Belenus Quartet wins Graz Schubert Competition
The Belenus Quartet from Basel has won the first prize of the 9th International Competition "Franz Schubert and the Music of the Modern Age" in Graz in the Stieich Quartet category, worth 18,000 euros.
Second and third place went to the Italian Quartetto Lyskamm and the Japanese Quartet Berlin-Tokyo. The competition was also awarded in the categories voice with piano (1st prize: Kimberley Boettger-Soller and Melissa Gore) and piano trio (no 1st prize, 2nd prize: Trio Atanassov).
The Belenus Quartet was founded in Basel in 2004 and is currently coached by Isabel Charisius (Alban Berg Quartet) and Claudius Herrmann (Gringolts Quartet). In 2010/2011 the quartet also studied with Walter Levin (LaSalle Quartet) and Oliver Wille (Kuss Quartet) at the Musikhochschule in Basel. From 2008 to 2012 the quartet was taught by Stephan Goerner.
The jury for the string quartet section consisted of Alja Batthyany-Vegh (Austria), Vladimir Balshin (Russia), Christophe Coin (France), Arvid Engegard (Norway), Stephan Goerner (Switzerland), Kikuei Ikeda (Japan), Vera Martinez (Spain) and Jagdish Mistry.
The triennial International Chamber Music Competition "Franz Schubert and the Music of Modernism" was launched in 1989 by the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (KUG). In 2015, 392 people from 48 nations submitted their applications.
