Conductor & Jury

Roberto Minczuk

CONDUCTOR, NEW MEXICO PHILHARMONIC MUSIC DIRECTOR

In 2017, GRAMMY® Awardwinning conductor Roberto Minczuk was appointed Music Director of the New Mexico Philharmonic and of the Theatro Municipal Orchestra of São Paulo.

He is also Music Director Laureate of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (Canada) and Conductor Emeritus of the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro). In Calgary, he recently completed a 10- year tenure as Music Director, becoming the longest-running Music Director in the orchestra’s history.

Highlights of Minczuk’s recent seasons include the complete Mahler Symphony Cycle with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra; Bach’s St. John Passion, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7, Beethoven’s Fidelio, Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Verdi’s La traviata, Bernstein’s Mass, and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier with the Theatro Municipal Orchestra of São Paulo; debuts with the Cincinnati Opera (Mozart’s Don Giovanni), the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and Daejeon Philharmonic in South Korea; and return engagements with the Orchestra National de Lille and the New York City Ballet. In the 2016/2017 season, he made return visits to the Israel Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Teatro Colón Philharmonic and Orchestra Estable of Buenos Aires.

A protégé and close colleague of the late Kurt Masur, Minczuk debuted with the New York Philharmonic in 1998, and by 2002 was Associate Conductor, having worked closely with both Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel. He has since conducted more than 100 orchestras worldwide, including the New York, Los Angeles, Israel, London, Tokyo, Oslo, and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestras; the London, San Francisco, Dallas, and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras; and the National Radio (France), Philadelphia, and Cleveland Orchestras, among many others. In March 2006, he led the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s U.S. tour, winning accolades for his leadership of the orchestra in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Until 2010, Minczuk held the post of Music Director and Artistic Director of the Opera and Orchestra of the Theatro Municipal Rio de Janeiro, and, until 2005, he served as Principal Guest Conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, where he previously held the position of Co-Artistic Director. Other previous posts include Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Ribeirão Preto Symphony, Principal Conductor of the Brasília University Symphony, and a six-year tenure as Artistic Director of the Campos do Jordão International Winter Festival.

Minczuk’s recording of the complete Bachianas Brasileiras of Hector Villa-Lobos with the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (BIS label) won the Gramophone award of excellence in 2012 for best recording of this repertoire. His other recordings include Danzas Brasileiras, which features rare works by Brazilian composers of the 20th century, and the Complete Symphonic Works of Antonio Carlos Jobim, which won a Latin Grammy in 2004 and was nominated for an American Grammy in 2006. His three recordings with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra include Rhapsody in Blue: The Best of George Gershwin and Beethoven Symphonies 1, 3, 5, and 8. Other recordings include works by Ravel, Piazzolla, Martin, and Tomasi with the London Philharmonic (released by Naxos), and four recordings with the Academic Orchestra of the Campos do Jordão International Winter Festival, including works by Dvořák, Mussorgsky, and Tchaikovsky. Other projects include a 2010 DVD recording with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, featuring the premiere of Hope: An

Oratorio, composed by Jonathan Leshnoff; a 2011 recording with the Odense Symphony of Poul Ruders’s Symphony No. 4, which was featured as a Gramophone Choice in March 2012; and a recording of Tchaikovsky’s Italian Capriccio with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, which accompanied the June 2010 edition of BBC Music Magazine. The Academic Orchestra of the Campos do Jordão Festival was the Carlos Gomes prizewinner for its recording from the 2005 Festival, which also garnered the TIM Award for best classical album.

Roberto Minczuk has received numerous awards, including a 2004 Emmy for the program New York City Ballet—Lincoln Center Celebrates Balanchine 100; a 2001 Martin E. Segal Award that recognizes Lincoln Center’s most promising young artists; and several honors in his native country of Brazil, including two best conductor awards from the São Paulo Association of Art Critics and the coveted title of Cultural Personality of the Year. In 2009, he was awarded the Medal Pedro Ernesto, the highest commendation of the City of Rio de Janeiro, and in 2010, he received the Order of the Ipiranga State Government of São Paulo. In 2017, Minczuk received the Medal of Commander of Arts and Culture from the Brazilian Government.

A child prodigy, Minczuk was a professional musician by the age of 13. He was admitted into the prestigious Juilliard School at 14 and by the age of 16, he had joined the Orchestra Municipal de São Paulo as solo horn. During his Juilliard years, he appeared as soloist with the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts series. Upon his graduation in 1987, he became a member of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra at the invitation of Kurt Masur. Returning to Brazil in 1989, he studied conducting with Eleazar de Carvalho and John Neschling. He won several awards as a young horn player, including the Mill Santista Youth Award in 1991 and I Eldorado Music. �

Olga Kern

PIANIST, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & PRESIDENT OF THE JURY

Russian-American pianist Olga Kern is now recognized as one of her generation’s great pianists.

She jumpstarted her U.S.A. career with her historic Gold Medal win at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas, as the first woman to do so in more than 30 years.

First-prize winner of the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition at 17, Ms. Kern is a laureate of many international competitions. In 2016, she served as Jury Chairman of both the Seventh Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition and the first Olga Kern International Piano Competition, where she also holds the title of Artistic Director. Ms. Kern frequently gives masterclasses, and since September 2017 has served on the piano faculty of the prestigious Manhattan School of Music. Additionally, Ms. Kern has been chosen as the Virginia Arts Festival’s new Connie & Marc Jacobson Director of Chamber Music, beginning with the 2019 season. For the 2019/20 season, Kern will perform with the Allentown Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, New Mexico Philharmonic, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, New West Symphony, and the São Paulo Symphony, as well as appearing on a United States tour with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. She is also the guest soloist at the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center for Leonard Slatkin’s 75th birthday celebration. She will appear in recitals in Orford, Sunriver, Fort Worth (Cliburn), Carmel, San Francisco, Sicily, Calvia, and Helsingborg. This October and November, Olga Kern will be hosting the Second Olga Kern International Piano Competition. This season, she will also be a part of the jury at the following piano competitions: Sydney International Piano Competition, Gurwitz International Piano Competition, Gershwin Piano Competition, Schumann Prize Competition, and the Scriabin International Competition.

