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Fischoff Alumni & Past Winners

Since its founding in 1973, the Fischoff has become the largest chamber music competition in the world. As a result, thousands of outstanding musicians claim the Fischoff as a defining musical experience in their lives.  Among them:

Linden Qt. 2009 Grand Prize Stage Hi Res
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15th Street Trio
1726 Trio
2:1
3MF String Quartet
A2’d Saxophone Quartet
A441 Wind Quintet
Abeo Quartet – 2019 Senior String Division Silver Medal Winner
Abend-Shaw-McCulloch Trio
Abraxas Quartet
Acaso Quartet
Accelerando
Accenti Trio
Adelphi String Quartet
The Adolphe Sax-Chamber Quartet
Aeolus Quartet – 2011 Senior String Division Silver Medal Winner
Aero Quartet – 2021 Senior Wind Division Gold Medal Winner
Aether Quartet
Affinity Saxophone Quartet
Agitato String Quartet
Agora Quartet
The Ahn Trio
Aiana String Quartet
Aire String Quartet
Ajax Quartet
The Akropolis (Reed) Quintet – 2014 Senior Wind Division Gold Medal Winner, 2012 Senior Wind Division Silver Medal Winner
Alcantara Piano Quartet
Alea String Quartet
Alegrar Quartet – 2015 Junior Division Bronze Medal Winner
Alendo Quartet
Alethea String Quartet – 2006 Junior Division Bronze Medal Winner
The Alexandria String Quartet
Alianza String Quartet
Alisier Trio – 2005 Junior Division Gold Medal Winner
All Glassed In
Allant Trio
Alma String Quartet
Alpaca String Quartet
Alpenglow Piano Trio
Alpha Trio
Alta Tensione Brass Quintet
Altius Quartet – 2014 Senior String Division Silver Medal Winner
Amaranth Trio – 1995 Junior Division Silver Medal Winner
Amaryllis String Quartet – 1995 Junior Division Gold Medal Winner
Ambrogio Trio – 1983 Senior Division Silver Medal Winner, 1982 Senior String Division Silver Medal Winner
Ambrosian Trio
Amabile Quartet
Amadeus Piano Trio
“Amadeus” String Quartet
Amernet String Quartet – 1993 Grand Prize & Senior String Division Gold Medal Winner
Amethyst Quartet – 2008 Senior Wind Division Gold Medal Winner
Amherst String Quartet
Amiche Viola Quintet
Amici Trio
Amity Winds
Amnis Piano Quartet – 2023 Senior String Division Bronze Medal Winner
Amo Brass – 2023 Senior Division American Brass Quintet Brass Ensemble Prize
Amoroso Quartet
Amphion String Quartet
Amphion Wind Quintet
Anacapa String Quartet – 1995 Senior String Division Silver Medal Winner
Anderson String Quartet
Andrea Trio
Andromeda String Quartet
Angeles Saxophone Quartet – 2010 Senior Wind Division Gold Medal Winner
Aniela Piano Trio
Animato Trio
Ann Newman String Quartet
Antares Wind Quintet (formerly Elm City Ensemble)
Antonello Trio
Apex Brass
Apollo Piano Trio
Appalachian Quartet
Aquos Trio
Ara String Quartet
Arbor Trio – 1998 Senior Wind Division Bronze Medal Winner
Arabesque Quartet
Arad Trio
Arancia Quartet
Aramis Piano/String Trio/Quartet – 1988 Senior String Division Bronze Medal Winner
The Arbor Wind Quintet
Arcadian Winds
Arcane Reed Quintet
Arcata String Quartet
Archon Piano Quartet
Arcobaleno String Quartet
Arcturus Trio – 2020 Junior String Division Bronze Medal Winner
The Arcus Trio
Arddun Piano Quartet
Ardente String Quartet
Areois Trio
Areon Flutes – 2008 Senior Wind Division Bronze Medal Winner
Ariadne String Quartet – 2012 Senior String Division Bronze Medal Winner
The Arianna String Quartet – 1994 Grand Prize & Senior String Division Gold Medal Winner
Ariel Quartet – 2006 Grand Prize & Senior String Division Gold Medal Winner
Arietta Piano Quartet
Arista Trio
Aristo Quintet
Arizona State University Saxophone Quartet – 2003 Senior Wind Division Gold Medal Winner
Arm & Hammer Trio
The Armonia Wind Quintet
Arneis Quartet
Ars Subtilior Trio
Artaria String Quartet
Artemis Trio/Quartet
Arthur Jordan Saxophone Quartet
Aruna Quartet – 2019 Grand Prize & Senior Wind Division Gold Medal Winner
Arundo Donax – 2011 Senior Wind Division Bronze Medal Winner
Arundo Winds Quintet – 2006 Senior Wind Division Silver Medal Winner
Asbury Brass Quintet – 1985 Senior Division Gold Medal Winner
Ascension Saxophone Quartet
Asrai Quartet
