This is the last reminder for the application procedure to the 2^nd International String Quartet Competition Bad Tölz 2026 – April 10^th to 15^th, 2026.

Please request your application form (if you have not already registered) by short mail before the deadline (October-15, 2025), e.g. at least one week earlier, so that you have enough time to fill in the required official electronic application form with the requested application data on time to competition@klangerlebnis-ev.de. 

Send your application filled-in and completed at the latest at October-15^th, 2025.

We look forward to receiving your application.

Invitationfor 2^nd international String Quartet Competition Bad Tölz 2026

Quartet members should not exceed the age of 35 years at the time of the competition, the total age must not exceed 128 years. The application period is October 15^th, 2024 to October 15^th, 2025. The 2^nd International String Quartet Competition Bad Tölz 2026 is announced globally at universities for music and at centers for higher string quartet education.

If you would like to apply, please send an email with short information upon your planned participation to competition@klangelebnis-ev.deprior to October 15^th, 2026. You will receive a link to your official electronic application form to be filled in with the requested application data (see enclosed application conditions). You must complete the official electronic application form and all attachments by October 15^th, 2025latest. Completed application form and all attachments will have be uploaded to our cloud storage system visible only to you and the jury members and administrator by using the link provided in the application form. This upload of completed application form and all attachments is your official application needed for subsequent review.

Applications will be reviewed by an international jury till January 2026.  Up to 10 excellent quartets will be invited for participation at the competition in Bad Tölz during April 10^th to 12^th.

Further information you will find at www.quartettissimo.de/competition-badtoelz-2026 especially in the sections Application procedure 2026 and Application conditions 2026. If you will have further questions, please contact competition@klangerlebnis-ev.de.

Competition key data

The prizes are a total of € 53.000, plus concert invitations and free career counseling by a prestigious artist agency. We are very pleased that the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam supports the Bad Tölz competition by inviting the 1^st winner of the 2^nd International String Quartet Competition Bad Tölz 2026 to the Amsterdam Biennale 2028. We are alo very pleased about the many other prizes:

–                   12.000 €: Susanne and Christoph Kessler Grand Prize for the 1. winner combined
   with the invitation to TÖLZ WINNERS´ SUMMIT 2027 and career counseling

–                   8.000 €: KLANGERLEBNIS e.V. Prize for the 2^nd winner

–                   4.000 €: Dr. Monika Panzer / KLANGERLEBNIS e.V. Prize for the 3^rd winner

–                   3.000 €: KLANGERLEBNIS Special Prize for the best interpretion of contemporary work

–                   3.000 €: String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam Special Prize for the 1^st winner represen-
   ted by invitation to a concert incl. accomodation and travel costs at the Biennale 28

–                   3.000 €: Boosey&Hawkes Special Prize for the best interpretion of a Winterberg string quartet

–                   1.000 €: Audience Award of the City of Bad Tölz

–                   8.000 €: GENUIN classics Special Prize for the recording of a classic album with subsequent worldwide
   digital release (non-cash-prize)

–                   4.000 €: Festival Uhlandshöhe Special Prize for the 1^st winner represented by invita-
   tion to a concert at Festival Uhlandshöhe July2026 (Stuttgart) (non-cash prize)

–                   4.000 € Oberstdorfer Musiksommer Special Prize for the 1^st winner represented by invita-
   tion to a concert at the Oberstdorfer Musiksommer July / August 2026 (non-cash prize)

–                   2.000 €: Esterhazy Special Prize for the best interpretation of a Haydn string quartet
  represented by the invitation for a concert to Schloss Esterhazy (non-cash-prize)

–                   1.000 €: Henle Urtext Special Prize:Music voucher for 1.000 € or10.000 credit
  (voucher of 2.500 for each quartet member) for the Henle Library App (non-cash prize)

Invitation: The 1^st winner will be invited to the 2^nd TÖLZ WINNER SUMMIT 2027 in Bad Tölz together with other 1^st winners of important string quartet competitions 2024/2025/2026 worldwide on January 17^th, 2027. 1^st winner shall give this event priority over any other engagements entered into either by the quartet itself or by its agent if there is one representative. This date has to be blocked in the calendar of the 1^st winner.

–                   Coaching: The 1^st winner will be coached by the concert agency Andrea Hampl Konzertdirektion,  Berlin (www.konzertdirektion.de) (career counseling)

Concerts of the three winning quartets will be presented right after the competition to a wider concert audience at April 13^th, 14^th and 15^th in 2026 with a full concert program.

Applications will be reviewed by an international jury till January 2026.  Up to 10 excellent quartets will be invited for participation at the competition in Bad Tölz during April 10^th to 12^th.

We are delighted that Krzysztof Chorzelski will be the chairman of the jury, founding member and viola player of Belcea Quartet, London, UK, as well as the following jury members: Mark Steinberg, Professor of Chamber Music at Manhattan School of Music, New York, USA and violinist in Brentano String Quartet, Yale, USA · Oliver Wille, Professor of Chamber Music at HMTMH, Hannover, Germany and violinist in Kuss Quartet, Berlin, Germany ∙ Jonathan Brown, Violist, Professor of Chamber Music at Colburn Conservatory and Colburn´s Music Academy, Los Angeles, USA · John Myerscough, violoncellist in Doric String Quartet, London, UK · Estelle Choi, violoncellist in Calidore Quartet, New York, USA · Andrea Hampl, Artist agent, Konzertdirektion Hampl, Berlin, Germany · Holger Busse, Sound engineer / Managing director GENUIN
classics, Leipzig, Germany.

Bad Tölz became a new center for international string quartets: In recent years we invited within the quartettissimo! concert series quartets from Europe, USA, Canada, Russia, South Korea and Israel: Quartets like Parker, Schumann, Dover, Doric, Zemlinsky, Brentano, Esme, Modigliani, Cremona, Van Kuijk, Marmen, Quiroga, Cosmos, Jerusalem, Rolston, Belcea, Borodin, Juilliard, Calidore, Meta4, NOVO, Escher, Pavel Haas and Amaryllis had been performing here. In January 2024 we presented the TÖLZ WINNERS´ SUMMIT 2024 with six 1^st winners of international competitions: the quartets Affinity, Barbican, Indaco, Isidore, Leonkoro and Chaos did play. Three concerts had been recorded and broadcasted by the German radio station Bayerischer Rundfunk in their program BR-KLASSIK. The next TÖLZ WINNERS´SUMMIT will take place at January 15-26, 2027.

More information about quartettissimo! concert series and the festival TÖLZ WINNERS´ SUMMIT you will find http://www.quartettissimo.de and http://www.quartettissimo.de/festival-toelz-winners-summit-2027 , see also http://www.quartettissimo.de/archiv-konzerte/archive-festival-toelzer-preistraeger-gipfel-2024.

KLANGERLEBNIS – non-profit association for the maintenance of music e.V.
In cooperation with the city of Bad Tölz

Dr. Christoph Kessler, Artistic Director