The Tamesis Quartet from Guildhall School of Music and Drama took first prize at this year’s competition held at Wigmore Hall
String quartets from leading UK conservatoires competed in the 2025 Cavatina Intercollegiate Chamber Music Competition, which was held at London’s Wigmore Hall on 16 May. Eight ensembles performed Beethoven’s String Quartet no.7 in F op.59 no.1 ’Razumovsky’.
First prize was awarded to the Tamesis Quartet from Guildhall School of Music and Drama, which comprises violinists Matteo Cimatti and Phoebe Rousochatzaki, violist Emily Clark and cellist Theo Bently-Curtin. The ensemble receives £500 per player, plus an offer of a paid performance as part of the Sunday Concert series at Conway Hall.
Second prize went to the Karelia Quartet from the Royal Academy of Music. The ensemble’s players, who are violinists Megan Yang, Bjorg Pas, violist Felix Pasco and cellist Daniel Schultz, each receive £250.
The Heartwood Quartet from the Royal Northern College of Music won the Audience Prize. Violinists Bruno Robalo and Audrey Doyle, violist Michaela Jones and cellist Jasmine Blackshaw-Britton each receive £150.
This year’s competition was adjucated by Irish cellist Brian O’Kane, who has previously served on the selection jury for the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competitions in 2022 and 2025.
Winning ensembles from previous years include the Lark Trio from Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (2024) and the Fibonacci Quartet from Guildhall School of Music and Drama (2023).
Since 2012, the competition alternates annually between string quartets and piano trios. The competition is dedicated to one of the two founders of the Cavatina Chamber Music Trust, Pamela Majaro, who died in February 2016.
The competition also acknowledged the recent passing of Cavatina’s other founder, Simon Majaro - an academic, author, musical instrument maker and philanthropist, who died on 1 April 2025.
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