2025 CAG Louis and Susan Meisel Competition
MEET THE 2025 WINNER
Cerus Quartet
Founded in 2020, the Cerus Quartet focuses on showcasing the dynamic, versatile sound worlds of the saxophone quartet, programming everything from contemporary compositions to transcriptions of traditional repertoire.
Demonstrating a strong commitment to collaborating with diverse contemporary composers, Cerus has premiered new works by Karalyn Schubring, Jennifer Higdon, and Joey Karz, with an exciting new piece by Ryan Lindveit forthcoming. The quartet was awarded gold medal in the 2025 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, First Prize in the 2024 MTNA National Chamber Music Competition, and First Prize and Michigan Prize in the 2023 Briggs Chamber Music Competition.
2025 CAG-YCAT Competition
MEET THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER
Samrat Majumder, guitar
Grand Prize winner of the 2025 CAG-YCAT Competition, Samrat Majumder is a Scottish-Indian classical guitarist. Internationally, Samrat has won several prizes in competitions across Europe. These include: 1st Prizes at Iserlohn; LIGITA; Baltic Guitar Festival; Harmonia Cordis; Twents; Aalborg and 2nd Prizes at Koblenz (including the Savarez Bach Prize); Groningen; Plovdiv; Sarajevo; Uppsala.
Currently studying Konzertexamen at the Robert Schumann Hochshule, Düsseldorf, Samrat also holds a MMus from Royal Conservatoire in the Hague (cum laude) and a BMus with First Class Honours from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.