, and continued their studies as Graduate Quartet-inResidence at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music from 2011-13. Because of the exceptional faculty at both of these institutions, the group draws from the musical lineage of the Cleveland, Vermeer, Concord, and Guarneri Quartets.

The Quartet is dedicated to sharing their music with underserved communities and is an active member of Music for Food, an initiative to help musicians fight hunger in their home communities.

BISQC.CA

JON KIMURA PARKER Known for his passionate artistry and engaging stage presence, pianist Jon Kimura Parker’s brilliant and versatile career has taken him from Carnegie Hall and Berlin’s Philharmonie to the Beijing Concert Hall and the Sydney Opera House. This season, Jon performs as concerto soloist with the New York Philharmonic and Bramwell Tovey, the Chicago Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra with Marin Alsop, The Milwaukee Symphony with Lawrence Renes, the IRIS Orchestra with Michael Stern, the Naples Philharmonic with Andre Boreyko, and the Minnesota Orchestra with Gilbert Varga. He tours Off the Score with iconic Police drummer Stewart Copeland in the spring of 2016, and throughout the season gives twenty concerts with the newly formed Montrose Trio, featuring violinist Martin Beaver and cellist Clive Greensmith.

A committed educator, Jon Kimura Parker is Professor of Piano at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. He is also Artistic Advisor of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, where he has given world premieres of new works by Peter Schickele and Jake Heggie.

Jon Kimura Parker has recorded for Telarc and CBC, and on his own label. His new CD Fantasy features Fantasies of Schubert and Schumann, as well as the sensational Wizard of Oz Fantasy

by William Hirtz, receiving this praise from Classical Candor: “The reading is riveting. Parker scores with another favorite recording of the year.”

“Jackie” Parker studied with Edward Parker, Keiko Parker, Lee Kum-Sing, Robin Wood, Adele Marcus, and Marek Jablonski at Banff Centre. He won the Gold Medal at the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition. He lives in Houston with his wife, violinist Aloysia Friedmann and their daughter Sophie.

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ARTICLES

89

BANFF AT THE ESTERHÁZY PALACE

By Keith Horner “The beauty of the sound is remarkable. Playing Haydn in an 18th century room changes a quartet’s timing, dynamics . . . everything, in fact,” says competition juror Geoff Nuttall, speaking of the St. Lawrence String Quartet’s recent visit to the Esterháza palace in Hungary, some 87 km south-east of Vienna. The palace was transformed by Prince Nicolaus I Esterházy, Haydn’s most important patron, into his favoured venue for opera and chamber music. But three other Esterházy princes Haydn served under during his more than four decades with the family all favoured another of their palaces, closer still to Vienna, just over the present-day border, in today’s Austrian Burgenland. The Schloss Esterházy lies at the heart of the small, scenic Austrian city of Eisenstadt (pop. 13,000), commanding an impressive view over its traffic-free cobblestoned historic quarter on one side and its own substantial parkland on the other. Less than a five-minute stroll from the palace, the visitor can find the small house that Haydn owned (now the Joseph Haydn-Museum). Further on, just outside the old city wall, lies the composer’s herb garden (Kuchlgärtl) where, local legend has it, Haydn used to retreat from a difficult wife. Even closer to the palace lies the composer’s final resting place, in a peaceful marble mausoleum at the Kalvarienbergkirche. Today’s Esterházy Palace is the hub for all things Haydn and for a good deal more, including concerts, exhibitions and even the growing and production of the fine wine grown on its vast estates, quantities of which Haydn would receive as payment-in-kind.

The Esterházy Foundation has its most visible presence at the imposing Esterházy Palace, providing the tours that guide the visitor through a dozen or so of its carefully restored rooms.

Everywhere, imposing portraits reveal an aristocratic family whose line, the Esterházy von Galantha line, can be traced back to the end of the 9th century. The Foundation, one of several overlapping foundations supporting the cultural and economic heritage of the Esterházys, was established by Melinda, the widow of the last count, Paul Esterházy, who has since died without heirs. It administers the Esterházy Palace, its estates, including two additional palaces, and a vast quarry close by at St Margarethen, newly equipped as an open-air arena where 100,000 visitors enjoyed a production of Tosca last summer.

