A new, progressive, Cincinnati-based competition for all composers.
Leader
Liam Battle
Location
3301 Price Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45205
The Antigone String Quartet is a quartet based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They have been studying at the University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music with the internationally renowned Ariel Quartet since 2020. In the past members of the quartet have received coachings and masterclasses from members of the Calidore String Quartet and the Emerson String Quartet. Recently, the Antigone Quartet worked with the members of the Miro Quartet at a public masterclass at the Ascent International Music festival.
The Antigone String Quartet was a prize winner in the 2022 CCM Chamber Music Competition and a finalist in the inaugural Glass City Chamber Music Competition.
Recent highlights of the Antigone String Quartet include a residency at the Southern Illinois Music Festival where they toured Southern Illinois with a program of Haydn, Walker, Mendelssohn, and Schubert. This past summer the Antigone String Quartet was also part of the resident ensemble at Musica Malicorne, a part of the larger festival Musica le Mans, where they performed a chamber reduction of Carmen as well as multiple chamber galas at the historic Chateau de Malicorne-sur-Sarthe.
Our mission is to commission and perform new works for string quartet. The Antigone Quartet Prize functions in two parts. First, the Antigone Quartet chooses a professional composer to receive a string quartet commission in response to a certain prompt. After deciding on the composer and the prompt, the Antigone Quartet will open up a call for scores to any composers to also respond to the prompt. Both quartets will be performed and recorded by the Antigone Quartet.
Our first composer is the fantastic Nic Bizub. Nic's prompt is a poem of his own. This poem will serve as the basis for both his commission, and the quartets submitted for the call for scores, from which the Antigone Quartet will choose one to perform and record.
The first step of this project is opening up the call for scores. This will help spread word about our project and help raise funds. Once we have raised enough money, we can commission Nic for his new work and begin the selection process.
Our inaugural Antigone Quartet Prize concert will be at ARCO Cincinnati in July of 2023. ARCO Cincinnati is a major supporter of the project.
A major part of the work of the Antigone Quartet is bringing underrepresented voices to the forefront of classical music. One of the best ways to do this is by inspiring composers of all backgrounds to write music that we can perform. Through this project, we can generate new works from composers who we have grown to love and from composers we have never heard of.