Banff International String Quartet Festival Announces 2024 Program

Presenting concerts with competition alumni alongside renowned artists, this year’s edition will be held from August 30 to September 1, 2024

Canada’s Banff International String Quartet Festival (BISQFest) was founded in 2017, following the success of the triennial Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC).

Led by its director Barry Shiffman, BISQC 2024 will be held across three days from August 30 to September 1, 2024, at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in the Rocky Mountains of Banff, Alberta. 

The immersive event will comprise live concerts, artists’ talks with Time’s Echo author Jeremy Eichler, and masterclasses with violinist James Ehnes.

Featured performers at BISQFest 2024 include Barry Shiffman, James Ehnes, Ehnes Quartet, VC Artist Isidore String Quartet, VC Artist Viano Quartet, Cheng² Duo, Israeli Chamber Project, Andy Milne, Jeremy Eichle, Adrian Fung, Robert Uchida, and David Harrington of the Kronos Quartet.

The program includes works by Sibelius, Grieg, Bruch, Bach, Elgar, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Debussy, Strauss, Barber, Schumann, Dinuk Wijeratne, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Andy Milne, plus quartets from Kronos Quartet’s 50 for the Future project by Nicole Lizee, Missy Mazzoli, Rhiannon Giddens, Tanya Tagaq, and Wu Man.

Following a fast sell-out of ticket packages, a limited number of individual concert tickets have become available starting June 12, 2024. The festival schedule and ticket booking forms can be found here.

“We're excited about the overwhelming response to our packages, and we're nearly sold out, but you can join the waitlist!” the event organizers wrote on Facebook. “Our team is working hard to accommodate as many package buyer requests as possible, so be sure to submit your booking request form to be put in priority sequence.”