Assai Quartet – 1993 Senior String Division Silver Medal Winner
ASTEC Quartet – 1985 Junior Division Gold Medal Winner
Aster Trio
Astera String Quartet – 2017 Junior Division Silver Medal Winner
Astraea Quartet – 2024 Junior Wind Division Bronze Medal Winner
Atara String Quartet
Ataraa String Quarteta
The Athens Saxophone Quartet
Atlantic Brass Quintet
Atlantic String Quartet
Atlantic Trio
Atlas String Quartet
Atria Ensemble
Attaca, ben marc.
Attacca Quartet (Attacca!) – 2007 Junior Division Bronze Medal Winner
Auberon Trio
Augmented 4
Augustine Quartet – 1988 Senior String Division Silver Medal Winner
AUN Quartet
Aurailea Trio
Aurelia String Quartet – 2009 Junior Division Gold Medal Winner, 2008 Junior Division Bronze Medal Winner
Aurelian Quartet – 2021 Junior Wind Division Gold Medal Winner
Aurelius String Quartet
The Aureole Trio – 1989 Senior String Division Silver Medal Winner
Aurielle Quartet – 2017 Junior Division Bronze Medal Winner
Aurora Piano Quartet
Aurora Quintet
Aurora Winds
Aurum Quartet
Autana Trio – 2015 Senior String Division Bronze Medal Winner
Auteur Quartet
Avalon String Quartet – 1998 Grand Prize & Senior String Division Gold Medal Winner, 1997 Senior String Division Bronze Medal Winner
Avant Wind Quintet
Avante Quartet
The Avanti Trio
Ave C Quartet
Avery Trio
Aveta Trio – 2021 Junior String Division Gold Medal Winner
Avila String Quartet
A.W. Quintet
Axiom Brass – 2010 Senior Wind Division Bronze Medal Winner
Axius Saxophone Quartet – 2010 Senior Wind Division Silver Medal Winner
AYA Trio
AYM Piano Trio – 2005 Junior Division Silver Medal Winner
Azalea Quartet
Azmari Quartet
Azure Trio
The Bach Trio
Back Bay Trio
The “BAD” Quartet
Bait ‘n Tackle Winds
BALA – 2001 Senior Wind Division Bronze Medal Winner
Ball State Saxophone Quartet
Ballantine Trio
The Ballard Piano Trio
Balourdet String Quartet – 2020 Senior String Division Gold Medal Winner
BAM Quartet – 2005 Junior Division Bronze Medal Winner
BAQ Quintet
Barkada Quartet – 2012 Grand Prize & Senior Wind Division Gold Medal Winner
Barossa Quintet
Barshuno Quartet
Basil Quartet – 2023 Geoffroy Prize Winner
Basmati String Quartet – 1999 Senior String Division Silver Medal Winner
Battell Quintet – 1994 Senior Wind Division Gold Medal Winner
Bay State Brass – 2007 Senior Wind Division Bronze Medal Winner
The Beach Quintet
BEAR Quartet
Beat 3 – 2006 Junior Division Gold Medal Winner
Bedford Trio
BEK Trio
Bela (String Quartet)
Belcourt Trio
Belden Winds
Belka Quartet
Joshua Bell
Bella Cosi String Quartet
Bella String Quartet
Belle Quartet
Bellissimo Trio
Belmont Trio
Berlioz Quartet
Besozzi Trio
Best Great Quartet – 1992 Junior Division Silver Medal Winner
The Best, Great, Super-Fantastic, Deluxe Quintet
BETA Quartet
The BGSU Senior Saxophone Quartet
Biarritz Trio
The Biava Quartet – 2001 Senior String Division Silver Medal Winner, 1999 Junior Division Bronze Medal Winner
Big String Theory – 2027 Geoffroy Prize Winner
Bircusse Quartet
BingYi Saxophone Quartet
Biskra String Quartet
Blackout Saxophone Quartet
Black Pearl Trio
The Black Swamp Saxophone Quartet – 1991 Senior Wind Division Gold Medal Winner
Blitz
Blue Hill Quartet
Blue Ridge Piano Trio
Blue Square Saxophone Quartet – 2005 Senior Wind Division Gold Medal Winner
The Blue Static Saxophone Quartet – 2011 Senior Wind Division Silver Medal Winner
The Bone Rangers – 2019 Junior Wind Division Bronze Medal Winner; 2024, 2023, 2020, & 2019 Junior Division American Brass Quintet Brass Ensemble Prize
Bordeaux Trio
The Boston Quartet
Boyer String Quartet
Brass Company
Brass Trio  – 1981 Junior Division Silver Medal Winner
Brava
Bravidade String Quartet
Bravissme Quartet
Brazen Brass 5
Brechemin Trio
The Brentano String Quartet
Breshears String Quartet – 2024 Junior String Division Silver Medal Winner
Brigham Young University Piano Quartet
Brindisi
Brio Brass Quintet – 1992 Geoffroy Prize Winner
The Broken Obelisk Flute Quartet
Brunsvik Trio
Brutini String Quartet  – 1998 Senior String Division Bronze Medal Winner
BU Honors Wind Quintet – 1984 Senior Division Silver Medal Winner

