On the 140th anniversary of the birth of Béla Bartók, a commemoration of the milestone anniversaries of a career, of understanding, of love: László Vikárius, professor at the Liszt Academy of Music and head of the Bartók Archives of the Institute for Musicology, evokes our great predecessor.

World-renowned violinist András Keller, winner of numerous Hungarian and international prizes and founder of the Keller Quartet, joins the jury of this year’s round of the Bartók World Competition for string quartets.

The 33-year-old Okamoto Sinshuke won first prize at the Bartók World Competition for Composers in 2020, and his work will be included in the programme of the 2021 contest for string quartet ensembles. Applications for next year's round of the Liszt Academy's internationally acclaimed event can be submitted starting from 15 December 2020.

This time around, the Liszt Academy invited composers to submit entries for this year's round of the Bartók World Competition, with works written for string quartet. A record number of 348 valid applications were submitted from 59 countries by the official deadline. The final result of the competition will be announced at the gala event scheduled for November 28.

With top awards from over 20 international piano competitions to his credit,  Russian-born Alexandre Moutouzkine, who now lives and teaches in New York and is a member of the jury for the competition, will contribute to the decision on which young talent is to be the winner. A lecturer at the Manhattan School of Music, he admits that discovering Bartók’s universe is an experience beyond description to a performing artist.