Created in 1983 to mark the 50th anniversary of The Banff Centre, the Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC) has since become recognized as one of the world’s leading international music competitions. The list of its winners reads like a who’s who of the world’s young ensembles. The competition is open to quartets of all nationalities whose members are all under the age of 35. Unid
entified copies of quartets’ audition recordings are reviewed by a preliminary jury of three, who pick 10 quartets to come to Banff to play for a second jury of seven. Both juries consist of members (or former members of) the world’s leading quartets. Jurors of past competitions have included members of the Alban Berg, Colorado, St. Lawrence, Orford, Budapest, Juilliard, Prague, Kolish, Takacs, Tokyo, Vermeer, Cleveland, Smetana, Borodin, and Quartetto Italiano, among others.