In recent seasons, Kern performed with the Moscow Philharmonic, Santa Fe Symphony, and the St. Louis Symphony, as well as opened the Pacific Symphony’s 2018/19 season. Kern was also a featured soloist for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra during the 2018/19 tour. She also served as Artist in Residence for the San Antonio Symphony’s 2017/18 season and had her debut with the National Youth Orchestra on its China tour. Ms. Kern opened the Baltimore Symphony’s 2015/2016 centennial season with Marin Alsop. Other season highlights included returns to the Royal Philharmonic with Pinchas Zukerman and Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice with Giancarlo Guerrero.

Ms. Kern’s discography includes her Grammy-nominated recording of Rachmaninoff’s Corelli Variations and other transcriptions (2004), Brahms Variations (2007), and Chopin Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3 (2010). She was featured in the award-winning documentary about the 2001 Cliburn Competition, Playing on the Edge. olgakern.com �

David Earl

COMPOSER OF THE REQUIRED CONTEMPORARY PIECE & COMPETITION JURY

South African-born pianist and composer David Earl moved to London when he was 19, studying piano and composition at Trinity College of Music.

While there, he gave the first of a number of solo piano recitals at Wigmore Hall, as well as broadcasting live on BBC Radio 3. After seven years based in Oxford, he settled in Cambridge where for more than 20 years he has taught piano performing to undergraduates at Cambridge University, as well as supervising Tripos composition students. David’s professional career as a composer began in 1980 with the premiere of Chéri, commissioned by The Scottish Ballet and given at that year’s Edinburgh Festival. To date, there have been six more ballet commissions, including two for CAPAB Ballet—The Return of the Soldier and Abelard and Heloise—and a full-length Macbeth for Ballet de Santiago. Other compositions include concertos for piano, violin, cello, trumpet, clarinet, a two-piano concerto, and a double violin concerto; choral compositions; chamber and solo piano works; and music for film. One of his four operas, Strange Ghost, premiered in 2015 to mark the centenary of the death of Rupert Brooke. At present, work is in progress on a new opera about T. E. Lawrence. The CD of Cello Sonata No. 1 and the “Mandalas” Piano Suite received a Gramophone Editor’s Choice Rosette, and was nominated by International Piano magazine for best new music recording. davidearl-pianist.net �

Akemi Alink-Yamamoto

COMPETITION JURY

Akemi Alink-Yamamoto is a pianist, teacher, and jury member at international piano and chamber music competitions.

Akemi Alink-Yamamoto was born in Japan. From the age of three, she received music lessons, and two years later, she began taking piano lessons. Among her teachers were Junko Otake, Mitsuko Oguchi, Junko Yoshida, Dina Joffe, and Vadim Sakharov in Japan. In Russia, she had lessons with Pavel Egorov and Oleg Malov. In 2001, she moved to Europe, where she worked with Naum Grubert. She also took masterclasses with Lazar Berman, Victor Merzhanov, and Natalia Trull, amongst others.

Akemi won prizes in national and international piano competitions and played in important halls such as Suntory Hall and Tokyo Opera City Recital Hall. Since 2010, she plays regularly in Munetsugu Hall in Nagoya.

She plays solo repertoire and is also active in chamber music, as well as accompanying vocalists. Since 2012, she has given concerts with mezzo-soprano Stephanie Gericke in Europe and Japan. Apart from her performances, she is also busy as a piano teacher. Since 2013, she has been writing a series of articles entitled “Competition Reports From Across the World” for the monthly piano magazine Chopin in Japan.

Akemi Alink-Yamamoto is a Board member of the Alink-Argerich Foundation. She attended more than 100 competitions over the past 14 years. She has been a jury member at international piano and chamber music competitions in France, Lithuania, Brazil, and the USA, and she frequently gives advice to young pianists and competition organizers.�

Enrica Ciccarelli

COMPETITION JURY

Enrica Ciccarelli is a pianist, teacher, and Artistic Director of Fondazione La Società dei Concerti in Milano.

Following her debut in 1992 at the Salle Gaveau in Paris, Enrica Ciccarelli has performed with important European, Asian, and American orchestras, and she worked with numerous international musicians, including Salvatore Accardo, Pavel Kogan, Alexander Kniazev, Mariella Devia, Aldo Ceccato, Paul Badura-Skoda, Amarlli Nizza, Milan Hòrvath, Joseph Silverstein, Alexander Shelley, JoAnn Falletta, Pavel Berman, Claudio Scimone, and Toshiyuki Kamioka. Described by the press as a “soloist full of temperament,” Enrica has been invited to perform at the Festival de Radio France, the Festival Pianistico di Brescia e Bergamo, the Liubljana Festival, the International Chamber Music Festival in Cervo, the Festival de Montreux, and the Beijing International Piano Festival. She graduated from the “G. Verdi” Conservatory in Milan, where she also studied organ. She attended master classes with Pommier, Graf, Magaloff, Nikolajewa, and Sergiu Celibidache. Enrica has performed at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Salzburg Festspielhaus, Munich Herkulessaal, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Teatro Comunale in Florence, Teatro di San Carlo in Napoli, New York Carnegie Hall, Megaron Hall in Athens, Berlin Konzerthaus, Le Corum in Montepellier, Tonhalle in Zurich, Kiev Philharmonic Hall, Bruxelles Conservatoire and Bozar, City Hall in Hong-Kong, Seoul Arts Center, Auditorium Belgrano in Buenos Aires, Poly Theatre, Forbidden City Theatre, and the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing. Her discography contains amongst others recording of Clara and Robert Schumann piano concertos; works by Schumann, Beethoven, Weber, Schubert, and Mussorgsky; and the world-premiere recording of Pauline Viardot’s transcriptions of Chopin mazurkas for voice and piano. Her last album with Argentinian soprano Ivanna Speranza is dedicated to Francesco Paolo Tosti. Enrica Ciccarelli is Chairman and Artistic Director of Fondazione La Società dei Concerti in Milano.�

Vladimir Kern

COMPETITION JURY

Born into a family of musicians, Vladimir Kern is a pianist, trumpet player, and conductor.

At the age of six, Vladimir had already given his first public concert with an orchestra. He is the winner of the international charitable program “New Names,” and at the age of 13, he became principal trumpet of the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, the youngest musician to achieve this position in its history.

