Aizuri Quartet Wins $100,000 M-Prize; Kairos String Quartet Wins Junior Strings
Congratulations to the New York City-based Aizuri Quartet, which has won the $100,000 M-Prize, announced Sunday at the the third annual M-Prize chamber music competition! The M-Prize is hosted by the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre & Dance and took place in Ann Arbor, Mich. May 3-5.
The Aizuri Quartet.
The Aizuri Quartet, formed in 2012, consists of violinists Ariana Kim and Miho Saegusa, violist Ayane Kozasa and cellist Karen Ouzounian. The quartet has won a number of prizes, including First Prize at the 2017 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan, and Third Prize at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in London. This season they also have been the MetLiveArts String Quartet-in-Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Here is a list of all 2018 M-Prize winners:
Senior Grand Prize
- Winner, $100,000: Aizuri Quartet (Ariana Kim, Miho Saegusa, Ayane Kozasa, Karen Ouzounian)
Senior Strings
- First prize, $20,000: Aizuri Quartet
- Second prize, $8,000: Verona Quartet (Jonathan Ong, Dorothy Ro, Abigail Rojansky, Jonathan Dormand)
- Third prize, $5,000: Vera Quartet (Pedro Rodriguez Rodriguez, Patricia Quintero Garcia, Ines Picado Molares, Justin Goldsmith)
BELOW: Aizuri Quartet performs Haydn String Quartet Op. 20 No. 2 in C Major, at the Curtis Institute of Music's "Curtis Presents" in Philadelphia, PA on December 8, 2017.
Senior Winds
- First prize, $20,000: The Moanin' Frogs (Lucas Hopkins, Andy Hall, Jonathan Hostottle, Jonathan Hulting-Cohen, Sean Hurlburt, Edward Goodman)
- Second prize, $8,000: Saxback Ensemble (Joséphine Besençon, Juliette Adam, Nicolas Arsénijévic, Antonin Pommel, Paul Lamarque, Hélène Escriva)
- Third prize, $5,000: WindSync (Garrett Hudson, Emily Tsai, Julian Hernandez, Anni Hochhalter, Kara LaMoure)
Senior Open
- First prize, $20,000: invoke (Karl Mitze, Nicholas Montopoli, Geoff Manyin, Zachariah Matteson)
- Second prize, $8,000: ~Nois (Brandon Quarles, Hunter Bockes, Jordan Lulloff, János Csontos)
- Third prize, $5,000: Duo Aliada (Michal Knot, Bogdan Laketic)
Junior Strings
- First prize, $5,000: Kairos String Quartet (Lydia Rhea, Joshua Brown, Julian Rhee, Thompson Wang)
- Second prize, $3,000: Annora Quartet (McCall Anderson, Natalie Boberg, Mackie Moore, Aaron Daurelle)
- Third prize, $2,000: Quartet Callisto (Yonjoo Seo, Hannah Lin, Adele Lee, Rowena Bakke)
The Kairos Quartet, from the Music Institute of Chicago Academy, won Junior Strings First Prize.
Junior Winds
- First prize, $5,000: Quid Nunc Saxophone Quartet (Ryan Montemayor, Jacob Brockett, Matthew Escobedo, James Pachikara)
- Second prize, $3,000: The Bone Rangers (Karl Kirkpatrick, Omar Tlatelpa-Nieto, Jonah Blaek, Rafael Noriega)
- Third prize, $2,000: Purple Hippopotami Flute Quartet (Sofia Frumkin, Natasha Kozintseva, Michael Mackoff, Elias Nava)
Junior Open
- First prize, $5,000: Concept (Peyton Miller, Louis Jones III)
- Second prize, $3,000: The Quintet (Oliver Mayman, Jake Lee, Nathan Lee, Danny Freiband, Tim Walters)
- Third prize, $2,000: Sticks & Stones (Alex Ostrowsk, Justin Petrovych, Shane Ellis, Joe Koziara)
The M-Prize competition was created in 2016 by Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance Dean Aaron Dworkin to identify and showcase chamber music talent. The 2018 M-Prize competition featured 34 ensembles from across the United States as well as France, Austria, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Including the grand prize, more than $200,000 in prize money was distributed among the top three winners in three different categories: strings, woodwinds and open, in Junior (ages 18 and under) and Senior (ages 19-35) divisions.
Last year's grand prize was awarded to Russian Renaissance; and the 2016 M-Prize went to The Calidore String Quartet. This year's Strings jury included pianist Winston Choi; cellist Alexander Hülshoff and violin/violist Kathryn Votapek.
You might also like:
- Ariana Kim Champions Women's Compositions for Violin
- Russian Renaissance wins $100,000 M-Prize; Argus Quartet Wins Senior Strings Division
- Calidore String Quartet wins $100,000 M-Prize
Replies
Joshua Brown (Kairos String Quartet, First Prize of Junior Strings) is playing in our community orchestra this May. Had a rehearsal with him two weeks ago. He's phenomenal--- a great sense of humor too! I wonder if it's too early to get a soloist's autograph...
@Francesca - that was my first exposure to them too. It must have been great having Arnold looking over your shoulder. I think the second violinist in the course moved on, and the then-first violinist has now moved to second violin when the current first violinist joined. Looks like the change didn't hurt!
Congratulations to them and I hope they continue to do well.
Hi, John. I thought it wasn't the original line-up. I guess the only thing it "hurts" is the story behind their name, which is a combination of the names of the original members.
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May 8, 2018 at 06:12 AM · Congratulations to the Aizuri String Quartet! I was introduced to them when I took an on-line course on the (topic of the) string quartet taught by Arnold Steinhardt. They played whenever he wanted to illustrate an entire movement. I believe he mentored them when they were starting out.