Animato Quartet wins 1st prize in the competition of the Irene Steels-Wilsing Foundation

On January 22, 2025, the 7th edition of the Irene Steels-Wilsing Foundation competition was held as part of the Heidelberger Frühling Streichquartettfest. The first prize was won by the Animato Quartetwhich was awarded an annual scholarship of € 12,000 (€ 1,000 per month). The ensemble has also been invited to take part in Streichquartettfest 2026. A total of eight ensembles competed in front of an audience at the Alte Pädagogische Hochschule Heidelberg, which were selected from 27 applications.

The second prize, endowed with €6,000, went to the Viatores Quartetwhile the third prize of € 4,000 went to the Nerida Quartet was awarded. The Audience Award, sponsored by Musikstiftung Heidelberg and endowed with €1,000, went to the Elaia Quartet.

Among the winners are familiar faces: Pieter de Koe, cellist of the Animato Quartet, and the Nerida Quartet have been part of the Festivalcampus-Ensemble in recent years and have performed their own concerts in re:start own concerts in the districts of Heidelberg.

The five-member jury consisted of SWR and WDR presenter Jörg Lengersdorf, Annette Walther from the Signum Quartet, Caspar Vinzens from the Aris Quartet, the solo cellist of the WDR Symphony Orchestra and former member of the Gemeaux Quartet Ulrich Witteler and violist and artistic advisor for the Streichquartettfest Irene Schwalb.

The biennial competition at Irene Steels-Wilsing Foundation was launched in 2012 and was initially based in Berlin. The foundation was established in 2011 and aims to promote young string quartets from Europe. Since 2018, the competition has been held as a prelude to the Heidelberger Frühling Streichquartettfest is held. Previous prizewinners include the Armida Quartet, Schumann Quartet, Aris Quartet and the Goldmund Quartet. The next competition will take place in 2027.