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Jury chosen for 2007 Banff International String Quartet Competition

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For immediate release
April 7, 2006

Competition Jury – 2007 Banff International String Quartet Competition

 

Henk Guittart

Based in the Netherlands, Henk Guittart is the founding violist of the Schoenberg Quartet, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The quartet has made 25 recordings, and has filmed the recording of the eight major works for strings by Arnold Schoenberg. Head of the chamber music department of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague from 1978 to 1984, Guittart was appointed conductor at the Codarts Rotterdam Academy of Music in 1990, and he has been a guest conductor or guest professor at academies and universities in Budapest, Princeton, Los Angeles, Dresden, The Hague, Amsterdam, Cologne, Moscow, and Stanford.

Paul Katz

As cellist for the Cleveland Quartet (1969 to 1995), Paul Katz played in more than 2,500 concerts on four continents, including appearances at the White House and on “CBS Sunday Morning” and NBC’s “Today Show”. Among the quartet’s 70 recordings, they have earned awards including a Grammy in 1996 and “Best of the Year” designations from Time Magazine and Stereo Review. A passionate advocate of chamber music internationally, Katz served for six years as president of Chamber Music America. In 2001 he joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music after five years at Rice University in Houston and 20 years of teaching at the Eastman School of Music. A past visiting artist at The Banff Centre, Katz has also taught at many summer music programs, including Yale and the Aspen Festival.

Lesley Robertson

Founding violist for the St. Lawrence String Quartet (winners of the 1992 BISQC) Robertson has played more than 1,600 concerts in 16 years. Ensemble in Residence at Stanford University since 1998, the SLSQ has collaborated with artists including composers Christos Hatzis, Osvaldo Golijov, and R. Murray Shafer, Pilobolus Dance Theatre, and the Emerson and Ying Quartets. A participant in The Banff Centre’s summer music programs before attending the University of British Columbia, Juilliard, The Curtis Institute of Music, and the University of Hartford, Robertson has returned as a visiting artist with other members of the SLSQ. Currently a lecturer in viola at Stanford, Robertson and the SLSQ recently created a new visiting chamber music residency at the University of Arizona.

Gerhard Schulz

Violinist with the Vienna-based Alban Berg Quartet, Schulz has been with the quartet since 1978. Prolific recording artists, the Alban Berg has recorded complete quartets by Beethoven, Brahms, Berg, Webern, and Bartók, the complete late Mozart and late Schubert quartets, and works by Haydn, Dvořák, Schumann, Ravel, Debussy, and many others. They have recorded live at Carnegie Hall, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, and the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and have their own concert series at the Konzerthaus and in London’s Royal Festival Hall, where they are quartet laureate. Schulz is also a founding member of the Salzburg String Trio and the Düsseldorf String Quartet. He is professor of violin at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna and a professor of chamber music in Cologne.

Mariana Sirbu

Born in Romania, Mariana Sirbu studied at the Bucharest at the Academy of Music, and has appeared as soloist in many of the world’s great concert halls. In 1968 she was a founder of the Academica String Quartet, with which she toured widely. With the quartet, she was a prize-winner at several international competitions including Liège 1972, München 1973, Geneva 1974, and Belgrade 1975. In 1985 she joined the Trio di Milano with pianist Bruno Canino and cellist Rocco Filippini. In 1992 Sirbu joined the celebrated Italian chamber music group I Musici as leader and soloist, and until 2003 toured the world and recorded numerous CDs with them. In 1994 she established the Quartetto Stradivari. She has given master classes in Spain, Ireland, Holland, Canada (The Banff Centre), France, Switzerland, Japan, and Italy. She teaches violin and chamber music to post-graduate students at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Florence, is professor of violin at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelhsson Bartholdy” in Leipzig, Germany, and is visiting professor at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland. She was recently appointed principal guest director of the Irish Chamber Orchestra.

Simon Standage

A specialist in 17th- and 18th-century music, Simon Standage is violinist with the London-based Salomon Quartet, which he founded in 1981 and which focuses on historical performance of classical repertoire. Professor of Baroque violin at London’s Royal Academy of Music, Standage has also played extensively as a soloist, including concerts with the City of London Sinfonia, and recordings with the Academy of Ancient Music. His recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, with The English Concert, was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Jacqueline Thomas

Jacqueline Thomas is cellist with the U.K.-based Brodsky String Quartet, which has collaborated with composers including John Tavener, Django Bates, Julian Nott, and Dave Brubeck. The quartet has maintained a collaboration with Elvis Costello and Björk, writing a string arrangement for Björk’s song “Hyperballad” and joining her on tour. They continued to explore the combination of string quartet and voice, recording with renowned soprano Anne Sofie Von Otter. The quartet is resident at the University of Kent in Canterbury, and recently received a Royal Philharmonic Society Award for an outstanding contribution to the world of music.

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