Chamber music
PIANO 2027 – CHAMBER MUSIC
The Chamber Music Round is a captivating element of the competition, calling on pianists to demonstrate their musical versatility, their sense of musical dialogue, and their ability to adapt their playing to an intimate ensemble setting.
First introduced at the Concours in 2024, the Chamber Music Round returns in 2027, featuring Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 11, 12, 13, and 14 – works the composer himself arranged for piano and string quartet.
For this round, the Concours is delighted to welcome the Viano Quartet, one of today’s most outstanding and acclaimed young string quartets, to perform with each of the six finalists. This collaboration also allows the Concours to welcome back its brilliant 2019 Grand Laureate, violinist Hao Zhou, on the occasion of its 25th anniversary.
The Chamber Music Round permits the International Jury to assess the six finalists of the Concours 2027 on the particular expressive and technical challenges of the Classical repertoire, before the pianists move on to the Maison symphonique to perform a concerto with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.
The Chamber Music Round takes place over two sessions on Friday, April 30, at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at Bourgie Hall. The International Jury will select the winner of the Chamber Music Prize, a cash award valued at $2,500.
the VIANO QUARTET
Praised for their “virtuosity, visceral expression, and rare unity of intention” (Boston Globe), the Viano Quartet has quickly soared to international acclaim as one of the most dynamic and in-demand string quartets of its generation. Winners of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2025, the ensemble has captivated audiences worldwide ever since they were awarded First Prize at the 13th Banff International String Quartet Competition, with appearances at renowned venues such as the Lincoln Center in New York, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, Toronto’s Koerner Hall, Hong Kong’s City Hall, and London’s Wigmore Hall. The Viano Quartet are Bowers Program Artists at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for 2024-2027.
Highlights of the Viano Quartet’s 2026-2027 season include debut performances at Chamber Music Houston, Austin Chamber Music Center, Chicago Chamber Music Society, Montana Chamber Music, the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, the Los Angeles Music Guild, the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Coast Recital Society, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Schubert Club in St. Paul (Minnesota), and Chamber Music Charleston. The quartet also makes return appearances at Chamber Music Tulsa, Society of the Four Arts, Music at Evergreen in Baltimore, Cecilian Chamber Series, and a tour through Oregon with Chamber Music Northwest. The quartet looks forward to visiting residencies this season at the University of California Santa Barbara, Washington University in Saint Louis, the University of Victoria, Music in the Vineyards in Napa Valley, and Vancouver Academy of Music Chamberfest. This season also features exciting collaborations with pianists Sir Stephen Hough and Illia Ovcharenko, tenor Nicholas Phan, bassist Nina Bernat, and guitarist Jason Vieaux.
Equally committed to both beloved masterworks and contemporary repertoire, the Viano Quartet actively collaborates with today’s leading composers, including Sir Stephen Hough, Gavin Bryars, Kevin Lau, Chris Rogerson, and Caroline Shaw. In July 2026, they premiered a newly written string quartet by Indian American composer Reena Esmail.
The quartet’s recent discography highlights the ensemble’s considerable range across both traditional and modern repertoire. Their first full-length album, Voyager, was released in the summer 2025 on Apple Music’s Platoon label. Inspired by humankind’s enduring spirit of exploration that connects music and people across vast boundaries, the album features Beethoven’s Op. 130 alongside Alistair Coleman’s piece “Moonshot”. Gramophone praised the album as “a gripping voyage into the sublime.” Their debut EP, Portraits, was released in 2023 as one of the first albums launched on the Curtis Studio label, featuring works by Schubert, Florence Price, Tchaikovsky, and Ginastera.
Passionate about sharing their love for chamber music with the next generation of musicians, the quartet has worked with some of the most talented young artists at the world’s leading universities and music institutions, including Northwestern University, University of Buffalo, Music@Menlo Chamber Music Institute, the Colburn Academy, Duke University, and Indiana University South Bend. They have also collaborated with many of the world’s finest artists, including Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnatan, Fleur Barron, Mahan Esfahani, Marc-André Hamelin, James Ehnes, Bridget Kibbey, Paul Neubauer, David Shifrin, and Pinchas Zukerman.
The Viano Quartet was formed in Los Angeles at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in 2015. Its members are Lucy Wang and Hao Zhou (violins), Aiden Kane (viola), and Tate Zawadiuk (cello) – Hao Zhou being also Grand Laureate of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2019. Each member of the quartet is grateful for the unwavering support from their mentors at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Colburn Conservatory, including members of the Dover, Guarneri, and Tokyo string quartets.
“Viano” symbolizes how the four individual instruments of a string quartet—each beginning with the letter “v”—work harmoniously as one, like a piano, creating a unified instrument called the “Viano.”
the ADMISSIBLE MOZART PIANO CONCERTOS
- Piano Concerto No. 11 in F major, K. 413
- Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414
- Piano Concerto No. 13 in C major, K. 415
- Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat major, K. 449