The focal point of a visit to the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt is its Haydnsaal, a beautiful 650seat, acoustically outstanding baroque hall, sumptuously decorated with frescos telling the story of Psyche and Amor. Andreas Richter has been the Foundation’s artistic advisor for the past 2 ½ years, responsible for a concert season which runs from April until October. Richter views his audience as simultaneously local, regional, (including Vienna) and international. He programs a classically-based season with both high-profile and emerging artists all performing in the palace’s elegant Haydnsaal and Empiresaal, with suitably stylish picnic and ‘walking’ concerts in the palace grounds in the summer months. Concerts this year draw on both the Esterházy as well as the Eisenstadt musical heritage, including a 250th anniversary nod to Eisenstadt-born composer Joseph Weigl, Haydn’s godson. There’s also music related to Schubert’s brief time as tutor to two of the Esterházy daughters. From 2017 on Richter will also program an annual September festival, (hitherto known as the Haydntage). “My philosophy is that when Haydn was working in Eisenstadt, he was a contemporary composer himself,” Richter says. “He was playing what was written in his time. Today, if we only play Haydn in this hall, it is beautiful, but it becomes like a museum. I think we should not forget that BISQC.CA

THE BEAUTY OF THE SOUND IS REMARKABLE. PLAYING HAYDN IN AN 18TH CENTURY ROOM CHANGES A QUARTET’S TIMING, DYNAMICS...EVERYTHING, IN FACT...”

Geoff Nuttall, Competition Juror, BISQC

Haydn was a revolutionary composer in his day. So we should invite today’s composers to go on with the spirit of Haydn.”

Richter has commissioned a new work from Swiss-Dutch composer Helena Winkelman for the 2016 resident quartet, Germany’s Schumann Quartet, winner of the Bordeaux competition – and past competitors and Creative Residency participants in Banff. There’s another première from French composer Benjamin Attahir for the next resident quartet, Paris-based Van Kuijk Quartet, winner of the Wigmore Hall competition. With Haydn widely viewed as the father of the string quartet, Richter is keen to build on existing relationships with leading quartet competitions like Banff. The 2016 Banff First Prize laureates will be invited for a residency at the Esterházy Palace, including a performance in the Haydnsaal in June 2017 and a return visit with a newly commissioned work the following season. In Eisenstadt, the Banff laureates will rehearse and perform in the hall in which the palace’s most famous Hofkapellmeister presented many of his own works. They will walk along streets that Haydn himself walked. They may be tempted to pause at Johann Altdorfer’s bakery for coffee and a chocolate-covered marzipan Haydnrolle (lovers of the Mozartkugel will note the family resemblance). They may also share this writer’s tears as they pay tribute to Europe’s most celebrated composer of his day at his final resting place, under the north tower of the city’s Bergkirche.

Copyright © 2016 Keith Horner. Comments welcomed: khnotes@sympatico.ca

91

ZOSHA DI CASTRI

By Devon Murphy Early on in Zosha Di Castri’s process of writing the Canadian Commission for the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition, she wrote down a note in her sketchbook: “Is it possible to write a piece where if it’s heard 10 times back to back by 10 different groups you hear something new and unique each time?”

Her piece, Quartet No. 1, is a response to that question. And BISQC audiences can expect the musicians to answer with vigour. Di Castri herself is excited to see what they come up with.

“I think that this is a really unique experience as a composer to not only hear the premiere of your work, but hear so many different interpretations back to back.”

A co-commission between Banff Centre, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Americas Society, Quartet No. 1 is a new, contemporary work sure to keep the quartets on their toes. With pages of performance instructions and many extended techniques, the piece can be dizzying to look at on paper, but Di Castri knows that competitors at this high level are up to the task.

BISQC.CA

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT IT BE A CHALLENGE. THIS PIECE DEMANDS THAT THE MUSICIANS BRING THEIR OWN CREATIVITY TO THEIR INTERPRETATION.

