Péter Eötvös to Chair the Jury in the 2020 Composition Competition
The Bartók World Competition continues this year with the contest of composers. This time the Liszt Academy has called for compositions written for string quartet. The international jury will be chaired by Péter Eötvös and the prize-winning works will be performed by three outstanding Hungarian quartets at the November gala concert.
Composers under the age of 40 are invited to enter the competition by August 10, with new pieces composed for string quartet, in which artists can demonstrate their musicality and high-level technique.
The award winning works will be performed for the first time at the Awards Gala Concert to be held on November 28; the Korossy Quartet, the Kállai Quartet and the Kökény Quartet have accepted the invitation to perform at the event. One piece will be selected for the mandatory repertoire of the next instrumental round of the Bartók World Competition, the 2021 competition for young string quartet ensembles.
“The string quartet, considered the most noble of chamber music genres, captivates all composers, most of whom compose such pieces. It is a difficult genre as it requires that the performance of four equal partners is coordinated, but that makes the task wonderful,” stressed composer Gyula Fekete, vice president of the Liszt Academy, member of the board at the Association of Hungarian Composers and the artistic director of this year's competition.
The prestigious jury is chaired by world-famous Hungarian composer and conductor Péter Eötvös and its members are Unsuk Chin, renowned South Korean composer living in Germany, Israeli-American composer Chaya Czernowin, professor at Harvard, Johannes Meissl, renowned violinist, chamber musician and professor, one of the artistic directors of the European Chamber Music Academy and vice president of the Vienna Academy of Music, as well as Gyula Fekete. The total prize of the competition is EUR 10 000.
A particular feature of the World Competition is that it will culminate over the years based on the most characteristic aspects of Bartók's oeuvre: violin, piano and chamber music as well as composition. It was launched in 2017, on the occasion of the 135th anniversary of Béla Bartók's birthday, with the contest of violinists. In the even-numbered years between instrumental competitions, the Liszt Academy organizes a composition competition and the jury selects the award winning piece that will be included in the repertoire of the next instrumental competition.