Two cellists and two string quartets feature in this year’s cohort
The Borletti-Buitoni Trust (BBT) has announced its awards and fellowships for 2026 on 17 March, marking the birthday of the trust’s late co-founder, Franco Buitoni.
String players feature significantly in this year’s roster. Awards of £30,000 have been given to the Opus13 string quartet and cellist Senja Rummukainen.
The Fibonacci Quartet has received a BBT fellowship, worth £20,000, while Ukrainian cellist Aleksey Shadrin has received a BBT special commissioning award of £10,000.
Additionally, soprano Elisabeth Hetherington has received a BBT award, while pianists Roman Fediurko and Khanh Nihi Luong, guitarist Samrat Majumder and mezzo-soprano Niamh O’Sullivan receive BBT fellowships.
The award and fellowship recipients will also receive career nurturing, networking, guidance, introductions and PR from BBT.
The Swedish-Norwegian quartet Opus13 was formed in 2014. It won first prizes in 2025 at the Bordeaux International and Wigmore Hall International String Quartet competitions, as well as Norway’s Equinor Classical Music Award in 2023.
The ensemble appears at major festivals across Europe, North America and Asia and collaborates with leading artists including Janine Jansen, Alisa Weilerstein and Tabea Zimmermann.
As well as core classical repertoire Opus13 is committed to Nordic and contemporary music and engages in genre-crossing collaborations with folk and popular musicians.
Finnish cellist Senja Rummukainen began playing at the age of six and gained international attention after winning first prize at the Turku Cello Competition in 2014, followed by successes at the Suggia Prize and Tchaikovsky International Competition.
She plays with many of the world’s leading orchestras and at her country’s most important festivals. Rummukainen studied at the Sibelius Academy, Norwegian Academy of Music and Berlin University of the Arts.
The Fibonacci Quartet was formed at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2019. The quartet won both the first and audience prizes at the Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition.
Alongside a busy performing schedule throughout the UK and Europe, the Quartet joined the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) roster in 2024 and is currently Grand Résident Ensemble at ProQuartet in Paris.
Born in Kharkiv, Aleksey Shadrin is an advocate of Ukrainian music and is steadfastly committed to bringing the works of his homeland’s composers to international audiences. Currently based in Belgium, he performs in concert halls across Europe and regularly collaborates with renowned musicians.
Shadrin’s studies began at Kharkiv National University of Arts for gifted children, followed by Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media and Kronberg Academy.
Other international prizes include the Lysenko International Music Competition Kyiv, Prague Spring International Music Competition and Queen Elisabeth Competition Brussels.
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