Zosha Di Castri, Composer

“The Canadian Commission round is a way to distinguish between the groups. It is important that it be a challenge,” she says. “This piece demands that the musicians bring their own creativity to their interpretation.”

That invitation to interpretation is a bold thread though the more abstract work, which Di Castri explains doesn’t have a traditional narrative. There might still be, however, a trace of the Alberta native in between the bars of the fast-paced piece.

“If anything, maybe the very fast, shifting nature somehow subconsciously reflects my current lifestyle here in New York trying to juggle writing, teaching at Columbia University, and entertaining a one-year-old,” she laughs. “Maybe there is a little bit of me that has been translated into the music.”

But it isn’t all bursts of energy. Audience members will go on a journey through the piece, experiencing a full range of emotions. Di Castri describes the composition as “mercurial” in nature—electrically charged one moment, calm and serene the next. That’s just part of the fun of this fresh new work.

“I hope that even if the music is abstract, that listeners will follow the expressive arc of the music and that it communicates with people in a more individual, less scripted way,” says Di Castri.

“That will be really interesting to see.”

Zosha Di Castri first came to Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity to study with John Adams in 2010 for the Composer Residency. Banff Centre then commissioned her new work, La Forma dello spazio, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. It was premiered during that residency.

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CECILIA STRING QUARTET XENIA PROJECT

By Tamara Bernstein By conventional yardsticks, the Cecilia String Quartet has had a brilliant year with European tours, a return to London’s Wigmore Hall, and a Juno nomination for its third CD, among other distinctions. But on a rainy Sunday morning this past May, in the Lower Lobby of the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, the Cecilias were giving their all to an audience that will never be able to attend a conventional classical music concert.

The large mirrors on the pillars in the performing space were covered over with paper to avoid over-stimulating the audience. As families arrived, a member of the Quartet offered children a “fidget” – a soft toy with which they can play during the concert, and take home if they wish.

The open-concept space allowed kids to move around. One boy was already enthusiastically rolling around on mats placed on the “dance floor,” an open space behind the seating area.

A teenager was urgently pacing back and forth at the back of the space.

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Welcome to Xenia concerts, the Cecilia String Quartet’s initiative for families with children on the autism spectrum. Taking its name from the ancient Greek term for the sacred laws of hospitality towards guests, Xenia is not the Cecilia’s first foray into non-traditional venues and formats: they have performed in long-term care facilities, schools for homeless youth, physics research laboratories, and a women’s prison in the San Francisco Bay Area. But when the St. Lawrence String Quartet introduced them to San Francisco-based pianist, composer, and conductor, Stephan Prutsman, and his Azure Family Concerts, which are designed for children on the autism spectrum, they instantly knew that “this was it” for them, says CSQ violinist Sarah Nematallah. Back in Toronto, they assembled a team of autism professionals to help them understand what would make classical music concerts work for children from that community.

The Sony Centre donated the performance space, and in March 2015, Xenia gave its first concert.

The first thing the Cecilia had to do was throw out the fundamental commandment for classical music audiences: Thou shalt not move around or make noise. “Sometimes autism is like an invisible disability,” Margaret Spoelstra, the Executive Director of Autism Ontario, explained over the phone. “You see people in wheelchair and you say, OK, I understand that. But when you have a child jumping around and making noise in a place where you’re expected to sit quietly, you’ll be told to take that kid out.”

Sandy Senko and David Moore can testify to that. Their daughter Miranda is on the severe end of the autism spectrum, Senko explained. “She’s largely non-verbal and hyperactive. But she’s also a delightful, happy 14-year-old girl who adores music.”

The family’s first outing to a children’s concert at Roy Thomson Hall was disastrous: “Miranda was cheering after the music and cheering during the music, and we were asked to leave,” Senko said. “So until Xenia concerts came along, we really were excluded from concerts.”

Now, she says, they can enjoy live classical music as a family. It also means a lot to them that the concerts take place in the heart of the city’s cultural district, and “not in some library basement,” she says.

