The Globe and Mail: “Nine string quartets have converged on the Banff Centre this week to compete for more than $100,000 in cash, concert dates, recordings and matched bows. We asked the Canadian contenders – the Afiara and Cecilia quartets – about the thrills and chills of the 10th Banff International String Quartet Competition.”

SignOn San Diego: “The Cecelia String Quartet, which completed the two-year artist-in-redisence program at San Diego State University’s School of Music and Dance last year, is a finalist in a prestigious international competition in Banff this week. But it is competing against the Hausmann Quartet, which just moved to San Diego to take over the artistic residency.”

Calgary Herald: “‘If you like music, you’re going to love this,’ says Barry Shiffman. That’s the way Shiffman, director of the prestigious event and its biggest one-man band, sees the triennial Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC), whose 10th edition gets underway Monday at the Banff Centre.”

Calgary Herald: “A nurturing spirit is not what you would ordinarily associate with a music competition.

“But then, the Banff International String Quartet Competition, worth a cool $100,000 in cash and prizes to the three top foursomes, is not your run-of-the-mill, win-or-lose, gimme-my-money-and-I’m-outta-here kind of musical contest.

“On the contrary, thanks to the vision of Tom Rolston — who, together with his wife Isobel, was the longtime founding architect of music programsat the Banff Centre — the prestigious Banff competition (BISQC, for short) has become as renowned for its generosity of purpose as for the generosity in the heft of its purse.”

CBC News: “Composer John Adams will be at the Banff Centre for the Arts in July to work with young artists and conduct two of his most popular works…. Banff will host several other high-profile musical guests this summer….”

CBC News: “Two Canadian finalists in Banff strings competition.”

LSM Newswire: “Canadian violinist, violist, and educator Barry Shiffman has been appointed Associate Dean of The Glenn Gould School and Dean of the Young Artists Performance Academy at The Royal Conservatory. He will begin his position on September 7, 2010.”

Edmonton Journal: “Influential workshop attracts some of the best talent from all over the world.”