Borciani Competition Winner

The Premio Paolo Borciani – the international string quartet competition – was created in 1987 by the councilors of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and is dedicated to their famous fellow citizen, the founder and first violin of the Quartetto Italiano. Nearly twenty-five years later, the Premio has now become one of the most prestigious competitions in the world.
 
Eight editions have taken place so far (1987, 1990, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2005, and 2008), only five of which have produced a winner: the Keller Quartet in 1990, the Artemis Quartet in 1997, the Kuss Quartet in 2002, the Pavel Haas Quartet in 2005, and the Bennewitz Quartet in 2008. Their careers were launched by the Premio Borciani’s extensive victory tours in Europe, the United States, and Japan, which are always offered to the winners as part of the First Prize; each group has gone on to have a major international career.

The competition’s musical program has always included a new piece specially commissioned by the competition to outstanding contemporary composers (Paolo Stroppa in 1994, Luciano berio in 1997, Salvatore Sciarrino in 2000, Wolfgang Rihm in 2002, Peter Maxwell Davies in 2005, and Giovanni Sollima in 2008). The pieces are performed as world premières by the contestants during the competition. This characteristic of Premio Paolo Borciani underlines the commitment of the organizers to expand the repertory of music for string quartet.

The Premio Paolo Borciani is particularly difficult to win. The jurors are well-known professionals in the fields of music performance, musicology, music management, or journalism, and they are extremely rigorous and severe in judging the contestants. The reason is very simple: the ensemble that wins Premio Paolo Borciani has to be an absolute winner, able to compete not only with the other contestants but also with the groups who have already made a career, and able to perform in the most important venues of the world.