Media Release

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For immediate release
March 15, 2006

Banff International String Quartet Competition winners return to Banff March 23

The Jupiter String Quartet with pianist Roberto Plano
Thursday, March 23 • 7:30 p.m.
Rolston Recital Hall, The Banff Centre
Tickets: $15 adult; $12 student / senior; $10 child
Presented by Music & Sound at The Banff Centre
Information and tickets: 1-800-413-8368 or 403-762-6301

“The Jupiter Quartet was just out of this world.”
Leonard Turnevicius, music critic, The Hamilton Spectator

Continuing on the western half of a remarkably well-received tour of Canada, the Jupiter String Quartet perform in Banff on March 23 in the Rolston Recital Hall at The Banff Centre. Winners of the 2004 Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC), the members of the Jupiter are among the most accomplished young musicians touring today. They will be accompanied in Banff by 2003 Honens Piano Competition laureate Roberto Plano.

“What a pleasure it is to welcome back to Music & Sound the laureates of both the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Honens International Piano Competition,” says artistic advisor Isobel Rolston. “What better way to collaborate than with music - this will be a very special concert indeed.”

Violinists Nelson Lee and Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel, and cellist Daniel McDonough were among the ten finalist quartets from around the world who converged on The Banff Centre in September, 2004. After a week of performances in a range of repertoire, the quartet won the Szekely Prize for best performance of a Beethoven quartet as well as first place in the overall awards. As part of the first-place prize,the Jupiter Quartet has been on a 15-city Canada-wide concert tour, playing in venues from St. John’s to Sechelt.

Currently the Graduate String Quartet in Residence at Boston’s New England Conservatory, the Jupiter String Quartet has won a multitude of high-profile prizes for musicianship during the past few years, including the 2005 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and the Grand Prize in the 2004 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, which resulted in tours of Italy and the United States. The Quartet has played venues including London’s Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Centre, and Jordan Hall in Boston.

In 2005, Italian pianist Roberto Plano was a finalist in the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. He was also winner of the 2001 Cleveland Piano Competition. A graduate of the Ecole Normale Cortot in Paris, Plano has performed throughout Europe and North America, and has appeared with orchestras in Canada, Japan, Spain, Germany, and many other countries. Honoured for “Best Ensemble Performance” at the Honens Competition for his performances with cellist Shauna Rolston and soprano Ingrid Attrot, Plano will accompany the Jupiter Quartet for four concerts during their Canadian tour.

Since 1983, every three years the Banff International String Quartet Competition has brought some of the world’s best young string musicians to The Banff Centre for an intense week of performances and competition. The ninth Banff International String Quartet Competition will take place August 28 to September 2, 2007. BISQC is generously supported by the RBC Financial Group.

For a print-ready, downloadable photo of the Jupiter String Quartet:
http://www.banffcentre.ca/media%5Froom/images/Winter%5FConcert%5FSeries/

For more information on the Banff International String Quartet Competition:
http://www.banffcentre.ca/bisqc/