If your ensemble would like to be included on the above list, please send an email to genevieve@fischoff.org. Include your name, web address, name of your Fischoff Competition ensemble and the year(s) you participated in the Competition. We would love to hear from you! A full list of previous winners can be found here.

Where Are They Now?

Terra String Quartet | 2022 Senior String Gold Medalist | www.terrastringquartet.com

Congratulations to the The Terra String Quartet for being named the Yale School of Music’s 2024-2025 fellowship quartet-in-residence! At Yale, the Terra String Quartet will enjoy the mentorship of YSM’s faculty quartet-in-residence, the Brentano String Quartet, and will in turn provide coaching to undergraduate chamber ensembles at the Department of Music.

The Terras won the Christine and David Anderson Career Development Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022. In 2023, the group placed second at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and third at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. The Terras recently performed four concerts at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival in Massachusetts and in August will teach at Suzuki on the Island, in Manhasset, N.Y., and spend a week in residence at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute in Boscawen, N.H.

 

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Photo credit: Peter Ringenberg

Kodachrome | 2023 Senior Wind Gold Medalist | www.kodachromequartet.com

Congratulations to Kodachrome Saxophone Quartet for receiving the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant!

Grantee: Kodachrome (Phoenix, AZ)
Composer: Julie Zhu
Instrumentation: Soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones 

The new work for Kodachrome, which will feature video as well as live and fixed electronics, is inspired by the shape of the saxophone and continuing in the composer’s research of anthropomorphizing and sonifying elements of our natural world.

In August 2023, Kodachrome was invited as an ensemble representing the U.S. to perform in the Chengdu International Sister City Music Festival held in Chengdu, China. In September 2023, Kodachrome performed and taught throughout the Midwest during their Double Gold Tour. Throughout the tour, Kodachrome performed at universities, colleges, soirees, junior high, and high schools in states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. Kodachrome was also a featured ensemble on WFMT as a part of the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series held in Chicago, Illinois. Kodachrome has upcoming performances in Phoenix and several tours throughout the U.S. for the 2023/2024 season and is looking forward to sharing their music with many audiences.

 

Photo credit: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

Pacifica Quartet | 1996 Senior String Bronze Medalist | www.pacificaquartet.com

Congratulations to the Pacifica Quartet, quartet-in-residence at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, for receiving their second GRAMMY Award. The ensemble’s album Beethoven: Complete String Quartets – Volume 2 was nominated in the 2023 Best Chamber Music / Small Ensemble Performance category. Pacifica won the same category in 2008 with Elliott Carter: String Quartets Nos. 1 and 5.