And don’t expect to hear dumbed down offerings like the theme from Star Wars or Pachelbel’s Canon on a Xenia concert. “We play the same music we play at our regular concerts,” Nematallah says. “But we organize the programming a little more thoughtfully to tailor it to this audience.” They play selected movements to break the performance into smaller segments.

The concerts’ themes reflect things that often fascinate children on the autism spectrum, such as numbers or animals. The May 1 concert, titled “Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms by the Numbers,” built up the string quartet from solo through duo, trio, quartet, and finally – with guest pianist Leopoldo Erice ¬– the Scherzo from Brahms’s Piano Quintet, Op 34. The performers’ introductions to the pieces included concepts that would likely be over the heads of young neuro-typical children, such as the Golden Mean.

The fact that Xenia offers a season of several concerts is also helpful for their audiences.

“Neurotypicals like change, but the autistic brain likes sameness,” Senko explains. “When things are completely new – even good things ¬– it’s difficult for autistic children.” For the same reason, the Cecilias are careful to alert Xenia audiences to changes of mood or style before playing each piece.

Thanks to support from arts councils, institutions and individuals, Xenia concerts are essentially free; to encourage commitment, audiences are asked to reserve a seat in advance for $5.00 per person. At the concert, that fee is refunded through gift cards for major chain stores.

The concerts “bring us closer as a family,” Senko says. “After a Xenia concert now, we will often go out to Sunday brunch. It makes us feel almost like a typical family. Usually, we can go to one thing together – maybe a movie – and that’s it. To do two things in a row really something – we don’t take these things for granted.” Copyright © 2016 Tamara Bernstein

Xenia Concerts are supported by the Toronto Arts Council, the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music and The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts Facing Page: Cecilia String Quartet. Photo by Hanhong Dan.

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BANFF CENTRE

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QUARTET IN THE COMMUNITY: MELBA AND ORVILLE ROLLEFSON RESIDENCY

The Quartet in the Community program takes chamber music out of the concert hall and introduces it to new audiences in unexpected locations. Lucky listeners in the Bow Valley will see the 2016 Quartet in the Community, comprised of Banff Centre alumni Christina Choi, Danny Koo, Keith Hamm, and Julie Hereish, performing in fun and bold locations. From the farmer’s market to the top of Sulphur Mountain, both visitors and locals will experience extraordinary music where they least expect it, while the musicians develop skills in connecting with their surroundings. Beyond training these young musicians in community engagement, they will also attend the competition and are coached by special guests during the week. BISQC Executive Director, Barry Shiffman says, “gone is the formality of the stage, the fear of clapping at the wrong spot - it’s replaced instead by the pure joy of the magic of the music in the moment.”

Banff Centre thanks Susan and Robert Larson for their generous support of the Quartet in the Community: Melba and Orville Rollefson Residency.

Facing Page: The Thalia Quartet, BISQC 2013 Quartet in the Community. Photo by Rita Taylor.

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S Z É K E L Y/ R O L S T O N YOUNG MUSICIANS PROGRAM

Launched in 2010, the Székely/Rolston Young Musicians Program was created through a partnership between the Rolston and the Székely families. This initiative inspires and celebrates the next generation of great chamber musicians by creating a special, welcoming and affirming experience for young chamber ensembles as part of the Banff International String Quartet Competition. This year, we welcome the Travelling Quartet and Sakata/Kim Duo from The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, the Kolden Quartet from the Vancouver Academy of Music, and the Rundle String Quartet from the Bow Valley. These promising young musicians will attend BISQC lectures and concerts, receive coaching from some of the leading musicians of our time, and will be heard in performance.

Banff Centre is thrilled to support the next generation of chamber musicians through this wonderful initiative by the Rolston and Székely families.

The Travelling Quartet and Sakata/Kim Duo are supported in part by the SOCMI Fund for Excellence of the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Facing Page: Geoff Nuttall and Isobel Rolston with the Stringendo Quartet, BISQC 2010. Photo by Don Lee.

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C R E A T E D I N B A N F F, SHARED WITH THE WORLD

Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity applauds our media partners who bring stories and performances from BISQC 2016 to music enthusiasts across Canada and around the world.

