Prizewinners Announced at Germany's ARD Music Competition

The Barbican Quartet took home first prize in the String Quartet Category

The 71st edition of Munich's ARD International Music Competition has recently come to a close. The competition covered categories in String Quartet, Flute, Trombone, and Piano

The string quartet category was won by the Barbican Quartet following a performance of Bartók String Quartet No. 2 and Beethoven Op. 59 No.2. The London-based group recently also won the International Joseph Joachim Competition and is comprised of violinists Amarins Wierdsma and Kate Maloney, violist Christoph Slenczka, and cellist Yoanna Prodanova. The group won a cash prize of €24,000, as well as the prize for the performance of the commissioned piece by Dobrinka Tabakova, worth €1,000.

"We cannot believe what happened last night!" the quartet wrote on their Facebook. "Full of joy and gratitude, and unbelievably excited for what’s to come! Thank you so much to our dear friends and family for your constant support, and thank you for every small gesture, thought and message. It’s been such a crazy journey and the feeling is indescribable."

Chaired by Clive Greensmith, the jury included Anthea Kreston, Bjørg Lewis, Vera Martinez, John Myerscough, Jiří Pinkas, and Oliver Wille. Previous string quartet winners include the Arod Quartet, Armida Quartet, Apollon Musagète Quartet, and Ébène Quartet.

In the 2022 ARD Piano category, Austria's Lukas Sternath picked up both the Audience Award and First Prize, while Second Prize went to Junhyung Kim (Korea) and Third Prize went to Johannes Obermeier (Germany).

The UK's Kris Garfitt won the Trombone category, in addition to the Audience Award. Jonathon Ramsay of Australia was the runner-up, while Spain's Roberto de la Guía Martínez came third.

In the Flute category, Korea's Yubeen Kim received First Prize, while Italy's Mario Bruno came second. Germany's Leonie Virginia Bumüller took both Third Prize and the Audience Prize.