Application Period: September 1–December 15, 2025
Live Final Round Weekend: April 11–12, 2026
Previous Competition Winners from 2024
Lerman Gold Prize: Amara Trio
Silver Prize (TIE): PULSE and Hesper Quartet
Audience Choice Prize: PULSE
Amara Trio
The Amara Trio was formed at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival during the summer of 2023, and began its musical journey studying Schubert’s B-flat Trio. What ensued was some of the most meaningful artistic and personal experiences of their lives, stemming from a deep love both for the music they played and for each other, and from the unbridled joy found in sharing this with those around them.
Since Kneisel Hall, The Amara Trio has performed in venues including Prior-Jollek Hall in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands and Paul Hall at the Juilliard School. The trio is extremely passionate about community engagement and they often share their love of music in the Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York and multiple retirement homes around the New York and New Jersey areas. Upcoming performances include a trio recital at the Juilliard School and performance at Alice Tully Hall.
The Amara Trio is continuing their studies at the Juilliard School as an Honors Chamber Group, under the guidance of Laurie Smukler and Joel Krosnick.
Hesper Quartet
The Hesper Quartet is a Korean-American string quartet that was formed in 2022 at the Emerson String Quartet Institute of Stony Brook University. Its members hold degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, Yale University, Stony Brook University, and Seoul National University.
The Hesper Quartet has performed at a variety of venues such as the Staller Center for the Arts, Capitol Theatre Windsor, and the JeJu Cultural Arts Center in South Korea. They have collaborated with a variety of renowned artists such as Peter Wiley, Hsin Yun Huang, and Chiho Han.
Last year, the Hespers enjoyed sharing music with the community at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Detroit. They performed Jordyn Davis’s Songs for Little Red Riding Hood at the children’s concert along with narration at the Bloomfield Township Public Library. They also shared live classical music with a yoga class and participated in a workshop at Wayne State University about nonverbal communication.
Notable achievements include winning first prize at the Fanny Mendelssohn International Competition, the Servaas Competition, and the Ackerman Chamber Competition.
“Hesper” means evening star, and like how each star in the night sky has its own story, the Hesper Quartet strives to tell the fascinating story of each work of music that they play.
Kodak Quartet
The award-winning string quartet, Kodak Quartet, is setting the world on fire with their passionate and energetic playing. They are highly regarded for their work with contemporary composers and for presenting traditional works with a contemporary flavor. Kodak Quartet formed in Rochester, NY while attending the Eastman School of Music and are currently based in New York, NY. Kodak’s members hail from the US, Canada and France.
The quartet won the first prize at the 2023 Frances Walton competition, and was honored with first prize and grand prize at the 2023 Coltman Chamber Music Competition. Their international performance career brings concerts to a great diversity of people, including concerts at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, the Banff Centre, and MISQA. They have appeared on KING-FM Classical Northwest and NPR Live Sessions. They have also performed for thousands of children at non-traditional performance venues such as schools, movie theaters, and other outreach programs such as Rob Kapilow’s “What Makes it Great?”
Kodak Quartet has performed with GRAMMY-winning artists Time for Three, Kronos Quartet, and JACK Quartet. They have worked with members of the Alban Berg, American, Beethoven, Danel, Juilliard, Pacifica, Verona, and Ying Quartets, among others.
(back row) Spencer Cox, Zachery Costello
PULSE
PULSE is an internationally award-winning saxophone quartet based in East Lansing at Michigan State University studying under Professor Joseph Lulloff. Their mission is to deliver a diverse range of repertoire that will engage and inspire any audience while breaking down the proverbial barrier between the audience and the performer. PULSE was artists in residence for the 2023 Manitou Music Festival in Glen Arbor, MI, and for the Interlochen Public Radio and the Sound Garden Project. Through the Sound Garden Project, PULSE worked to plant music in unexpected places and bring music outside of the concert hall to educate the community about diversity within classical music. PULSE has been recognized or achieved accolades in multiple competitions including the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, NOLA Chamber Music Festival Competition, Coltman Chamber Music Competition, Barbara Wagner Chamber Music Competition, and the International Music Competition.
PLUSE has a unique formation story as our quartet formed during the COVID-19 pandemic. During our first year, we lived together at Owen’s house. Not only did we grow close as a quartet, but bonded as great friends and value the time we spend together both on and off our instruments.
Trio Menil
Based in Houston, Texas, Trio Menil is a versatile ensemble at home in both the concert hall and classroom. The trio has performed in venues around North America, and has received the Grand Prize and Odyssey Chamber Music Series Award at the 2023 Plowman Chamber Music Competition. Trio Menil is part of DACAMERA’s Young Artist Program, where they present concerts in collaboration with art exhibitions, and teach music-integrative workshops in Houston public and private schools. This initiative has taken them everywhere from kindergarten classrooms to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Formed at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, the trio has worked with James Dunham, Paul Kantor, Jon Kimura Parker, Virginia Weckstrom, and Kathleen Winkler. Upcoming highlights include appearances at the Odyssey
Chamber Music Series, Aperio Houston and MD Anderson Concerts in the Park. During the 2024-2025 season Trio Menil will premiere a new work by Houston-based composer Nicky Sohn, funded by a grant from the Houston Arts Alliance. The trio is named after the Menil Collection, a museum and neighborhood of art in the heart of Houston, and shares the same mission to attract, educate, and inspire diverse audiences through art.
Click here to view the 10th Anniversary booklet.