He studied at the Gnessin School of Music in Moscow, and then at the Moscow Conservatory. Kern has two Master’s degree diplomas—one in trumpet and one in opera-symphony conducting. He finished a postgraduate conducting program with legendary Russian conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

As a conductor, his debut took place in 1999 at the Moscow Conservatory with the ensemble “Exelente.” In his conservatory student years, he was a guest conductor of the Ryazan Philharmonic Orchestra (Russia), the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (South Africa), and he performed with many different orchestras all over the world as trumpet soloist.

Vladimir has performed with such orchestras as the Russian National Orchestra, the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, and the State Chamber Orchestra of Russia. He performed with great soloists such as Vladimir Krainev, Arthur Moreira Lima, Konstantin Orbelian, Robertino Loretti, and Olga Kern, among many others. He has participated in many prestigious festivals, including “The Moscow Autumn” in Moscow (Russia), and has also given many masterclasses all over Russia.

In 2005, in cooperation with his sister Olga Kern, he conducted Rachmaninoff’s four Piano Concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg (South Africa). In 2006, he was invited to be the music director at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts. He worked with the legendary Russian theater director Roman Viktyuk, where he performed productions of Fevei by Russian Baroque composer Vasily Pashkevich, Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica by Puccini, The Spanish Hour by Ravel, and The Human Voice by Poulenc. Vladimir has also written music to a play for a theatre production entitled Vasily Kariotsky.

Also in 2006, Vladimir made his United States conducting debut at New York’s Yamaha Concert Hall on Fifth Avenue. Vladimir also collaborated with the legendary Russian rock group “Revival” and conducted concerts with them and the symphony orchestra in Moscow stadium “Luzhniki” and in St. Petersburg stadium “October.”

In 2007, Vladimir conducted the world premiere of Revolution Square by American composer Nathan Scalzone in Durban (South Africa), a concerto for piano and orchestra by David Earl in Cape Town (South Africa), and recently performed the world premiere of Russian composer Boris Frankshtein’s Memoirs of the Fifth Point for soprano, baritone, and symphony orchestra.

In 2010, Vladimir won the Grand Prix at the International Competition “New Generation” in Russia.

He taught at the State Music Academy in Moscow, where he was professor of music, conducting, trumpet, and orchestra classes. He was head of the department of the orchestra, the opera, and the symphony orchestra. He has performed as an opera conductor for such operas as Eugene Onegin and Iolanta by Tchaikovsky, Cinderella by Massenet, and Cavaleria rusticana by Mascagni.

He is actively supporting modern Russian and international music and performs it often on many different stages all over the world.

He is involved with Vladimir Spivakov’s charitable foundation and also, since 2011, in collaboration with his sister Olga Kern, he founded the “Aspiration Foundation,” which helps and supports young talented musicians all over the world. In 2016, Vladimir was a member of the jury and conducted the New Mexico Philharmonic at the final round of the first Olga Kern International Piano Competition.

From 2016–2018, Vladimir was professor in Tianjin Normal University (China). He taught piano, symphony orchestra conducting, and chorus conducting. Also, he was the consultant at the Tianjin Conservatory for the chamber ensemble classes. He was the member of the jury at the Ferencz Liszt Piano competition in Tianjin (2018) and the Second International Music Competition in Serpukhov (Russia). In addition, he gave masterclasses in Tianjin, Xiamen, Inchen, Huizhou, Kunming.

From 2018–2019, he served as the vice director and conductor at the Art Music School under the name of Alexander Scriabin (Moscow, Russia).

His current position is professor of music at the Nanjing Sinohorn International Music School (Nanjing, China). �

Sebastian Lang-Lessing

COMPETITION JURY

German conductor Sebastian Lang- Lessing has been Music Director of the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra since 2010.

In the 2018/19 season, Lang-Lessing debuts with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and Odense Symfoniorkester, and he returns to the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy, and an immediate re-invitation with the Korean National Opera conducting Guillaume Tell. Highlights of the 2017/18 season include his debut with Korean National Opera conducting Manon, and a return to the Brevard Music Festival.

Lang-Lessing was Chief Conductor of the Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy and Artistic Director of the Nancy Opera, which, under his direction, was promoted to Opéra National de Lorraine. From 2004 until 2011, Mr. Lang-Lessing was Music Director of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, which grew to become one of the leading orchestras in the Pacific Rim. With this orchestra, Sebastian Lang-Lessing built a comprehensive, award-winning discography, especially of Classical and Romantic repertoire. He appears regularly as guest conductor with leading French orchestras including the symphony orchestras of Bordeaux and Toulouse, as well as with leading orchestras in North America such as the Vancouver, Cincinnati, and Milwaukee symphonies, and European orchestras including regular appearances with the Copenhagen Philharmonic and the symphony orchestras of Gran Canaria, Malaga, and Palermo.

Lang-Lessing, who received the Ferenc Fricsay Award when he was 24 years old, began his career at the Hamburg State Opera. Based on Sebastian’s work as assistant conductor to Gerd Albrecht in Hamburg, legendary stage director and opera manager Götz Friedrich engaged him as Resident Conductor at Deutsche Oper Berlin. Today, Sebastian Lang-Lessing regularly appears with the leading opera companies of the world, including those in Paris, Hamburg, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, Oslo, Copenhagen, and Stockholm. His operatic repertoire is exceptionally wide, with 75 works ranging from Baroque to contemporary opera.

Maestro Lang-Lessing led the Philharmonia Orchestra in the 2013 recording performance for Renée Fleming’s Guilty Pleasures album (Decca). Other notable recordings have included the complete symphonies of Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Schumann with the Tasmanian Symphony, and the sensational rediscovery of the works of Joseph-Guy Ropartz with the Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy. Late 2017 saw the release of the DVD of his critically acclaimed production of Der Rosenkavalier from the NCPA in Beijing, and of a Christmas CD with Pavel Sporcl and the Royal Liverpool Orchestra.

Lang-Lessing has been at the forefront of educational programming for classical music with a younger audience, an area in which he has shown great passion and commitment with orchestras throughout the world. �

Oleg Marshev

COMPETITION JURY

The British music magazine Gramophone reviewed Oleg Marshev’s recording of Prokofiev’s music and stated it was “one of the most authoritative and impassioned performances on disc so far.” His interpretation of Prokofiev’s Three War Sonatas was recently awarded the prestigious accolade “Classical CD Choice” against such competitors as Richter, Berman, and Ashkenazy.

