NOX Quartet, Comprising First-Year NEC Undergraduates, Wins Second Prize at Saint Paul String Quartet Competition
NOX Quartet, comprising NEC students violinists Ava Kenney ’27 and Eleanor Markey ’27, violist Yu-Heng Wang ’27, and cellist Ari Freed ’27, won second prize at the Saint Paul String Quartet Competition (SPSQC) on April 20. The renowned Heath Quartet judged the Senior Division's final round.
Since its founding in 2006, the SPSQC has garnered a national reputation for showcasing the nation's finest pre-college and college-age string players. Young Artists from this event populate the country's most prestigious conservatories and music programs, and several prizewinners are now members of internationally renowned chamber groups.
"We've worked really hard preparing the pieces we performed at the competition, and it's nice to see our hard work pay off," said Wang about the win. "I also had the realization that having something to say with the music is much more important than playing the right notes at the right time."
The quartet received coaching from NEC viola and chamber music faculty member Mai Motobuchi. “I am very proud of their hard work and commitment to each other to do better everyday, and am looking forward to their bright future ahead," said Motobuchi.
Markey, a former NEC Prep student and participant in Prep's Chamber Music Intensive Performance Seminar (CHIPS) program, cited her time in CHIPS as what solidified her love for chamber music. “It was really the CHIPS program that brought me from 'This is so fun, I never want it to end' to 'I have to do this forever,'” she said.
NOX Quartet members participated in a pre-competition interview with the competition's Artistic and Administrative Director, Ray Shows: