PERFORMANCE TODAY Announces National Master Class for Contest for Young String Quartets 

American Public Media's Performance Today has partnered with the world-renowned Parker Quartet to offer an exciting national competition opportunity for young aspiring classical string quartets. Performance Today will award the winning quartet a Master Class with the Parker Quartet in APM's state-of-the-art Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Music Studio in St. Paul, Minnesota. The prize includes a CD recording of the class, as well as airfare and hotel accommodations.

The Parker Quartet was recently announced as the first-ever Artists-in-Residency for Classical Minnesota Public Radio, which is owned and operated by American Public Media. The internationally lauded string quartet features four of the fastest rising stars of the classical music world, with The New York Times calling them "something extraordinary", and The Washington Post declaring them "a quartet that deserves close attention." The Parker Quartet are winners of the First Prize and the Mozart Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet, and more recently the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award.

APM will judge all entries in the Master Class Competition. All contestants must be over 14 years of age and be attending high school or an undergraduate college program. Interested quartets are invited to send a CD recording to:
American Public Media
ATT: Parker Quartet Master Class Competition
480 Cedar St.
Saint Paul, MN 55101

CDs will not be returned and must be clearly marked with all of the following information: the words: "Parker Quartet Master Class Competition"; the string quartet's name; a contact's name along with his/her postal address, e-mail address, and phone number; and name(s) of musical work(s) performed. The CD must also be accompanied by a cover letter containing all of the above CD information, as well as: the name, address, age, and instrument of each performer and the name of each musical work performed, including composer, title, and movement information.

Entries must be received by American Public Media by April 1, 2010 to be included. All performances must be between 15 and 20 minutes long. At least two contrasting examples from different stylistic periods must be performed, and each selection must be on its own separate track on the submitted CD. The string quartet must own all rights to its performance on the CD. Entries with incomplete information will be disqualified. Each string quartet may only enter once; however, individual performers may participate in multiple string quartets. Multiple entries by the same string quartet will be disqualified.

For more information and contest specifications, visit www.performancetoday.org.

Performance Today, hosted by acclaimed classical music host and commentator Fred Child, is a unique celebration of today's art of classical music. The two-hour weekday program features classical music in concert from studios, festivals and concert halls across the nation and around the world, as well as classical music news, interviews and features from American Public Media studios. On any given day, listeners to Performance Today may hear performances from the great concert halls of New York, Prague, London, Berlin and Paris. For local broadcast times, visit performancetoday.org/stations.

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