Born in Baku, former USSR, Oleg Marshev trained with Valentina Aristova at the Gnessin School for Highly Gifted Children and with Mikhail Voskresensky at the Moscow Conservatory, where he completed his Doctorate in performance in 1988, gaining the diploma with honor. Marshev is thus a direct representative of the fifth generation of Russian pianism since Liszt, through Alexander Siloti, Konstantin Igumnov, and Voskresensky’s teacher, Lev Oborin. A resident of Italy since 1991, Marshev has received awards in several international piano competitions in Canada, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the USA, including four first prizes. The illustrious competition victories have confirmed the artist’s reputation as one of the most talented Russian pianists of his generation.

In 1991, he made his New York debut with a highly acclaimed recital at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. The following year, he appeared at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, which led to other invitations to perform at this prestigious hall. Since then, he has performed throughout the world from Canada to New Zealand, performing with such orchestras as the London Philharmonic and appearing at such important venues and festivals as Wigmore Hall of London; the A.B. Michelangeli Festival of Brescia-Bergamo, Italy; Ruhr Klavier Festival, Germany; and Festival at Roque d’Antheron in France.

In addition to his concert engagements, Oleg gives masterclasses in many different countries and is a professor at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz, Austria.

Oleg Marshev’s first recording project was the complete original works for solo piano by Prokofiev (five CDs) for Danacord Records. He has since recorded more than 35 CDs for the same label, featuring works by Schubert, Brahms, Strauss, Rubinstein, Rachmaninoff, and others. He has made the world premier recording of Emil von Sauer’s complete piano music in six volumes. Another result of the artist’s abiding interest in little-known or forgotten music is a recording of Danish romantic piano concertos in four CDs. Oleg Marshev is probably the first pianist ever to have recorded the complete works for piano and orchestra by the great Russian Four – Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich. In July 2014, two releases came out: the complete works of Chopin for piano and orchestra in two CDs and the complete works of Mendelssohn for piano and orchestra in four CDs.

All of Marshev’s recordings have received widespread critical acclaim by leading international publications. His Shostakovich concerti disc was reviewed by BBC Music Magazine: “Marshev is a phenomenon: master of every mood from strip-cartoon crispness to thundering monster, but above all a controlling sensibility of intelligence and feeling.” �

Awadagin Pratt

COMPETITION JURY

Among his generation of concert artists, pianist Awadagin Pratt is acclaimed for his musical insight and intensely involving performances in recital and with symphony orchestras.

Born in Pittsburgh, Awadagin Pratt began studying piano at the age of six. Three years later, having moved to Normal, Illinois, with his family, he also began studying violin. At the age of 16, he entered the University of Illinois where he studied piano, violin, and conducting. He subsequently enrolled at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he became the first student in the school’s history to receive diplomas in three performance areas—piano, violin, and conducting. In recognition of this achievement and for his work in the field of classical music, Mr. Pratt received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Johns Hopkins as well as an honorary doctorate from Illinois Wesleyan University after delivering the commencement address in 2012.

In 1992, Mr. Pratt won the Naumburg International Piano Competition and two years later was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Since then, he has played numerous recitals throughout the US, including performances at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, and the NJ Performing Arts Center. His many orchestral performances include appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra and the Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Baltimore, St. Louis, National, Detroit, and New Jersey symphonies among many others. Summer

festival engagements include appearances at Ravinia, Blossom, Wolftrap, Caramoor, and Aspen and the Hollywood Bowl. Internationally, Mr. Pratt has toured Japan four times and performed in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Israel, Columbia, and South Africa.

Recent and upcoming appearances include recital engagements in Baltimore, La Jolla, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Ravinia, Lewes, Delaware, Duke University, and at Carnegie Hall for the Naumburg Foundation; as well as appearances with the orchestras of Cincinnati, Indianapolis, North Carolina, Utah, Richmond, Grand Rapids, Memphis, Fresno, Winston-Salem, New Mexico, Rockford (IL), and Springfield (OH). He also serves on the faculty of the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he coaches chamber music, teaches individual pianists, and performs chamber music and concertos with the festival orchestra.

Also an experienced conductor, Mr. Pratt has conducted programs with the Toledo, New Mexico, Vancouver (WA), Winston- Salem, Santa Fe, and Prince George County symphonies, the Northwest Sinfonietta, the Concertante di Chicago, and several orchestras in Japan.

A great favorite on college and university performing arts series and a strong advocate of music education, Awadagin Pratt participates in numerous residency and outreach activities wherever he appears; these activities may include master classes, children’s recitals, play/ talk demonstrations, and question/answer sessions for students of all ages. He is also frequently invited to participate on international competition juries, such as the Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Israel, the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Minnesota e-Competition, the Unisa International Piano Competition, and the International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz in the Ukraine.

In November 2009, Mr. Pratt was one of four artists selected to perform at a classical music event at the White House that included student workshops hosted by first lady Michelle Obama, and performing in concert for guests including President Obama. He has performed two other times at the White House, both at the invitation of President and Mrs. Clinton.

Mr. Pratt’s recordings for Angel/EMI include A Long Way From Normal, an all-Beethoven Sonata CD, Live From South Africa, Transformations, and an all-Bach disc with the St. Lawrence String Quartet. His most recent recordings are the Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Piano with Zuill Bailey for Telarc and a recording of the music of Judith Lang Zaimont with the Harlem Quartet for Navona Records.

Mr. Pratt is currently a Professor of Piano at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. He also served as the Artistic Director of the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati and is currently the Artistic Director of the Art of the Piano Festival at CCM. Awadagin Pratt is a Yamaha artist. awadagin.com �

Philippe Raskin

COMPETITION JURY

Born in Brussels, Philippe Raskin devoted himself to music at a very early age. His performances have been illustrated as a “model of radiant authority (…), solar, generous, committed, and under control” (MDM, La Libre Belgique) and plays “with an impressive confidence” (JK, Mundo Clasico).