CBC RADIO 2

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September 7 – 9

Be sure to keep an eye on our website for interviews and articles, photo galleries, videos, and more!

Relive the most memorable moments from the competition with daily highlights on Tempo, heard Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. with host Julie Nesrallah.

September 11 Host Paolo Pietropaolo delivers the very best performances from the competition to you on In Concert, heard Sundays from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.

CBC MUSIC Check out highlights from the competition, along with a daily video stream of the performances and a live blog of the finals round, on CBCMusic.ca

M E D I C I .T V Watch the top three quartets perform in the final round after the competition on medici.tv

RIDDLE FILMS Thanks to our production partner, Riddle Films, for their work capturing the “Rolston Sessions” and additional story content.

SUPPORTERS

Banff Centre would like to thank the following generous supporters of BISQC and the SzĂŠkely/Rolston Young Musicians program: (at time of print)

Lead Patrons: Christine and David Anderson Supporting Sponsor:

BISQC Endowments: Aurora Fund for the Advancement of String Quartet Music Canadian Commission Prize, in honour of the R.S. Williams & Sons Company Sylvia and Jack Chetner Scholarship Endowment R.S. Williams and Sons Company Ltd. Endowment Fund Yolande and Howard Freeze Fund for Music: Freeze Career Development Program Fund, BISQC Lead Supporters: B&E Electronics Ltd. Jack Chetner Joanne Taylor and Jack Davis Christopher Head Susan and Robert Larson Dennis R. Shuler Henry and Sharon van der Sloot Anonymous

Creative Giving: To give to the development of the Banff International String Quartet Competition, please contact Sybil Choles, Director of Development

Supporters: Fernando Alvarez Amati Capital Beverly and Donald Aronovitch Robert Baker and Holly Sykes Irene Maria Bakker Banff Airporter Inc. Barb Atnikov and Albert Rosengarten Foundation Norma Boutillier Peter Brandon Jacqueline Brignall Graham and Maureen Carpenter Mauro and Moira Cimolai Joyce and Craig Copelan Howard Dillon and Nell Dillon-Ermers John Felton Dorothea and Ronald Fisher Paula Greene Alistair Grieve and Catherine Merkley Robert Holmes Kenneth Hunnicutt Elizabeth Hunter Johnston Family Maureen and Joe Katchen J. Evan Kreider Susan and David Laister Satwant Lota Annaline Lubbe Pamela MacKenzie Charles Mason Gordon Mowat Weida and Ken Murphy Jean and Jim Murray John Neal Richard and Inge Page Pamela Grigg Charitable Fund at Calgary Foundation Rob and Patricia Peabody Rolston Family Ian Savage Barry Shiffman and Robin Fribance Juliet Simon Kathy and Harry Strub Jean Travis Joseph Wasielewski and Sharon Sakurai-Wasielewski Anonymous (6)

Tel: 403.762.6217 or Sybil_Choles@banffcentre.ca 101

ABOUT BANFF CENTRE FOR ARTS AND CREATIVITY

Banff Centre exists to inspire artists and leaders to make their unique contribution to society. We aspire to be the global leader in arts, culture, and creativity.

Human potential is realized at Banff Centre.

As a unique creative and learning experience, we curate innovative programs that develop artists and leaders, inspiring them to conceive and create powerful works and ideas that are shared with the world. Banff Centre is a catalyst for knowledge and creativity through the power of our unique environment and facilities in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, our rich learning opportunities, cross-disciplinary and crosssectoral interactions, outreach activities, and performances for the public.

Banff Centre is supported by funding from the Government of Alberta through Alberta Enterprise and Advanced Education, Alberta Infrastructure, and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. Arts programs are supported by funding from the Government of Canada through the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Department of Canadian Heritage through the Canada Arts Training Fund. The Banff Centre experience is also enriched through generous support from individuals, corporations, and foundations.

