Prizes Announced at Leipzig's Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition

The Viatores Quartet from Berlin won the string quartet category and received a cash prize of €6,000

The chamber music competition at Leipzig's Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University has recently come to a close. The final round of the string quartet category was held at the Joseph-Joachim Concert Hall in Berlin.

The category was won by the Viatores Quartet from Berlin, who received a cash prize of €6,000.

Comprising Louisa Staples and Velásquez Cárdenas (violins), Kwan Hon Gordon Lau (viola), and Umut Sağlam (cello), the group studies at the Hanns Eisler University of Music Berlin with Tabea Zimmermann and Johanna Staemmler.

Alongside their cash prize, the quartet will undertake several concert engagements across Germany. They also received the Friends of Young Musicians Award; this €1,500 prize can be used for a CD or video production, a website, or any other media venture of the quartet's choosing.

Stuttgart's Nerida Quartet was in second place and received the Federal President's Prize of €4,000. Third place, valued at €2,000, was shared between the Eden Quartet from Hannover and the Sapphō Quartet from Berlin, while Frankfurt's Oxalis Quartet took home the €500 for the best interpretation of the commissioned work.

In 2024, the jury for the quartet category comprised Florian Donderer (chair), Bjørg Lewis, Heime Müller, Nils Mönkemeyer, and Sonia Simmenauer.