Philippe began piano lessons with Aleksandr Friedland, a Russian conductor, and continued working with Bernadette Malter and Loredana Clini. He developed his artistry further with Emanuel Krasovksy, Vincenzo Balzani, Ralf Gothóni, and Leon Fleisher on the piano, in addition with Johannes Meissl and Hatto Beyerle for chamber music. At the age of 16, he began studying at the Royal Conservatorium of Brussels in the class of Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden. In the same year, he obtained his first degree with the highest honors. He then joined the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel (still with Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden) and graduated again with highest honors, receiving the diploma from H.M. the Queen of Belgium. During the same period, he completed his Master’s degree at the Royal Conservatorium of Brussels.

In 2005, he entered the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia in Madrid, where he worked for four years under the tutelage of Dimitri Bashkirov and Claudio Martínez Mehner. As early as the first year, he received from HM the Queen of Spain the Sobresaliente Prize at the Pardo Palace. In 2010, Philippe started studying at the Strasbourg Conservatory with Amy Lin for a “Diplome de Spécialisation,” where he graduated with the highest honors. In 2012 and 2013, he worked with Leonel Morales.

Philippe has won several national and international competitions, among them: the J.S. Bach Competition, the Gretry Rotary Competition, the Paris International Piano Competition, the Lions Club Competition, and the André Dumortier International Piano Competition. In 2012, he became a prizewinner at the Lyon International Piano Competition and won first prize at the “Spanish Composers” International Piano Competition in Madrid.

Philippe has performed many recitals, as part of chamber groups and as a soloist with orchestras all over the world – in renowned concert halls such as the Grand Hall of Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Musikverein in Vienna, and at the Philharmonie in Berlin.

He was also invited by the Chopin Foundation in Warsaw to perform in the birthplace of the composer. Philippe regularly performs with orchestras, notably the Belgian National Orchestra, the Flanders Symphony Orchestra, and the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, among many others. His chamber music partners include artists such as Clemens Hagen, Jérôme Pernoo, and Miguel Da Silva. Philippe also regularly performs contemporary music and has taken part in several world premieres. Many composers have dedicated works to him, including Stringent & Tremulation from Belgian composer Jean-Marie Rens, Piano Sonata from Turkish composer Serkan Gürkan, and Sonata Der Hunt from Austrian composer Christoph Ehrenfellner. Philippe is invited each year to be a member of the jury in several international piano competitions including the International “Piano Talents” Competition Milan and the Lyon International Piano Competition, and he is the artistic director of the César Franck International Piano Competition and the International Music Festival Paris. He was also a jury member at the “MozArte” competition in Cologne, the “Spanish Composers” competition in Madrid, and will be part of the jury in the next edition of “Cita de Cantu Competition,” the Scriabin Competition, and the Chopin Competition in the United States. In 2009, Philippe opened his piano school and also gives many masterclasses in Belgium and abroad. From 2016, Philippe was also the artistic director of the “Resonances Musique de Chambre” Festival in France and began teaching at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. From 2017, Philippe is also a member of the international piano faculty in Brescia. �

Boaz Sharon

COMPETITION JURY

Boaz Sharon is Professor of Piano at Boston University. He is a Steinway Artist and Artistic Director of the Sichuan International Piano Festival, China.

An internationally renowned pianist and artist/teacher, he is the first-prize winner and gold medalist of the Jaen International Piano Competition, Spain. A frequent judge on international competitions, he was on the juries of Top of the World Competition, Norway; Jaen International, Spain; Shanghai International E Competition; the Berliner Philharmoniker International; Rudolf Firkusny

International, Prague; the Composers of Spain International Piano Competition, Madrid; Kaufman International, NYC; and Chairman of the Jury at the Sterinborgh National Competition in Xiamen, China. He also is a founder of the Liszt International Piano Competition in Moscow.

His students have won top prizes in international piano competitions including the Hamamatsu, Grieg (Norway), New Orleans, Jaen (Spain), the Janacek (Czech Republic), the prestigious Seoul Arts Center Award, Dallas, and the Manhattan International Piano Competition in NYC.

He is Director of the Sichuan International Piano Festival since 2010 and was the artistic director of the Prague International Piano Masterclasses for many years. He is a faculty member of the International Pianist Certificate Artists Program at the Ecole Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot in Paris and Fondation Bell’Arte.

A frequent performer in China, Sharon has given recitals at the Shanghai, Beijing Central Conservatory, Beijing Concert Hall, Xinghai Concert Hall, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Tianjin, and Sichuan Conservatories, at the Beijing Concert Hall and has performed and taught in many other cities in China.

Sharon has given hundreds of masterclasses over the years including at the Moscow Conservatory; Gnessin Institute, Moscow; Royal Academy of Music, London; Stockholm Royal Academy, Seoul National University, and others. He is the recipient of the Prague Charles University Medal – one of 10 given internationally for “significant contributions” to that university. He also has given lectures on 20th- Century French Piano Music at The Juilliard School of Music and Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Stanford, Columbia, Yale, and Berkeley Universities.

In 2018/19, Boaz Sharon will be giving masterclasses and recitals in Turkey, China, Israel, Puerto Rico, and Belgium and will be judging the Olga Kern International Piano Competition and return to the Illinois International Piano Festival in summer of 2019.

Sharon recorded for the Nonesuch/ Warner Brothers, Hyperion (London) and Unicorn (London) labels. His Nonesuch/Elektra Warner Bros. recording was mentioned as one of the Ten Best Recordings of the Year in Newsweek Magazine and the Washington Post called him “a pianist of superb technique and keen stylistic sense.”

Of his 2016 performance at the São Paulo Museum of Modern Arts, a review said, “Right from the start of the first piece— Passecaille by Couperin—the audience became readily aware of a great master dialoguing with his arts and his instrument.” �

Aaron Shorr

COMPETITION JURY

Since settling in the United Kingdom in 1984, Aaron Shorr has established an international career as soloist, chamber musician, and educator.

