Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC)

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Afiara String Quartet

Canada

Second Prize Winner
Székely Prize Winner

Afiara String Quartet

Valerie Li, violin
Yuri Cho, violin
David Samuel, viola
Adrian Fung, cello

The all-Canadian Afiara String Quartet is the graduate resident string quartet at The Juilliard School in New York, where they serve as teaching assistants to the celebrated Juilliard String Quartet. Recently, the Afiara was announced as a winner of the Young Canadian Musicians Award, which included a $25,000 cash prize.

The Afiara Quartet won the Concert Artists Guild International Competition in New York, following a top prize at the Munich ARD International Music Competition in 2008 — the only Canadian ensemble to win top honors in either of these historic competitions. They have appeared at Carnegie Hall on the Kronos: Signature Works series and Chamber Music America’s National Conference tribute to the Kronos. During the current season, the Afiaras will play at the Library of Congress, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Schneider Concerts at the New School, and the Convocations Series at Purdue University, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Morrison Artists Series, Mooredale Concert Series, Festival of the Sound, and the Montreal and Ottawa International Chamber Music Festivals.

The Afiara is initiating a new Visiting Quartet-in-Residence position of concerts and teaching with the Glenn Gould School at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music.  In the past, the quartet was the Morrison Fellowship Quartet-in-Residence at San Francisco State University’s International Center for the Arts (ICA), where the members were teaching assistants to their mentor ensemble, the Alexander String Quartet. One of two fellowship quartets at the 2008 Aspen Festival’s Center for Advanced Quartet Studies, the Afiara Quartet also serves as Artist-in-Residence at Lake Tahoe Music Festival’s Education and Outreach Program and is an Affiliate of San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music.

Under the auspices of the ICA, the Afiara Quartet released its debut CD on the Foghorn Classics label in Fall 2009, featuring quartets by Mendelssohn and Schubert, and the Mendelssohn Octet with the Alexander Quartet.

Formed in 2006 at the San Francisco Conservatory, the Afiara String Quartet takes its name from the Spanish fiar, meaning “to trust,” a basic element vital to the depth and joy of its music-making. The ensemble is committed to education and connecting with diverse audiences. The quartet has served as faculty at Chamber Music of the Rockies, Indiana University Summer String Academy, and Canada’s Southern Ontario Chamber Music Institute and has also benefited from several visits to the Banff Centre’s Fall/Winter Residencies and the Summer Chamber Music Programme. Bringing urban elements into its outreach activities, the ensemble bridges the gap between Haydn and hip-hop.

  Visit their website

2010 BISQC Quartets