Pravoslav Kohout won the prize of the city of Tournai for his quartet
The Czech composer won the Proquartet competition thanks to the popularity of his composition among listeners
Proquartetto European string quartet festival is already taking place in the Belgian city of Tournai at the turn of 2022 and 2023 for the twenty-first time. This year, however, it is not just about the interpretation, the festival program the composition competition also enriched it. It took place at the end of min. of the year and this year on February 18 the awards will be presented. Among those who impressed with their composition for the quartet is i Czech composer and violinist Pravoslav Kohout. His quartet won the audience award – the price of the city of Tournai.
The aim of the Belgian international music composition competition Proquartetto is enrich the repertoire of modern string quartets and to encourage composers to tackle this prestigious and challenging genre of chamber music.
The competition was open to candidates of all nationalities without age restriction and free of charge. Only composers could participate by presenting a string quartet lasting 10 to 20 minutes. However, the composition was not yet allowed to be published and also had to be new to the Belgian audience. It must therefore never have been performed in Belgium before. The competition was anonymous, so the work could not contain the name of the author, but it could have a title or bet marked with some motto.
It was presented to an expert jury and also to a jury of listeners 76 works by composers from 31 countries. The expert jury was made up of Claire Bourdet, Jean-Luc Fafchamps, Martin Loridan and Benoît Mernier.
The names of the winners were finally announced only these days. Andrey Portery from Italy won the Proquartetto 2022 Grand Prize for the Neadar Willbring Quartet – a prize from the Lemay Fund. Fantasy in 8 miniatures by Simon Thierrée from Belgium was awarded the Brussels Walloon Federation Prize. The audience prize, i.e. also the prize of the city of Tournai, was won by Pravoslav Kohout’s composition for the Reflexe quartet.
Award-winning composers will also be able to listen to their works together with the audience at the competition’s award ceremony on Saturday February 18, 2023 at 7 p.m. in the Salon de la Reine at the Hôtel de Ville in Tournai.
Photo: Profimedia