Arete Quartet Wins the 15^th International Mozart Competition

The Arete Quartet, a string quartet formed by the graduates of the School of Music, won the 15^th International Mozart Competition which ended last February, in Salzburg, Austria. The Eden Quartet, which is also consisted of alumni of the School of Music, Jung Jueun (violin), Lim Dongmin (violin), Lim Jihwan (viola), and Jung Woochan (cello), placed third in the contest.

The Arete Quartet is a chamber music performer group made of alumni of K-Arts, Jeon Chae-an (1^st violin), Yu Dayoon (2^nd violin, guest member), Jang Yoonseon (viola), and Park Seonghyeon (cello). Formed in September 2019, the Arete Quartet unanimously passed the Kumho Young Chamber Concert audition. They debuted at the Kumho Art Hall Yonsei in September 2020. In the final competition round this time, the quartet played the string quartet KV 465 in C major “Dissonance” by W. A. Mozart and the string quartet No. 1 “Kreutzer Sonata” by L. Janacek, taking the first while winning the Best Interpretation for a Mozart String Quartet. The Arete Quartet won the contest second time for a string quartet from Korea after the Novus Quartet in 2014.

The International Mozart Competition takes place in Salzburg, Austria, the hometown of W. A. Mozart. While it is a triennial event, this year the event took place 5 years after the previous one due to the COVID-19 pandemic.