The Telegraph Quartet, of Conservatory alumni violinists Eric Chin (2008) and Joseph Maile (2012), violist Pei-Ling Lin (2012), with cellist Jeremiah Shaw, won the Grand Prize and Gold Medal in the Senior String Division at the 2014 Fischoff Competition, May 9-11, in South Bend, Indiana.
The group bested 48 ensembles from around the world to win the country’s largest chamber-music contest. They receive $11,000 in prize money and will perform both in a winner's tour of the Midwestern U.S. this fall and at Italy’s Emilia Romagna Festival in 2015.
The Telegraph Quartet’s victory at Fischoff marks the third time in three months Conservatory alumni have taken top honors in major national and international competitions. In March, soprano Julie Adams (2013) won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions; in February, pre-college alumnus Stephen Waarts won first prize in the senior division of the Menuhin International Violin Competition, while current student Alex Zhou took fourth place as the youngest finalist to compete in the junior division.
Two members of Telegraph Quartet recently graduated with Artist Certificates from the Conservatory’s graduate program in chamber music. Pei-Ling Lin was a student of Jodi Levitz and Joseph Maile studied with Ian Swensen. Both currently serve on the faculty of the Conservatory’s Pre-College Division. Eric Chin also studied violin with Swensen and holds a B.M. from the Conservatory.