The Katarina Quartet from the Juilliard School scooped the grand prize of $15,000 as well as topping the senior string division
The 2025 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition was held from 8 to 11 May at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN.
Now in its 52nd edition, the competition awarded over $60,000 worth of prizes and professional development and performance opportunities to ensembles across four divisions.
The Katarina Quartet from New York’s Juilliard School was named the grand prize winner. The ensemble, comprising violinists Jeanel Liang and Jérôme Chiasson, violin Celia Morin and cellist Maya Enstad, won $15,000.
The ensemble also won the gold medal in the senior string division, comprising a further $5,000 plus the Double Gold Tour.
Trio Eris won the silver medal of $4,000, while the bronze medal of $3,000 went to Trio Timia. Trio Eris also received the Horszowski Trio Prize, worth $1,000, for the highest-ranking piano ensemble in the senior strings division. The group will be invited to the Mimir Festival to work with the Horszowski Trio and other distinguished faculty members.
Trio Unio from South Korea won the Lift Every Voice prize worth $1,500, awarded for the best performance of a piece by a historically underrepresented composer in the chamber music world.
In the junior string division, the gold medal of $2,500 went to the Aves Trio, while the silver medal, worth $2,000 went to the Doxa Quartet and Quartetto Speranza received the bronze medal of $1,500. The Aves Trio received the Horszowski Trio Prize for the junior strings division.
The Benediction Trio received the Kenneth Geoffroy Memorial Award, worth $800, for being the highest-ranked junior ensemble from the local area.
Saxophone quartets dominated the senior wind division, which was won by Cerus Quartet, with Blitz and Halite Quartet winning the silver and bronze medals respectively. Blitz also received the Lift Every Voice prize for the senior wind division.
The Arcturus Quartet and Astraea Quartet, both saxophone ensembles, received the gold and silver medals in the junior wind division respectively, while the clarinet-french horn-piano ensemble Reinecke Trio received the bronze medal.
The American Brass Quintet Brass Ensemble Prize of $500 was given to the most outstanding brass ensemble in the junior wind division, the Bone Rangers.
The Fischoff competition was established in 1973 with the aim of encouraging young musicians to pursue chamber music study and performance, and has since become the largest and longest-running chamber music competition in the US.
Past winners include Trio Azura, Poiesis Quartet, Terra Quartet, Ulysses Quartet, Merz Trio, and the Callisto Quartet.
Read: Winners announced for the International Klaipėda David Geringas Cello Competition
Read: Competitors announced for 2025 Banff International String Quartet Competition
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