The finals of the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC) were held on Sunday 4 September at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and congratulations are in order for violinist Sonoko Miriam Welde and the Opus 13 String Quartet of Norway and Sweden, who took second prize in the prestigious competition.
The competition saw Sonoko perform first violin in works by Haydn, Brahms, Grieg, Thomas Ades, Andrea Tarrodi, and the world premiere of The Disappearance of Lisa Gherardini by Dinuk Wijeratne for the Canadian commission round. Their performance of Brahms No. 1 in the Romantic round was described by Laurence Vittes of Seen and Heard International as "profoundly expansive and lyrical...their focus on each note created a three-dimensional space so intense that no one in the audience took a breath during the Romanze".
The finalists were chosen by seven competition jury members representing some of the top names in chamber music: Estelle Choi, James Ehnes, Juan-Miguel Hernandez, Barnabás Kelemen, Catherine Manson, Károly Schranz and Sung-Won Yang.
For more information about the competition, visit bisqc.ca. You can watch the performances again at the Violin Channel website.
Congratulations, Sonoko and Opus13 colleagues!
