The Jury

Dmitry BASHKIROV was born in 1931 in Tbilsi, Georgia and studied there with Anastasia Virsaladze; he continued his studies at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory with the distinguished Russian pedagogue Alexander Goldenweiser. Dmitri Bashkirov’s name has been known to the public since 1955 when he received the Grand Prix at the Marguerite Long Competition in Paris.The pianist has played with numerous famous orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland, San Francisco Symphony, the Royal Philharmonics London, the Vienna Symphony, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic, l’Orchestre de Paris and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under conductors such as Kurt Masur, Wolfgang Sawallisch, George Szell, Igor Markevitch, Evgueny Svetlanov, Kurt Sanderling, Zubin Mehta, Genady Rohzdestvensky, Daniel Barenboim and many others.In 1957 he embarked on a long teaching career at the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire in Moscow, and, since its inauguration, at the Reina Sofía Music School in Madrid. He teaches at the International Piano Fondation at Griante -Cadenabbia (Lake Como). His numerous students have won prizes at famous competitions and some of them are among world's most appreciated pianists.Dmitri Bashkirov holds master classes in the Paris Conservatoire Superior, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Berlin College (USA), John Gilmore Festival (USA), at the Helsinki Sibelius Academy, in Vienna, in Jerusalem, Budapest, Colmar, Lisbon, Belgrade, Turku, Los Angeles, Stockholm and elsewhere. Mr. Bashkirov has been on the Board of Judges of the most eminent piano competitions around the world.He was honoured with the title Honorary People’s Artist of Russia, and won the special Robert Schumann Medal in Zwickau, as well as the Honorary Medal of the Autonomous University in Madrid, Honorary Prize “Ruks pianister festival”.He records for Erato, Melodia, EMI, Russian CD, Harmonia Mundi.

Philip FOWKE is respected and admired worldwide as one of Britain’s most distinguished pianists. His frequent appearances and broadcasts with leading orchestras in the UK and his many recordings also see him performing abroad where in recent seasons he has toured in the USA, Canada, Scandinavia, South America, Germany, Italy and New Zealand.His outstanding musicianship is reflected by many of the conductors he has worked with who include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Neeme Jarvi, Tadaaki Otaka, Sir Simon Rattle, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Yuri Temirkanov, Klaus Tennstedt, Vernon Handley and Barry Wordsworth. Philip Fowke is known for his performances of British repertoire as well as standard works of the concert platform. The concertos of Arnell, Britten, Bliss, Delius, Ireland, Leighton, Rawsthorne and Tippett as well as Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Schumann testify to his broad range of repertoire. A similar range exists in his recital and chamber music work as well as in his many broadcasts as both performer and contributor to discussion programmes for BBC Radio 3.Philip Fowke’s impressive discography includes concertos by Rachmaninov, Ravel, Tchaikovsky and Finzi, the Chopin Waltzes and Sonatas for EMI on CFP’s “Silver Doubles” label, “Virtuoso Piano Transcriptions” on CRD, and he has also recorded Unicorn, Chandos, Lyrita and a CD featuring music written for piano and orchestra from classic film scores for Naxos. Philip Fowke gives regular masterclasses world-wide and is often invited to adjudicate on panels for international competitions. He is Senior Fellow of Keyboard at the Trinity College of Music in London.

Ida GAMULIN studied at the Zagreb Musical Academy, where she graduated with unanimous distinction in 1980, subsequently obtaining a master's degree in 1982. After finishing her studies in Zagreb she settled in London where she received advice and guidance of J. Lill, S. Kovacevich and A. Fischer. Her London debut brought high praise from all critics, such as in The Times, which spoke of “...tremendously talented pianist… in a manner recalling Annie Fischer” and two guest appearances in the Queen Elisabeth Hall. Since than, her career has developed rapidly. Known for her beautiful tone, her personality and profound musicianship, Ida Gamulin has established herself as one of Croatian's most gifted pianists. Her extensive repertoire ranged from baroque to contemporary, and she is acclaimed for her appearances with major symphony orchestras, as recitalist, chamber musician and recording artist.She was awarded many prizes, including several prizes at Yugoslav competitions (S. Stancic Prize, Myra Hess Award in London 1983 and Special Prize at Freiburg Festival in 1984. She has also received the Milka Trnina prize, one of Croatia’s top cultural awards. Particularly successful was her appearance at the London charity concert with Martha Argerich and Stephen Kovacevich for the war-victims in Dubrovnik. Her concert tours have taken her to almost all European countries, in the former USSR and in the USA. She appeared at major music festivals, including Spoletto, Freiburg, Varna, Dubrovnik and Janacek festival. Ida Gamulin has broadcast for the BBC, CBS, France Musique, Bayerishe Rundfunk, S. A.Radio and HRT. She has recorded for EMI-Mava, Yugoton and Croatia records. Her recording of Brahms Sonata in F Sharp Minor has been selected among best Brahms recordings by the USA Classical music directory. Since 1989 Ida Gamulin has been professor at the Zagreb Music Academy. In 2004 she has been elected the president of EPTA Croatia.

