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The Novus String Quartet of four young musicians in their 20s won the 11th International Mozart Competition held in Salzburg, Austria on Feb. 5, a first for a Korean string ensemble. The Mozart Competition organized by Mozarteum University is considered one of the major international music competitions.

Violinists Kim Jae-young and Kim Young-uk, violist Lee Seung-won, and cellist Moon Woong-whee won the honor by playing Mozart’s String Quartet No. 16 in E flat major, K. 428, and other pieces. Since it was launched in 1975, the competition has been held every three to five years. The head of the judging panel of this year’s competition was Lukas Hagen, first violinist of the world-renowned Hagen Quartet.

The Mozart competition has been considered a springboard for gifted young musicians to a global career and fame. The Novus Quartet was founded in 2007 with graduates of the Korea National University of Arts한국예술종합학교. Since 2011, all four current members have been in the master’s degree course at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich.

As the winner of the first prize in the Mozart competition, the Novus Quartet received 20,000 euros (about W29.5 million) as prize money and will be on a concert tour of Europe under the sponsorship of the Impresariat Simmenauer, a world-renowned ensemble agency, in 2014 and 2015.