Axiom Brass Takes First Prize in the 2012 Prize of the European City Passau International Competition for Brass Instruments.

From their web site, axiombrass.com 

2012-11-06

"We are very proud to announce that this past week, Axiom Brass stood out among ensembles from 8 different countries to win the Prize of the European City Passau International Competition for Brass Instruments! In the 22 years of the competition, we have become the first group from the USA to win the top prize. Among many wonderful and appreciative comments, Axiom Brass was described by one juror as "five soloists having conversation". With this recent win, Axiom has now collected seven prizes at some of the most prestigious chamber music competitions in the USA and around the world. None of this would have been possible without the support of our families, mentors, friends and fans. Thank you to all of you that continue to believe on us!"

The group receives a monetary award and the opportunity to return to Germany in 2014 to perform in the Passau festival and elsewhere in Bavaria. On Saturday, January 19—as part of CMA’s 35th National Conference—Axiom Brass will perform in a Tribute Concert honoring the American Brass Quintet. (Symphony Space, 95th Street and Broadway, 7:30 p.m.)

News from Chamber Music America features Attacca Quartet, Plowman '07!

Congratulations to AEOLUS QUARTET (Plowman '10 & '11), the 2013 Fischoff Educator Award recipient! 

Also congratulations to AMPHION STRING QUARTET (Plowman '10 & '11) and AXIOM BRASS (Plowman '10 & '11), who will be featured at the 2013 Chamber Music America Conference in New York City.

The application revision has to do with a typographical error on the original PDF under eligibility - "Under age 36 before April 6, 1977" should be "2013," and has been corrected on the revised PDF. My apologies for the error!

Application, along with Instructions and Requirements PDF are posted now on our web site under "Application." If you have any problems downloading, just let me know. 

Thank you for your patience as you wait for the PDF application to be posted. There are many technical changes from 2011, and I am still working to see how we could try to accept your application materials online. With Dropbox and Paypal capabilities, I will likely be able to offer options so that you do not have to spend much on shipping. Hopefully 1 more week will allow me to post the completed application form! 

With thanks, Ayako

CONGRATULATIONS to Aeolus Quartet! ~ Recipient of the 2012 John Jad Prize awarded by the St. Lawrence String Quartet ~

from http://slsq.com/news/st-lawrence-string-quartet-awards-aeolus-quartet-its-2012-john-lad-prize

' The St. Lawrence String Quartet, Stanford’s Grammy-nominated resident ensemble, has awarded the Aeolus Quartet its 2012 John Lad Prize.  Presented in collaboration with Stanford Live and Vancouver's Music on Main series, the award includes invitations from both organizations to perform during the 2013-14 season.
    Currently the Graduate Fellowship String Quartet at the University of Maryland, the Aeolus Quartet studied with the St. Lawrence this past summer during the SLSQ’s Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford.  The Aeolus was also the 2012 Quartet in Residence with Stanford’s Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY).  “After this year’s seminar the Aeolus Quartet was unanimously nominated,” says the SLSQ’s violist and co-founder Lesley Robertson. “The award recognizes the Aeolus for their already high level of musicianship and also for the passion, the dedication, and the great generosity of spirit, they have demonstrated en route to becoming true ambassadors of chamber music.”
    Now in its second year, the Lad prize is named in honor of the SLSQ’s dear friend John Lad (Stanford ’74), a violist and ardent chamber music lover who passed away in 2007. He was a decades-long practitioner of Tai Chi, a regular lecturer in Philosophy and at the time of his death was teaching Tai Chi in the physical education department at Columbia/Barnard University.
    The SLSQ was initially introduced to Lad when they were preparing R. Murray Shafer's String Quartet no. 6 (“Parting the Wild Horses Main”), a composition which combines string quartet with the movements of Tai Chi.  He went on to perform and tour with the ensemble across North America and Europe for several seasons, and eventually joined each summer for their Chamber Music Seminar.  Lad quickly became a fixture at the seminar playing viola in an assigned group, leading early morning Tai Chi classes in Braun Courtyard, playing a Tai Chi based ball toss game with an eager participant, then reading chamber music late into the night.
    “John Lad's passion for playing string quartets was addictive,” says SLSQ co-founder and first violinist Geoff Nuttall. “His devotion to music against all odds and his total lack of ego are both qualities that are crucial to the success of any young string quartet. His spirit lives on strongly in our memory and at the seminar.  I wish John could hear and play with the Aeolus.  He would be honored to have them win a prize in his name!” 

THE AEOLUS QUARTET
Praised by Strad Magazine for their “high-octane” performance, the Aeolus Quartet – violinists Nicholas Tavani and Rachel Shapiro, violist Gregory Luce, and cellist Alan Richardson – has been awarded prizes at nearly every major competition in the United States, and performed across the globe to great acclaim.  Recently, the Aeolus Quartet was the Young Quartet-in-Residence at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Vail, CO.  Summer 2010 also included performances at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, the Perlman Music Program, the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, the St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar and the Sunflower Music Festival. The Quartet has participated in the Aspen Music Festival's Center for Advanced Quartet Studies, the Young Quartet-in-Residence Program at the Pine Mountain Music Festival and the Jeunesses Musicales International Chamber Course in Weikersheim, Germany. '