The next competition will take place Wednesday, Jan 22nd 2025
(Arrival: Tuesday, Jan 21st) in Heidelberg.
Application deadline is October 1st, 2024
The application documents must be sent in German or English exclusively by email to: irene@schwalb.de
The 6th competition of the foundation took place again on wednesday, January 18, 2023 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in cooperation with the Heidelberg String Quartet Festivalâžš.
NOVO Quartet wins 1st prize
The NOVO Quartet from Denmark has won the 1st prize of 12,000 euros in the Irene Steels-Wilsing Foundation competition, which was held yesterday, January 18, 2023, as part of the Heidelberg Spring String Quartet Festival. A total of seven ensembles competed in front of an audience at the Alte Pädagogische Hochschule Heidelberg, and were selected from 21 applications to take part. The first prize, awarded as a one-year scholarship, also includes an engagement at the Heidelberg Spring String Quartet Festival 2024. The second prize of 6,000 euros went to the Chaos String Quartet, and the third prize of 4,000 euros to the Malion Quartet, both from Germany. The audience prize of 1,000 euros, donated by the Freundeskreis des Heidelberger Frühling e.V., was also won by the NOVO Quartet.
The jury included music journalist Eleonore Büning, Amaryllis Quartet cellist Yves Sandoz, Aris Quartet violinist Noémi Zipperling, as well as Annett Baumeister, program director of the Heidelberger Frühling and Irene Schwalb, violist and artistic advisor for the String Quartet Festival.
The result of our competition 2023:
1st prize, the NOVO Quartetâžš (DK) 12.000 €
2nd prize, the Chaos String Quartetâžš (D) 6.000 €
3rd prize, the Malion Quartettâžš (D) 4.000 €
Further information: see "Prizewinnersâžš".
NOVO Quartet
The NOVO Quartet formed in Copenhagen in 2018 and is currently based in Vienna, where it studies with Professor Johannes Meissl at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Additional input comes from members of the Alban Berg and Danish String Quartets and Heime Müller. It was awarded, among others, the 2nd prize and the special jury prize at the Trondheim International String Quartet Competition. In addition to numerous performances in Denmark, the quartet has given concerts in China, USA, Netherlands, France, Germany, Norway and Sweden.