Executive Officers Janice Price, President and Chief Executive Officer Bruce Byford, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Michael Code, Vice President, Program Delivery Lisa Cooke, Vice President, Marketing and Communications Neil Johnston, Vice President, Development Valerie Kapay, Vice President, Human Resources Carolyn Warren, Vice President, Arts Russell Willis Taylor, Interim Vice President, Leadership Board of Governors David Weyant, Q.C., Chair, Calgary Janice Price, President & CEO, Banff Larry Fichtner, Calgary Eric Harvie, Banff Elmer Hildebrand, Winnipeg Evaleen Jaager Roy, Vancouver Andy Kenins, Toronto Judith LaRocque, Ottawa Leroy Little Bear, JD, Lethbridge Ralston E. MacDonnell, Halifax Letha J. MacLachlan, Q.C.,Calgary Gay Mitchell, Toronto Andrew Molson, Montreal Patricia M. Ruby, Calgary John Snow Jr., Calgary Board of Directors, Banff Centre Foundation Beth Reimer-Heck, Q.C., Chair, Calgary Timothy Burt, Winnipeg Larry Fichtner, Calgary Mark MacDonald, Toronto Andrew MacNiven, Calgary Janice Price, (Ex-Officio), Banff Jackson von der Ohe, Edmonton David Weyant, Q.C., (Ex-Officio), Calgary

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STAFF

Barry Shiffman, Executive Director, BISQC Simon Gamache, Manager, Classical Music and BISQC Dorian Cox, Program Coordinator, BISQC Matt Matheson, Director, Marketing and Communications Julian Sleath, Executive Director, Performing Arts Kerry Stauffer, Managing Director, Production Mark Wold, Managing Director, Program Planning Stuart Bremner, Assistant Production Manager Nurdjana de Rijcke, Summer Stage Manager Marie Dearing, Associate Registrar Pia Ferrari, Production Coordinator Dominic Girard, Content Manager Louise Healy, Communications Lead, Media and Partnerships Megan Johnson, Program Coordinator Graham Lessard, Senior Recording Engineer Don Lee, Head Photo Services Rachel MacFarlane, Underage Advisor Woody MacPhail, Senior Producer Jean MacPherson, Manager, Program Delivery Christine Majer, Graphic Design Lead Bruce McComb, Assistant Head Stage Carpenter Dave Miller, Production Manager Devon Murphy, Lead Web Editor Henry Ng, Audio Production Coordinator Lucy O’Regan, Marketing Lead, Events Jim Olver, Director, Customer Services Meiko Otawa, Conference Services Manager Albert Picknell, Head Piano Technician Gina Power, Production Coordinator Edward Renzi, Audio Engineer Chris Segnitz, Studio Manager Jenny Spurr, Media and Communications Officer

Gillian Stone, Summer Program Assistant Karin Stubenvoll, Manager of Video Production and Programs Akemi Sugi, Arts Rooms Cate Thomason-Redus, Program Coordinator We want to thank everyone at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity who has supported the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition – from feeding our audience and quartets, to booking tickets, creating awareness, fundraising, and ensuring the highest quality experience for all who attend – we couldn’t do it without you!

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GETTING AROUND BANFF CENTRE FOR ARTS AND CREATIVITY

Walter Phillips Gallery Wednesday to Sunday 12:30 – 5 p.m.

Don’t miss the SPIN CYCLE pre-performance reception at Walter Phillips Gallery on Thursday, September 1 at 4 p.m.

On Cohabitation: Films by Yael Bartana A solo-exhibition of renowned Israeli artist Yael Bartana’s films: Inferno, Pardes, and True Finn.

Guest curated by Sao Paulo-based Ana Paula Cohen.

Supported by the Sir Jack Lyons Charitable Trust.

Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives Monday to Thursday: 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Friday: 9 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Saturday: Closed Sunday: 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Archives hours Monday to Friday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Closed weekends and holidays.

The Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives is located in the Kinnear Centre for Creativity and Innovation, second floor.

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FINALS & GALA with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal

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Sarah McElravy, violin, Linden String Quartet. Competing in the 2013 BISQC. Photo: Rita Taylor.

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BISQC 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition

Aug 29 - Sept 4, 2016