As well as appearing as soloist at London’s South Bank in more than 30 concertos, he has toured extensively as a recitalist and chamber musician worldwide. More recent performances have included tours of Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Holland, Turkey, Australia, China, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and the United States. He has performed extensively in the United Kingdom appearing in concerti, solo recitals, and chamber music concerts at the Wigmore Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and St. John’s Smith Square and festivals throughout Britain. He has also appeared in major European festivals, including the BBC Proms, Menuhin Festival, Munich Biennale, Hanover Expo, Paganiniana in Genoa, Venice Biennale, Instrumenta Festival Mexico, the Skopje Days of New Music, Cyprus International Contemporary Music Festival, and the Istanbul Biennale. He has broadcast frequently for radio, including BBC Radio 3, BBC Scotland, Classic FM, Bavarian Radio, Swiss Classical Radio, ABC

Australia, and WQXR New York. Aaron Shorr has recorded for Naxos, Mettier, Olympia, NMC, and Meridian. His recordings of Beethoven with duo partner, Peter Sheppard Skaerved, have won universal acclaim. Research on composers in Beethoven’s inner circle of friends and contemporaries has yielded modern recording premieres of works by Mayseder, Ries, and Archduke Rudolph as well as an unknown chamber version of Beethoven’s Third Symphony. He has also enjoyed close associations with composers and has given countless premieres and performances of works, including those by Hans Werner Henze, George Rochberg, Sadie Harrison, David Matthews, Paul Moravec, Elliott Schwartz, Jorg Widmann, Michael Alec Rose, Jeremy Dale Roberts, Judith Bingham, Rory Boyle, Marek Pasieczny, and Sidika Özdil.

Aaron Shorr studied at the Manhattan School of Music in New York and the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he received their most prestigious prizes for performance. His teachers have included Alexander Kelly, Solomon Mikowsky, Gary Graffman, André Watts, John Browning, and chamber music studies with Joseph Seiger, former duo partner of legendary violinist Mischa Elman.

Aaron Shorr was a professor and researcher at the Royal Academy of Music in London since 1992. His students have gone on to win major prizes at international competitions, including Rio, Pretoria, Munich, St. Petersburg, Tokyo, Redding- Piette, and the Schubert Competition in the Czech Republic. His students have also won prizes in major UK competitions, including the Royal Overseas League, Park Lane Debut Series, Sheepdrove, and the Moray Piano Competition. He is also artistic director and chair of the jury for the Scottish International Piano Competition.

Aaron Shorr is currently Professor and Head of Keyboard and Collaborative Piano at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. �

Marc Silverman

COMPETITION JURY

Acclaimed by The New York Times for his “exceptional authority and impeccable taste,” pianist Marc Silverman has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and chamber musician.

His “richly colored sonorities” and “thrilling surges of power” have prompted critics to compare him to the legendary Josef Hofmann. Among his appearances were six recitals at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, and seven performances in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. He has toured China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the Czech Republic, performing televised concerts and conducting master classes for piano soloists and chamber musicians, as well as presenting lecture-demonstrations on the traditions and techniques of Romantic interpretation.

Dr. Silverman has been Chairman of the Piano Department at the Manhattan School of Music since 1989 and has coordinated piano chamber music at the school since 1985. He has taught students from more than 30 countries and from every continent, and his students have been the recipients of an exceptional number of international awards and honors.

Marc Silverman is a founding member of the Carnegie Trio. In addition to their international touring and residencies at summer festivals, they recorded works by Beethoven, Brahms, Ravel, and Copland. As a soloist, Dr. Silverman has recorded twentieth-century works in RCA’s Studio A for international release. Other recordings include Dvorak’s Piano Quintet, Rachmaninoff’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, Enescu’s Piano Quartet in D Major, and the Trio for Flute, Viola, and Piano by Maurice Duruflé.

Dr. Silverman is an award winner of the Kapell International Competition, the Gina Bachauer Competition, and the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition. He is frequently quoted in publications, including Chamber Music America, Piano and Keyboard Magazine, The New York Times, and the Korean monthly Eumag-Choonchu.

Over the past decades, Dr. Silverman has made numerous tours throughout Asia and Europe, performing as both soloist and chamber musician, conducting master classes, and serving as a judge for international competitions. In 2000, he was named International Consultant to the Nanyang Academy, Singapore’s flagship arts institution. In the summers of 2004 and 2007, Dr. Silverman traveled to Melbourne to serve as a Visiting Artist at the Australian National Academy of Music’s Advanced Performance Program. In November 2008, Dr. Silverman was the subject of an extensive article in Korea’s leading keyboard magazine The Piano, which traced the trajectory of his career as well as articulating his thoughts on the relationship between technique and musicianship. In 2009, he was awarded the President’s Medal for Distinguished Service by the Manhattan School of Music, the highest award bestowed by the school. In 2010, he was invited to the Czech Republic to perform a series of chamber music concerts with some of the country’s most notable string musicians.

Dr. Silverman has made many trips to China during the last four years, conducting lecture-recitals and master classes throughout the country and appearing as a soloist in the National Center for the Performing Arts and the Beijing Concert Hall. In August 2016, he served on the faculty of the Silk Road Festival in Lanzhou. In October of that year, he was a featured artist at the Middle School affiliated with the Shanghai Conservatory. In February 2017, he was invited by the Central Conservatory in Beijing to serve as an international judge for their entrance auditions and in the summer of 2018, he was a member of the international faculty at the Shanghai Piano Festival. �

Golda Vainberg-Tatz

COMPETITION JURY

Hailed as “a pianist with wonderful firm, clear touch” (The New York Times), a “fascinating interpreter” (Tagblatt, Germany), and an “artist of depth and virtuosity” (The Times Argus, USA). Golda Vainberg-Tatz has performed with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra (the Tchaikovsky Grand Hall in Moscow), Shanghai Symphony, Lithuanian National Symphony, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, St. Kristoforas Chamber Orchestra, Kaunas State Symphony Orchestra in Lithuania, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra in Michigan, and the Cincinnati Symphony. As a recitalist and chamber musician, she was heard in Europe, Russia, Israel, the US, Canada, and China, including numerous collaborative recitals with the Vilnius (Lithuania) String Quartet.

She was a guest artist in the Mozarteum Festival in Salzburg, Vilnius Festival in Lithuania, St. Petersburg Palaces Festival in Russia, Puigcerda Music Festival in Spain, International Academy in Italy, Shanghai Conservatory International Festival, and the Shanghai Himalayas International Piano Festival (performing the Mozart Two-Piano Concerto with Andre-Michel Schub and the Shanghai Philharmonic).

