LÉONIE SONNING TALENT PRIZE 2024
AKELA String Quartet was formed by four friends Clara Glasdam (violin), Gustav Ranum (violin), Kirsten Wilbrandt Kjær (viola) and Oskar Reuben Friis-Hansen (cello) in the autumn of 2019 before Covid-19 took hold and left the streets deserted. The four students at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, who have also played together in the Danish Youth Ensemble, took advantage of the lockdown to create their own little bubble and become even closer, further boosting the AKELA String Quartet.
Since then, they have only progressed, and in 2023 the quartet was selected to be part of MERITA, a European initiative that helps redefine concerts in collaboration with young international quartets. That same year, all members of the quartet received the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl Nielsen Talent Award, while in 2022 they won first prize in the LFN International Chamber Music Competition.
The money accompanying the Léonie Sonning Talent Prize is to be used for education in the form of masterclasses abroad, instruction with the Danish String Quartet, as well as for recording high-quality audition videos and other PR activities.
