20th Anniversary Competition Events
Junior Division - April 12, 2025
Senior Division - April 26, 2025
2019 Prizewinners
BEAR QUARTET
GOLD MEDALISTS
Rachel Call, violin (Provo, UT)
Ellen Hayashi, violin (Salt Lake City, UT)
Abby Smith, viola (Riverton, UT)
Benson Marshall, cello (Lehi,UT)
The BEAR Quartet is part of the chamber program at the Gifted Music School Conservatory in Salt Lake City and is coached by Eugene Watanabe (Founder and Artistic Director, GMS), Anne Francis Bayless (Fry Street Quartet) and Rainer Eudeikis (Utah Symphony). Formed in the fall of 2017, the quartet takes its name from an acronym of its member’s names: Benson Marshall, cello, Ellen Hayashi, violin; Abby Smith, viola; and Rachel Call, violin. In 2018, the quartet took the bronze prize at the St. Paul String Quartet Competition and was the gold prize winner at The Pasadena Conservatory of Music Chamber Music Competition in California and the WDAV Young Chamber Musicians’ Competition in North Carolina. Recently, the quartet was awarded first prize in the ENKOR International Chamber Music Competition and performed on NPR’s “From the Top” (Show #367), to be broadcast April, 2019.
2019 SPSQC Program Book
THE RADER QUARTET
SILVER MEDALISTS & HAYDN PRIZE
Theo Brockhorst, violin (Richmond Heights, VA)
Ethan Mayer, violin (St. Louis, MO)
Molly Prow, viola (Kirkwood, MO)
Alec Cho, cello (Chesterfield, MO)
The Rader Quartet is a chamber group of the Preparatory Program of the Community Music School of Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. Co-sponsored by Chamber Music Society of St. Louis, the members are Theo Bockhorst and Ethan Mayer, violins, Molly Prow, viola, and Alex Cho, cello. All four members are title chair holders in the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, and have won numerous prizes and awards as soloists with community and regional orchestras. They are coached by Kurt Baldwin of the Arianna Quartet, and Preparatory Program Artistic Director Vera Parkin. This year they have played in masterclasses with the Jasper Quartet and with Meg Freivogel of the Jupiter Quartet. They have performed many acts of public service together, given prelude performance on a professional concert series, performed with conductor Leonard Slatkin, played gigs and eaten a lot of sushi and Korean barbecue for quartet bonding.
NOVA STRING QUARTET
BRONZE MEDALISTS
Irina Casanovas, violin (Evanston, IL)
John Heo, violin (Northbrook, IL)
Zechariah Mo, viola (Rolling Meadows, IL)
Cameron Chiu, cello (Palatine, IL)
The Nova String Quartet is comprised of Irina Casasnovas and John Heo, violin; Zechary Mo, viola; and Cameron Chiu, cello. All four students are Fellows at the Music Institute of Chicago Academy, a pre-college training program for gifted musicians. The quartet is coached by artist faculty member Mathias Tacke. The quartet members have individually won regional, national, and international competitions, and have been participants of numerous music events and festivals. Nova is Latin for “new”. While classical music is often stereotyped as old or outdated, the quartet strives to deliver a fresh or new perspective through their playing, especially for listeners of their age.