Golda Vainberg-Tatz received her musical education in native Lithuania at the Čiurlionis School of Arts, Israel’s Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University, the Manhattan School of Music, and The Juilliard School. She won the first prize in the Lithuanian State Competition for Young Pianists, full scholarships with

distinction from the America Israel Cultural Foundation, Maurice Clairmont awards in Israel, top prizes in Young Keyboard Artists Competition in Michigan, the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, the Frinna Awerbuch International Competition in New York, the Prix- du Disque from French Piano Institute in Paris, and the Palm Beach Invitational International Competition. An associate faculty member at The Juilliard School, she serves on the faculty of the Pre-College Division at the Manhattan School of Music, the Young Artist program at Kaufman Center (New York City), Puerto Rico International Piano Festival, Adamant Summer Music School in Vermont, and Morningside Music Bridge summer program.

She has given master classes at the Jerusalem Academy of Music, Tel Aviv University, Shanghai Conservatory, and Čiurlionis School of Arts (Vilnius, Lithuania); judged auditions and competitions, including the first Olga Kern International Piano Competition and the Malta International Piano Competition 2018; and adjudicated DMA recitals at the Manhattan School of Music and concerto competitions at The Juilliard School Pre-College division. Her students have won national and international competitions.

Ms. Vainberg-Tatz’s recordings include The Portrait (a solo recital on the FPI label), French violin and piano sonatas with Raimundas Katilius (VSCD label, Lithuania), and Mozart piano concertos with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra (Consonance label, USA). Her CD of piano music by Robert Schumann (3D, France) received highest critical acclaim by Fanfare and American Record Guide magazines. In addition, Moisei Vainberg’s piano Quintet with Vilnius String Quartet was released on Delos Label.

In 2003, she was appointed by Mme. Rosalyn Tureck to serve as the director of the Tureck International Bach Competition in New York, tureckbachcompetition.com. �

Bryan Wallick

COMPETITION JURY

Gold medalist of the 1997 Vladimir Horowitz International Piano Competition in Kiev, he has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and South Africa. Mr. Wallick made his New York recital debut in 1998 at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall and made his Wigmore Hall recital debut in London in 2003. He has also performed at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall with the London Sinfonietta and at the St. Martin-inthe-Fields Church with the London Soloist’s Chamber Orchestra.

In recent seasons, Mr. Wallick has performed with the Arizona Musicfest Orchestra, Boise Philharmonic, Brevard Symphony, Cape Town Philharmonic, Cincinnati Pops, Evansville Philharmonic, Illinois Philharmonic, Johannesburg Philharmonic, Kentucky Symphony, Kwa-Zulu Natal Philharmonic, Phoenix Symphony, Portland Symphony, and the Winston-Salem Symphony; and collaborated with Erich Kunzel, Marvin Hamlisch, Robert Moody, Daniel Raiskin, Daniel Boico, Arjen Tien, Yasuo Shinozaki, Andrew Sewell, Vladimir Verbitsky, Victor Yampolsky, Josep Vicent, Leslie Dunner, Alfred Savia, Christopher Confessore, and Carmon Deleon among others. Mr. Wallick has performed recitals at the Chateau Differdange in Luxembourg, on the Tivoli Artists Series in Copenhagen, Ravinia’s Rising Star Series, Xavier Piano Series (Cincinnati), Scottsdale Center’s Steinway Series, Sanibel Island Music Festival, and the

Classics in the Atrium Series in the British Virgin Islands. In March 2002, Mr. Wallick played two solo performances at Ledreborg Palace for HRH Princess Marie Gabrielle Luxembourg and HRH Prince Philip Bourbon de Parme.

Bryan Wallick is deeply committed to chamber music and has performed on tours with violinists Yi-Jia Susanne Hou, Nikita Boriso-Glebsky, Rachel Lee Priday, Miriam Contzen, Sergei Malov, Zanta Hofmeyer, and cellists Zuill Bailey, Alexander Buzlov, Wolfgang Emmanuel Schmidt, Peter Martens, and Anzel Gerber. He has recently taken over as the Artistic Director of Schalk Visser/Bryan Wallick Concert Promotions which hosts many international musicians who perform concert tours throughout South Africa. Mr. Wallick has been invited to be on the guest piano faculty of Musicfest Perugia in Italy during July 2019 and has also been invited to judge the second Olga Kern International Piano Competition in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in November 2019 Bryan Wallick’s 2017/18 engagements included return appearances with the Butler Philharmonic, Pretoria Symphony Orchestra, Free State Symphony Orchestra, Johannesburg Philharmonic, and solo recitals at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, Rising Star Series in South Hampton (New York), Grand Piano Series in Naples (Florida), Fitton Center in Hamilton (Ohio), and other recitals throughout South Africa. He collaborated with American cellist Zuill Bailey on a South African tour in October 2017. His 2018/19 engagements include a return engagement with the Cape Town Philharmonic, debut performances with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Gauteng Philharmonic Orchestra, and recitals at the University of Texas (Austin), University of Texas (El Paso), Scottsdale Center in Arizona, and throughout South Africa and Zimbabwe. He performed cello duo recitals with Peter Martens in March and October 2018 and performed with Russian trio partners violinist Nikita Boriso-Glebsky and cellist Alexander Buzlov during a tour in June 2018. He also performed with soprano Hanli Stapela at the September 2018 “Doctor’s in Performance” conference held in Vilnius, Lithuania. He will be performing tours with cellist Alexander Ramm and Yi- Jia Susanne Hou in 2019.

Mr. Wallick has performed on Chicago’s WFMT Fazioli Series and “Live on WFMT,” on BBC’s radio show “In Tune,” National

Ukrainian Television and Radio, on Danish National Radio, and on NPR’s “Performance Today.” He was recently given a grant by the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts to explore his synesthetic realities in a multimedia project that allows the audience to see the colors he experiences while performing. Synesthesia is the ability to experience two or more sensory experiences with one stimulus. Bryan Wallick sees colors with each musical pitch and has created a computer program that projects images of his colored visions to the audience.

Mr. Wallick studied with Jerome Lowenthal in New York City, where he was the first The Juilliard School graduate to receive both an undergraduate Honors Diploma (2000) and an accelerated Master’s degree (2001). He continued his studies with Christopher Elton in London at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was the recipient of the Associated Board International Scholarship, receiving a Post-Graduate Diploma with Distinction, and previously studied with Eugene and Elisabeth Pridonoff at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. George Plimpton’s feature article on Bryan Wallick appeared in the March 2002 edition of Contents magazine. �

Alexander Beridze

SELECTION JURY

Hailed by American Record Guide as an “exceptional artist,” pianist Alexander Beridze thrills audiences and critics alike with his dazzling Gold Medalist of the 2009 World Piano Competition, Beridze made his New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall in 2011 where critics called his performance “brilliant, superb, and simply electrifying” and “a splendid one that passed by almost too quickly.”

