Tin Alley String Quartet
Australian Music Ensemble Wins 2007 Banff International Competition
The Australian music ensemble Tin Alley String Quartet takes home the grand prize from the 2007 Banff International String Quartet Competition.
The 6-day 2007 Banff International String Quartet Competition came to a close this September 2, and Australian ensemble Tin Alley String Quartet took home the grand prize ($20,000). Judged on performance in several categories (Romantic, Canadian Commission, Beethoven or Schubert), the group from Melbourne played Six Bagatelles (Webern) and the Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1 (Beethoven) in the final round to beat other ensembles such as the Zemlinsky Quartet and the Ariel Quartet.
The Banff Centre provides several other perks to winning the competition: under Banff Centre sponsorship, the Tin Alley String Quartet will tour North America and record a CD. They will also receive bows crafted by the Canadian bow maker François Malo. The total value of the grand prize exceeds $55,000.
The 2007 Banff International String Quartet Competition
Since the competition’s inception in 1983, the Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC) takes place every three years in the Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta. The 2007 BISQC is therefore the ninth occurrence of the triennial event. For the first five days of competition, competitors perform five different works (including one commissioned especially for the event). Based on these qualifying performances, the jury panel selects four finalists and awards the grand prize to one of those ensembles after the final round.
The jury panel this year included several representatives of prominent quartets such as the St. Lawrence String Quartet. Second prize ($12,000) went to the Zemlinsky Quartet and the Ariel Quartet placed third ($8,000).
Tin Alley String Quartet: International Award Winners
The Tin Alley String Quartet is composed of Kristian Winther (violin), Lerida Delbridge (violin), Justin Williams (viola), and Michelle Wood (cello). Besides winning the Banff International String Quartet Competition, they have already won the grand prize at the 2005 Australian Chamber Music Competition and were asked to compete in the 2007 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition.
The name of the group is taken from a laneway found at the University of Melbourne, the place where the ensemble first got its start in 2003.
Further Resources and Listening
All of the performances from the BISQC were aired on CBC’s Radio 2 and can be streamed from the Banff Center website. Especially intriguing are the performances of Dark Energy (composer Kelly-Marrie Murphy), an ethereal and stark work commissioned especially for this year’s competition.
For further information on the award-winning quartet, please visit the Tin Alley String Quartet website.