Naum GRUBERT was born in Riga (Latvia, former SU) His principal studies were with the famous professor Teodor Gutman in Moscow. In 1978 he was a prize-winner in the Tchaikovsky Competition. He toured extensively the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries before he emigrated from Russia and became a Dutch resident in 1983. His many impressive recitals, as well as concerts with among many others the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Köln Philharmonic, the Tonkünstler Orchestra Vienna, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Kirov Orchestra St. Petersburg, the Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rotterdam Orchestra, the Residential Orchestra, have earned him a reputation of superb musicianship. Naum Grubert has performed with conductors such as Paavo Berglund, Sergiu Commissiona, Jean Fournet, Horst Stein, Christopher Seaman, Vernon Handly, Matthias Bamert, Ernest Bour, Vassili Sinaiski, Thomas Sanderling, Evgeny Svetlanov, Valery Gergiev.He has recorded highly successful CD’s. As a chamber musician, together with his brother, the violinist Ilja Grubert, he belongs to the absolute top violin – piano duos in the world.Naum Grubert holds professorship in piano in piano in the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and Amsterdam conservatory. Among his students are many price winners of national and international competitions.

Vladimir KRPAN graduated from the Zagreb Academy of Music under Svetislav Stančić and got his MA degree from the S. Cecilia Academy in Rome under Carlo Zecchi. He later studied chamber music with Guido Agosti and continued his piano studies with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli .The founder of the piano department at the Skopje (Macedonia) High School of Music, Vladimir Krpan has been teaching at the Zagreb Academy of Music since 1971, where he brought up several generations of young pianists. He is focused on improving teaching plans and programmes, particularly when the technique, pedal work and repertoire are concerned, combining the best tradition of the so called Stančić Zagreb piano school with the rich heritage of the Italian school, particularly that of Michelangeli.He has worked with numerous famous conductors and performed in major Croatian and European music centres.He has given several thousand recitals, concerts with orchestra and chamber music concerts, with the Orlando Trio (whose member he has been since foundation in 1985) and in a piano duo with Katarina Krpan.He has founded the Croatian department of the European Piano Teachers Association (EPTA), as well as the EPTA International Competition for Young Pianists in Osijek, and the Svetislav Stančić International Piano Competition in Zagreb. A jury member of many international piano competitions, he has taught at numerous piano and chamber music master courses.He continues with pedagogical work as Professor emeritus at the Zagreb University.Most important among numerous awards he has received untill these days are the two Lifetime Achievement Awards from 2005 ( Award  of the Croatian Association of Teachers for Music and Dance, and Vladimir Nazor Award) as well as the Golden Bell obtained in 2008, another Lifetime Achievement Award granted by the Croatian Association of Music Artists.  He holds the Danica Hrvatska Order (Marko Marulić) for his merits in culture (1995), and Italian president Carlo Azzeglio Ciampi presented him with the Prometheus award (2001) for high artistic achievements in cultural cooperation between nations.

Eliso VIRSALADZE first learnt the piano from her grandmother Anastasia Virsaladze, beginning at the comparatively late age of eight at the School for Gifted Children and then continuing the studies with her grandmother at the Tbilsi Conservatory. Virsaladze finished her studies with Heinrich Neuhaus and Yakov Zak at theMoscow Conservatory and made her public debut in Tiflis at the age of sixteen; the following year she won a silver medal at the World Youth Festival in Vienna.After receiving third prize at the Moscow International Tchaikovsky Competitionwhen she was twenty, Virsaladze went on to win First prize at the SchumannCompetition in Zwickau when she was twenty-four.From the 1980s Virsaladze has regularly toured throughout Europe, Japan and the United States of America. She has appeared with many conductors including Kyrill Kondrashin, Riccardo Muti, Kurt Sanderling, Yevgeny Svetlanov and Rudolf Barshai. Virsaladze enjoys playing chamber music, partnering with Natalya Gutman, the Borodin and the Taneyev Quartets. Her favourite repertoire comprises works of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Chopin, but also Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Liszt. Live Classics has recorded most of her repertoire.In great demand as a teacher, since she continues the tradition of the Russian school of piano playing which she learnt from Neuhaus and Zak, Virsaladze has taught at the Moscow Conservatory since the late 1960s and also teaches at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich.She continues the great line of Russian performer-teachers that goes back to thedays of the founding of musical education in Russia by the Rubinstein brothers. Eliso Virsaladze is a regular member on juries of many competitions throughout the World. 

YANG, Liqing (1942) Chinese composer, Pianist, Professor and former president of Shanghai Conservatory of Music（2000-2009), President of the Board of Directors of China Musicians' Association。 Mr. Yang Liqing graduated from Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In 1980 Yang was the first Chinese composer and pianist to be sent abroad for study after the Cultural Revolution and gained his diplomas for composition (class of Alfredo Koerppen) and piano (class of Kurt Bauer) in the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover. Mr. Yang is a winner of several composition competitions. His works have been performed widely in China, Germany, England, France, Italy, Switzerland，Norway, United States, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan etc. He taught in Music College Mozarteum of Salzburg as a guest professor in 1990, and got a fellowship from Cornell University in 1995. Mr. Yang won the scholarship of DAAD, Germany in 1990, the grants from ACC（USA）, and from CSCC（USA） in 1995. In 2006 Mr. Yang won the title of Honorary Fellowship from Performing Arts Academy of Hong Kong. Besides he gave lectures in more than 20 universities and music colleges. Since 2000 Mr. Yang is president of Shanghai International Piano Competition and has been jury of many international music contests in USA, Italy, France, Spain Switzerland, Korea，Japan and Singapore etc.