Afiara String Quartet wins 2008 Concert Artists Guild International Competition
Young quartet earns its second major award this autumn; currently in residence with Alexander String Quartet at San Francisco State University
October 24, 2008 — The Afiara String Quartet, Quartet-in-Residence at the International Center for the Arts, San Francisco State University, added another impressive achievement to their glowing resume when they were named winners of the prestigious 2008 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. The Afiara Quartet shared winners’ honors with Brooklyn-based flutist Claire Chase. This recognition comes less than a month after the Afiara Quartet were awarded second place in the String Quartet category at the prestigious ARD Music Competition in Munich, Germany. The winners were announced Wednesday night, October 22, at the CAG Awards Showcase at the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York City.
In addition to well deserved international recognition, the CAG Competition win brings the Afiara Quartet substantial career benefits. The Quartet, which includes violinists Valerie Li and Yuri Cho, violist David Samuel, and cellist Adrian Fung, will be added to the CAG artist roster and receive two-year management contracts. CAG management services include bookings, tour management, marketing and publicity support, as well as recording and commissioning opportunities. Competition winners are also presented on the CAG Winners Series at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.
The Afiara String Quartet was among the 70 soloists and ensembles invited to New York by the CAG Competition judges for live Semi-Final Auditions from 350 competition applicants. Of those 70 semi-finalists, eleven were named to perform at the Finals concert on October 21. The Afiara Quartet won over the finalist judges with their performances of Pannonia Boundless by Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov, the Third through Fifth Movements of Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite, and the Fourth Movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet Opus 18, No. 1.
An influential mentorship for a quickly rising ensemble
An important feature of the Afiara String Quartet’s Fellowship Residence at San Francisco State University is their close association with the world renowned Alexander String Quartet, who have guided the Afiara musicians in an intensive and extremely productive mentorship.
As Afiara cellist Adrian Fung said last month after the group’s award at the ARD Competition in Munich, “Simply put, none of this would have been possible without the members of the Alexander String Quartet. The ASQ are our mentors in all matters musical and professional. They’ve made it possible for us to focus entirely on honing our craft as a group.”
In a pleasing bit of symmetry, the Alexander String Quartet themselves were the first string quartet to win the CAG International Competition, an award they earned as a young ensemble in 1982.
The Afiara Quartet was founded in 2006. And while their award at the ARD Music Competition may be the most prestigious honor the Afiara Quartet has garnered to this point, it is far from their first. Among their accomplishments, the ensemble has performed at Carnegie Hall in the "Kronos: Signature Works" series, taught as faculty ensemble at Chamber Music of the Rockies and Canada's Southern Ontario Chamber Music Institute, and, in their New York debut, were presented by Chamber Music America and the Kronos at St. Luke's Church. In a project sponsored by the ICA, the Afiara Quartet will soon record an all-Mendelssohn CD, which will include the Mendelssohn Octet performed with the Alexander Quartet, to be released in 2009.
About the Concert Artists Guild
Concert Artists Guild’s mission is to discover, nurture and promote young musicians. CAG helps talented artists, identified through its annual international competition, to build sustainable careers. CAG provides support during a critical and formative time: between completion of formal studies and the achievement of an established career. Over 500 instrumentalists, singers and chamber ensembles have been awarded career services from CAG, including clarinetists David Krakauer and David Shifrin, flautist Carol Wincenc, violinists Eugene Drucker and Jennifer Koh, pianist Barry Douglas, guitarist Manuel Barrueco, the Alexander and Miami String Quartets and the Imani Winds.
About the Alexander String Quartet
The Alexander String Quartet (Zakarias Grafilo and Frederick Lifsitz, violins, Paul Yarbrough, viola and Sandy Wilson, cello) celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2006. They are one of the world’s premiere classical ensembles, widely admired for their interpretations of Beethoven, Mozart and Shostakovich and for their consistent championing of new music. The group regularly performs at major concert halls across the United States and Europe, and their list of collaborators ranges from Manahem Pressler and Richard Stolzman to David Krakauer and Branford Marsalis. Their recent recordings include a three-CD set of the Mozart quartets, a six-CD set of the complete Shostakovich quartets, and the complete quartets of Pulitzer prize-winning composer Wayne Peterson. In addition to their residency at San Francisco State University, where they direct the Morrison Chamber Music Center, the ASQ has been Ensemble in Residence at New York City’s Baruch College for over 20 years.
The Alexander String Quartet and International Center for the Arts are currently seeking applicants for the 2009 ICA/ASQ Fellowship, to be chosen this year through their first annual International Competition For Emerging Professional String Quartets. Deadline for entry is November 20, 2008.
About the International Center for the Arts
The International Center for the Arts is a creative, research and producing organization that operates within the College of Creative Arts at San Francisco State University. Founded in 2005 with a generous grant from SF State Alumni George and Judy Marcus, the ICA is focused on the future of the arts with an emphasis on providing incubator experiences for gifted artists in the performing, media, and visual arts and through interdisciplinary projects that link the arts to their creative counterparts in the humanities, sciences, education and social sciences.
For more information
For more information about the Afiara Quartet, the Alexander String Quartet and ICA/ASQ International Competition and Fellowship for Emerging Professional String Quartets, please contact the International Center for the Arts at (415) 817-4476 or ica@sfsu.edu, or visit the International Center for the Arts online (http://ica.sfsu.edu).
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