This is our final week of summer festival music! We started with a Canadian jazz festival and we will end with a chamber music festival held in Canada: the Banff String Quartet Festival.
The Festival is an outcome of the wildly successful Banff String Quartet Competition, which started in 1983 to honor the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Banff Center. The competition takes place every three years (this week’s playlist includes music from the last competition, in 2016), and the Festival grew up in the years between the competition, in order continue the teaching and collaboration among the quartets.
Some of the best young quartets from around the world have participated in the festival in order to prepare for the competition, and then participate in the festival to continue to train and encourage others.
The Rolston Quartet were the 2106 winners, and this week’s playlist includes their performance, along with two of the other finalists. If you want to attend the festival, plan to get your tickets early…the festival has sold out in advance for the past few years.
The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity