Animato Quartet Named as Recipients of €50,000 Kersjes Prize

The award is one of the most significant state prize in the Netherlands

The Kersjes Prize was founded in 1994 by conductor Anton Kersjes and his wife. The fund has been awarding scholarships and prizes to young talent for 29 years. The Animato Quartet has been named as the recipient of this year's €50,000 prize.

"We have been following Animato for years and are impressed by the enormous steps the musicians have taken as a quartet," said the jury in their citation. "Four players, each retaining and using their individual expression, have developed a layered and intense game as a quartet with a wide palette of colors. They know how to enchant the audience with their vibrant and passionate renditions of music from different periods."

Comprising Inga Våga Gaustad and Tim Brackman (violins), Elisa Karen Tavenier (viola), and Pieter de Koe (cello), the Animato Quartet was founded in 2013. The group has appeared in Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Tivoli-Vredenburg in Utrecht, Diligentia in The Hague, Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, Rotterdam/Doelen, in the chamber music series of the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, and in the Louvre in Paris.

The quartet received the Special Prize for an exceptionally talented ensemble at the 9th International Joseph Joachim Chamber Music Competition in 2022. They also received Third Prize and the Special Jury Prize at the Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition.

The ensemble participated in Verbier Festival Academy in 2022 and was also one of only ten quartets selected for the Banff International String Quartet Competition that year.

Founded in 1994 by conductor Anton Kersjes and his wife, the Kersjes Prize has been awarding scholarships and prizes to young musicians in the Netherlands for 29 years.

"We are bursting with ideas and are so grateful that many of our creative projects can come to life because of the Kersjes Foundation," the quartet said.