A native of the Republic of Georgia, Beridze has performed as soloist with the major orchestras in his home country, including the Tbilisi State Symphony, the Georgia National Symphony Orchestra, and the Republic of Georgia State Opera and Ballet Symphony. He made his US concerto debut performing under the direction of Vladimir Feltsman in New York in 2004. In addition to his Alice Tully recital, he has concertized at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, Steinway Hall, the Russian Consulate, and Harris Hall in Aspen. Devoted to chamber music, his collaborations include concerts with cellist Yehuda Hanani.

Beridze gave a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in the fall of 2014, where he performed works by Beethoven, Brahms, and Schumann. This program was also featured on his released debut solo recording by NY Classics and was broadcast on radio throughout the United States and Canada. His media credits include performances that have been broadcast to 57 countries from New York’s RTVI and NTV America, two of the most popular channels in Russia and post-Soviet countries. An appearance as a special guest on Voice of America counts among his many radio credits.

Attending conservatory as his country was suffering from the devastating effects of separating from the collapsed Soviet Union, Beridze persevered in his study of piano performance, winning the major Georgian competitions, receiving Georgia’s President’s Grants in 2001 and 2005, and the Vladimir Spivakov Award in 2003. He first came to international attention as the winner of the 2004 Jacob Flier International Piano Competition, run by legendary pianist Vladimir Feltsman, who invited Beridze to move to the United States to study with him at the Mannes School of Music.

A passionate teacher, Beridze is on the faculty of the Center of Musical Excellence in New York City and has served as Artist in Residence at Rice University’s Shepherd School of

Music. In 2009, he founded the New York Piano Festival, where he serves as Artistic Director, organizing an international concert and master class series and providing concert opportunities to young students to perform in venues throughout New York City. In the Republic of Georgia, Beridze received undergraduate and advanced degrees at Tbilisi State Conservatory. Upon arriving in the United States, he earned a Professional Studies degree at the Mannes School as a student of Vladimir Feltsman and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Rutgers, State University of New Jersey.

Beridze also holds a doctorate in journalism from Tbilisi State University. As a correspondent for Krivis Palitra, a weekly newspaper in the Republic of Georgia, he was the author of more than 500 articles on music, and he interviewed many of the world’s most renowned musicians, including Rostropovich, Rozhdestvensky, Bashmet, and Vengerov.

Dedicated to raising funds for cancer research, he has produced and performed numerous charity concerts. alexanderberidze.com �

Larry Graham

SELECTION JURY

Larry Graham (Piano, M.M., B.M., Juilliard) launched his career with numerous successes in piano competitions such as the Kosciuszko and Concert Artists Guild auditions. He was winner of the coveted “Prize of the Public” by overwhelming vote at the Queen Elizabeth International Piano Competition in

1975 in Brussels, Belgium. Graham has performed over 35 different concerti with orchestras, has played numerous solo engagements, and has also performed extensively with chamber music ensembles, including the highly acclaimed Pablo Casals Trio. For 25 years, he was Professor of Piano at the University of Colorado. He is devoted to teaching and continues working with gifted pre-college students and adults. His students have won important prizes locally, nationally, and internationally. �

David Mareček

SELECTION JURY

David Mareček graduated from the Brno Conservatory as a pianist and conductor, studying under Ivana Stanovská and Evžen Holiš. He continued his piano studies at the Janáček Academy of the Performing Arts under the guidance of Inessa Janíčková and Jaroslav Smýkal. He took part in master classes with such illustrious pianists and pedagogues as Karl- Heinz Kämmerling, Dominique Weber, Peter Lang, Pierre Jasmin, and Walter Groppenberger. In 1998, he received an educational grant from the Czech Music Fund, and two years later with the violinist Jiří Němeček he won the second prize at the Leoš Janáček International Competition. From 2003 to 2015, he taught piano at the Brno Conservatory; in 2007, he became the executive director of the Brno Philharmonic; and since February 2011, he has been serving as the Chief Executive of the Czech Philharmonic. At present, he is devoting himself to playing chamber music in collaboration with Jan Martiník, Ivo Kahánek, the Dover Quartet, the Jerusalem Quartet, and the Zemlinsky Quartet. Together with colleagues from the Czech Philharmonic, he has appeared in concerts in Prague, London, Tokyo, and Beijing. During the celebration of Czechoslovak centenary in autumn 2018, he accompanied the cellist Alisa Weilerstein on BBC Radio 3 and at the Bohemian National Hall in New York. In September 2018, Supraphon released his recording of Schubert’s Winterreise together with Jan Martiník. �

Logan Skelton

SELECTION JURY

Logan Skelton is a much sought-after pianist, teacher, and composer whose work has received international critical acclaim. As a performer, Skelton has concertized widely in the United States, Europe, and Asia and has been featured on many national public radio and television stations, as well as on radio in China and national television in Romania. He has recorded numerous discs for Centaur, Albany, Crystal, Blue Griffin, Equilibrium, and Naxos Records, the latter performing on two pianos with fellow composer-pianist William Bolcom. He has been a juror for many international piano competitions and regularly appears in international festival settings. As a composer, Skelton has a special affinity for art song, having composed nearly 200 songs, including

numerous song cycles. A devoted teacher himself, Skelton has been honored by the University of Michigan, including the Harold Haugh Award for excellence in studio teaching, and most recently with the Arthur F. Thurnau professorship, among the highest honors given to faculty members at the university. Skelton’s own piano students have won awards in many national and international competitions. He has served on the faculties of Manhattan School of Music, Missouri State University, and the University of Michigan. �

Christiana M. Perai

SELECTION JURY

Christiana M. Perai was born in Graz, Austria. Her teachers and major influences have been Walter Kamper, Eugen Jakab, David Burge, Jürgen Uhde, and Alexander Satz. Since 1981, she has taught piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (KUG). She is a sought-after contemporary music chamber musician and soloist and has performed with the Austrian Art Ensemble in performances throughout the world. �