Kállai String Quartet international success
The ensemble collected a silver medal as the best chamber formation at the Società Umanitaria international competition in Milan.
The Milan-based Società Umanitaria organized the competition for the 25th occasion between 16-28 November 2015. Leading academies from 39 countries in Europe delegated their own competitors, three per institution. The different instrumental soloists and chamber ensembles then competed against each other. Programmes had to be nearly an hour in length, with 15 making it into the final, where after an extremely close competition the Kállai String Quartet were just edged out by the Belarus student cellist from the Paris Conservatoire. Nevertheless, the silver medal also came with a €5000 cash prize and several concert invitations. The value of the award is all the greater because they were the only medal winning chamber ensemble among those that made it into the final.
Kállai String Quartet (photo: Liszt Academy / Barnabás Szabó)
Members of the quartet: Ernő Kállai, Géza Szajkó, Kálmán Szilveszter Dráfi, István Balázs; music coach: János Devich, professor emeritus. The general public have the opportunity of enjoying the excellence of the Kállai String Quartet on 3 May 2016 as part of the Liszt Academy Concert Centre’s Génie oblige! series when they play works by Mozart, Schubert and Mendelssohn on the stage of the Sir George Solti Chamber Hall.
Congratulations on the great achievement!