 

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Photo credit: Roy Cox

Dover Quartet | 2010 Grand Prize Winner | www.doverquartet.com

Congratulations to the 2010 Fischoff Grand Prize Winner, Dover Quartet, for their second GRAMMY nomination for the 2020 Best Chamber Music / Small Ensemble Performance in recognition of it’s recording, The Schumann Quartets. They are currently in Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music as the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble.

 

Merz Trio Wins First Prize at 2021 Naumburg Competition

Merz Trio | 2019 Gold Medal Winner | www.merztrio.com

Congrats to the 2019 Fischoff Gold Medal Winner, Merz Trio, winners of the 2021 Naumburg Competition and the 2019 Concert Artists Guild Competition. Watch their video recording at Guarneri Hall during their 2019 Fischoff Winners Tour.

 

Tessa Lark | 2012 Prize Winner | Modêrtre

Tessa is a recipient of the Hunt family Award, the 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and has also received a career grant from Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts. She was Silver Medalist in the 9th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis and winner of the 2012 Naumburg International Violin Competition. In 2020, she was nominated for a GRAMMY Award in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category. 2023-24 season highlights include the world premiere of Carlos Izcaray’s Violin Concerto and concerts with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker. More details can be found on her website.

 

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Photo credit: Titilayo Ayangade

Tesla Quartet | 2012 Grand Prize Winner

Tesla Quartet won second prize at the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition. They also won the R.S. Williams Haydn Prize & the Canadian Commission Prize. More details can be found here. Bravo!

 

Boris Allakhverdyan

Boris Allakhverdyan | 2007 Grand Prize Winner | Prima Trio| www.primatrio.com

Congratulations to clarinetist Boris Allakhverdyan of the Prima Trio on his appointment as Principal Clarinet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Learn more on his website.

 

Chamber On The Mountain | Zora String Quartet | Sunday, May 6, 2018

Zorá String Quartet | 2015 Grand Prize Winner | www.zorastringquartet.com

Zorá String Quartet was be the String Quartet in Residence at Curtis Institute of Music 2016-2018. They were mentored by their renowned faculty including Shamuel Ashkensasi, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, and Peter Wiley. They also worked closely with Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Curtis 20/21 Contemporary Music Ensemble and Curtis’s Community Artists Program during their residency.

 

Photo credit: Anastasia Chernyavsky

Anastasia Dedik | Prima Trio | 2007 Grand Prize Winner | www.anastasiadedik.com

Anastasia Dedik, pianist of Prima Trio, released a new CD on September 16, 2015. Included on the CD are Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky and Concert Suite from the ballet The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky.

 

Calidore String Quartet | 2011 Grand Prize Winner | www.calidorestringquartet.com

UPDATE #4: Highlights of the 23-24 season include return appearances at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and People’s Symphony in New York as well as concerts in Seattle, Palm Beach, Ottawa, Toronto, Kalamazoo and a European tour of United Kingdom, Estonia and Germany. Calidore is set to release the complete Beethoven’sString Quartets for Signum Records in the 24/25 season. Volume I, containing the late quartets, was released in 2023 to great critical acclaim.

UPDATE #3 (August 2016): Calidore has been selected as BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist. Over the next 2 seasons, they will produce several recordings for the BBC which will air internationally on BBC broadcasting. In addition, they will perform in many of the major venues & festivals in the UK. More info can be found here. 

UPDATE #2: Calidore has had a busy summer of 2015! They returned to Innsbrook Institute, debuted at East Neuk Festival in Scotland, performed at ChamberFest in Ottowa, and performed at Avery Fisher Hall in New York. Full details here. UPDATE #1: On March 31, 2015, Calidore String Quartet joined the roster Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two! This exciting new venture will begin in the 2016/2017 season.

 

Photo credit: Amanda Westcott

Julio Elizalde | New Trio | 2008 Grand Prize Winner | juliothepianist.com

Since 2014, Julio has served as the artistic director of the Olympic Music Festival near Seattle, Washington. In 2013, he served as a visiting professor of piano at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington and has given piano and chamber music masterclasses throughout the United States at major conservatories and universities. He has also appeared at various summer music festivals including Yellow Barn, Taos, Caramoor, Bowdoin, Kneisel Hall, and the Music Academy of the West. In 2012, Julio was the youngest juror ever selected at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

 

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Photo credit: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

Jasper String Quartet | 2008 & 2009 Senior String Division Silver Medal | 2016 Ann Divine Educator Award Recipient | www.jasperquartet.com

A recipient of Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award (2012), the Quartet’s playing has been described as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling” (The Strad). The ensemble has released eight albums, including its most recent release, Insects and Machines: Quartets of Vivian Fung (2023) which Strings Magazine praised as being “intensely dramatic throughout demonstrating both their advocacy of new music and their transcendent mastery.” The Quartet’s 2017 release, Unbound, was named by The New York Times as one of the year’s 25 Best Classical Recordings.

