This year’s Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC) has been won by the Poiesis Quartet.
At the end of a week-long event, the foursome from Cincinnati (pictured top) were announced as the overall victors, emerging ahead of the Arete Quartet from Seoul and the Quartet KAIRI from Salzburg in the final round on Sunday (31 August).
As a result of their success, the Poiesis Quartet – violinists Sarah Ying Ma and Max Ball, violist Jasper de Boor and cellist Drew Dansby – win a prize of 25,000 Canadian dollars (£13,450) plus a range of concert engagements, career management and mentorship worldwide.
Boasting a name that means ‘Creation’ in Ancient Greek, the Poiesis created waves of excitement in Banff with performances that included a scintillating Brahms String Quartet No. 3 in B flat major in the competition’s Romantic repertoire round. The prestigious win marks the highest achievement to date of a group whose CV also includes gold medals at the Fischoff National Chamber Music and St Paul String Quartet competitions in 2023.
Nine groups in total began this year’s competition on Monday 25 August, each taking part in four rounds over six days: Haydn plus 21st-century Repertoire; Romantic Repertoire; World Premiere; and Beethoven/Schubert plus 20th-century Repertoire. Though most of the concerts during the competition featured performances by just two or three string quartets, the World Premiere concert saw all nine groups take it in turns to play Rapprochement, a ten-minute piece by Canadian composer Kati Agócs.
Only for the final round on Sunday were the nine quartets whittled down to three, each of whom performed a 45-minute concert of their own choice. As well as the overall prizes, individual awards were also presented for performances of Haydn and the World Premiere, won by the KAIRI and Poiesis quartets respectively.
Open to players under 35 years old and based at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in the Canadian Rockies – a picture-perfect venue where signs warn visitors to beware of bears – the Banff International String Quartet Competition has taken place every three years since 1983 and over that time has become known as one of the most highly regarded chamber music competitions on the calendar. Among those to have taken first prize are, in 1992, Canada’s own St Lawrence String Quartet, whose co-founder and former violinist Barry Shiffman is now the event’s director.
Under Shiffman’s directorship, changes to the competition have included rejigging the format so that no quartets are eliminated before the penultimate day. He has also introduced filming and live-streaming of the entire competition. The filmed coverage of each day’s rounds can be watched here: https://theviolinchannel.com/vc-live-2025-banff-international-string-quartet-competition/
