New international string quartet competition in Bad Tölz – Bavaria

As of this week, the world map of international string quartet competitions is probably a pin richer. With the “1st International String Quartet Competition Bad Tölz”, the Bavarian spa town can now line up somewhere between the famous Banff in Canada, that Canadian tourist spot at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, between Bordeaux, London, Osaka, Florence or Munich, where the ARD Music competition offers young string quartets a launch pad for an international career. At the competition premiere in the historic ballroom of the Kurhaus, the blessing came from the very highest authority, from “Quartet Pope” Günter Pichler. “I believe that this level can easily be compared with the established competitions,” said the long-time primarius of the legendary Alban Berg Quartetwhen he, as chairman of the jury, chose the winning ensemble on Monday Chaos String Quartet from Vienna.

As dog lovers, the initiators of the competition, Susanne and Christoph Kessler, could have breathed a sigh of relief early on. Success was guaranteed, as Lobo, Günter Pichler’s dog, slumbered in the first row during all rounds with the total of nine quartets – extremely relaxed without a single disapproval woof. An animal with certainly an extremely trained ear, which always accompanies its busy master and is probably more familiar with top interpretations of complex Beethoven quartets than many two-legged friends.

Which, however, does the Tölz audience an injustice, because the Kursaal was well filled both in the main round on Sunday and in the final the day after – both were also streamed. And clearly with many mature, well-travelled quartet enthusiasts. But also, and this is particularly pleasing, with the curious, for whom the familiar atmosphere of this new music event should have made it easier for them to get into the quartet genre. You were really close; on the jury – in addition to Pichler, almost all members of important European string quartets such as artemis, amaryllis or Zemlinsky. But also on the young musicians when they sat in the hall to listen to the competition. Or if they’re like Nicholas Waters from the runner-up Affinity Quartet from Melbourne, after surviving a great performance, balanced through the bar with glasses of wheat beer.

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Despite the international boom, which is constantly producing new ensembles, the globetrotter world of string quartets is surprisingly small, says Waters. You meet at master classes or competitions like now in Bad Tölz, which are incredibly important. Of course, also financially. The winners received 10,000 euros from the Kesslers’ private coffers, as well as 2,500 euros from G. Henle Verlag. A total of 27,000 euros in prize money was awarded, donated, among other things, by the Klangerlebnis association, with which the Kesslers in Bad Tölz have been organizing the highly acclaimed string quartet series since 2018 “Quartettissimo!” offer. The competition, which also received enormous logistical support from the town of Bad Tölz, is now the latest baby from the Kesslers, who see themselves as music enablers and have made a name for themselves. He, a qualified biochemist and pharmaceutical entrepreneur with conservatory experience in the field of violoncello and a passion for singing in a choir, she is a school musician with a major in piano.

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As organizers, the Kesslers are veterans. And yet, as Christoph Kessler recounts, when organizing the competition, which is planned as a triennial, there was this tipping point at which the whole project could have collapsed: the two had written to more than 200 academies, the deadline for the applicants was October 30th, 2022, until October 1st not a single string quartet had registered, on October 23rd at least one. “But then an application tsunami swept over us.” A selection had to be made from a total of 34 young string quartets, and Pichler and his jury spent the Christmas holidays viewing the applicants’ audios and videos.

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The incorruptible ears of the jury now heard exquisite things in Bad Tölz: the third-place winners, that Abeo Quartet from Delaware (USA), fascinated with Brahms’ String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51.1. The young Finns from Eriny’s Quartet from Helsinki won the Esterhazy special prize for the best Haydn interpretation and also the audience prize. The only ones who went empty in the main round were the musicians of the Fog Quartet out of; the young musicians from South Korea, who studied at the music academy in Munich, among others, by the famous Quatuor Ébène be supervised, but potential was awarded.

The four of them had deeply moved the jury and the audience Chaos String Quartet with Franz Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D 810 “Death and the Maiden”. In addition to technical perfection, a great deal of absoluteness and freedom of expression could be heard. The Viennese will now play their solo award winners concert at the Kurhaus on Thursday, April 20th at 7:30 p.m. and will return there when “Quartettissimo!” On January 20, 2024, the winners of major international competitions are invited to a concert in Tölz. So that exclusive league that you might be able to count yourself in in the future.