The Quartet will release new recordings in 2024 and 2025, including Reinaldo Moya’s Pájaros Garabatos with soprano Maria Brea in 2024, works by Tina Davidson with pianist Natalie Zhu in 2024, and Richard Festinger’s Quartet No. 5 in 2025. In celebration of its Twentieth Anniversary in 2026-27, the Quartet has commissioned new works from composers Patrick Castillo, Brittany J. Green, Reinaldo Moya and Michelle Ross.

The Quartet is the Professional Quartet-in-Residence at Temple University’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians and is also Director of the annual Saint Paul Chamber Music Institute. The Quartet is Artistic Director of Jasper Chamber Concerts, a series in Philadelphia dedicated to encouraging curiosity, community, and inclusivity through world-class chamber performances. With decades of experience in designing and presenting educational programs, the Quartet added its Community Connections program to the series in 2023, which brings performances to underserved schools and community centers throughout the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area. Additionally, the Quartet continues its residency at Arlington High School in New York State, now in its fourteenth year.

Andrew Wan | New Trio | 2008 Grand Prize Winner | www.andrewviolin.com

Andrew Wan was named the Musician-in-Residence at Cecilia Concerts. Additionally, his recording of Robert Schumann’s Sonatas for Piano and Violin with Canadian pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin nominated for a 2023 ADISQ Felix Award for Album Of the Year – Classical. Wan enjoys a deep collaborative relationship with Richard-Hamelin, silver medalist of the 17th Chopin International Piano Competition, with whom he has recorded all ten Beethoven sonatas for piano and violin.  Their second album of Beethoven’s 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Sonatas garnered the 2022 Juno award for Best Classical Recording for Small Ensemble.  Their next recording featured the sonatas for violin and piano by Robert Schumann, released in the fall of 2022.

He is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, and concertmaster.  In August of 2008, he was named concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (MSO), making him one of the youngest leaders of a major symphony. His relationship with the orchestra began with performances of Elgar’s Violin Concerto, which were hailed as one of the top two musical moments of 2007 by La Presse.

As soloist, he has appeared in the United States, China, New Zealand, Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Switzerland, and Canada under conductors such as Jean-Claude Casadesus, Maxim Vengerov, Peter Oundjian, Jacques Lacombe, James DePreist, Marc Piollet and Michael Stern.  In May of 2012, he closed the MSO’s inaugural season in the Maison Symphonique with Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto, conducted by music director Kent Nagano, and on their tour of South America in April of 2013, he performed as soloist and concertmaster in Ravel’s Tzigane and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.  This season marked the world premiere of a work commissioned for him and the MSO – Les mouvements de l’âme, by Serge Arcuri, and in November of 2014 he will record all three violin concerti of Saint-Saëns with the OSM and Music Director Kent Nagano under the Analekta label. 

Mr. Wan has concertized extensively throughout the world, appearing in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, Jordan Hall and Salle Gaveau with artists such as the Juilliard Quartet, the Sejong Soloists, the Vadim Repin, Gil Shaham, Menaham Pressler, and Cho-Liang Lin.  He frequently serves as guest concertmaster for several North American orchestras and has appeared as artist and faculty at the St. Prex, Seattle, Edinburgh, Olympic, Agassiz, La Jolla, Aspen, and Orford Music Festivals.  Discography includes Grammy and Juno award-nominated releases on the Onyx, Bridge, and Naxos labels with James Ehnes and the Seattle Chamber Music Society, the Metropolis Ensemble, and the Opus-award winning New Orford Quartet.

Mr. Wan is currently on violin faculty at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University as well as the Orford Music Festival.

Are you a Fischoff alum? We want to hear from you! Email us at fischoff@fischoff.org