XIV International String Quartet Competition "Paolo Borciani Award"

Participation of quartets, composed of young talents, from all over the world.

The International Strings Quartet Competition "Premio Paolo Borciani" was created in 1987 by unanimous decision of the councillors of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and is dedicated to their famous fellow citizen, founder and first violin of the Quartetto Italiano.
Twenty years later, the event has now become one of the most prestigious competitions of the world, thanks also to the precious support of Max Mara.

Nine editions took place so far (1987, 1990, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011), only five of which have had a winner: the Keller Quartet in 1990, the Artemis Quartet in 1997, the Kuss Quartet in 2002, the Pavel Haas Quartet (Czech Republic) in 2005 and Bennewitz (Czech Republic) in 2008.
Their amazing career was launched by Premio Borciani, especially through the long tournées in Europe, United States and Japan, which are always offered to the winners as part of the First Prize.

The competition’s musical program has always included a new piece especially commissioned by the competition to the world’s most outstanding contemporary composers (Paolo Stroppa in 1994, Luciano Berio in 1997, Salvatore Sciarrino in 2000, Wolfgang Rihm in 2002, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies in 2005, Giovanni Sollima in 2008).
The pieces are performed as world première by the contestants during the competition. This characteristic of Premio Paolo Borciani underlines the commitment of the organizers to expand the repertory of music for string quartet.

Programma