JURY
Hubert Stuppner
President - Italy
About
Michele Antonio Salvemini
Deputy President - Italy
About
was born in 1970, he started studying piano at “Tito Schipa” Conservatoire in Lecce, under the guidance of Silvana Libardo. As a young boy, he started soon to give piano recitals in Italy and abroad as soloist. Until 1988 he won the first absolute prize in ten national piano competitions, while attending master classes with M. Marvulli, R. Caporali, A. Delle Vigne, A. Lonquich, O. Yablonskaya, P. Badura-Skoda, F.-J. Thiollier. During these years he also studied music composition with Raffaele Gervasio and got the intermediate orgel diploma under the guidance of Nicola Germinario. In 1989 he got his piano diploma with special distinction, then he attended the international piano perfectionnement courses in “Santa Cecilia” Academy in Rome, where he graduated in 1992 under the guidance of Sergio Perticaroli. As National Competition winner he became permanent Conservatoire piano teacher, and since 1995 he passionately devoted himself to teaching activity. In 2006 he graduated in Psychology cum laude in Rome University “La Sapienza”. He has learnt and practiced music therapy in the Art-Therapy Academy founded in Rome by Prof. Vezio Ruggieri and held adult groups in various contexts. In 2011 has been formed in the Aigam Institute of Rome to teach music to children from 0 to 6 with the Music learning theory of Edwin Gordon. He studied Choral Conducting with Claudio Dall’Albero and Singing with Pietro Bisignani. He fluently speaks many languages and in recent years has translated and published several books from French and Bulgarian. He is currently Piano professor in L’Aquila’s Conservatoire.
(L’Aquila).
Robert Andres
Croatia/Portugal
About
The Croatian/Portuguese pianist Robert Andres graduated from the Zagreb Music Academy and subsequently received a scholarship from the Soviet government to study at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with D. A. Svetozarov, a pupil of the great Russian pianist Sofronitski. He continued his studies in Vienna and in the United States where, as a Fulbright scholarship recipient, he studied at the University of Kansas with renowned Portuguese/American pianist Sequeira Costa and earned there a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano, as well as a master’s degree in musicology. He has also received valuable advice from renowned pianists, such as Pierre Sancan, Rudolf Kehrer, Claude Frank, Leonid Brumberg and Peter Katin.
Andres has performed in recitals, with orchestras, and in chamber music concerts in many European countries as well as in Venezuela and the United States. He has collaborated with artists such as Chiara Isotton, Artur Pizarro, Lorenzo Di Bella, Grigori Zhislin and Zakhar Bron.The piano duo with his wife, the Irish pianist Honor O’Hea, has, since 1995, met with enthusiastic response from critics and audiences alike.
After teaching at the Kalamazoo College in Michigan, U. S. A., since 1993 he has taught at the Madeira Conservatory – School of Arts, where he is at present a tenured professor of piano and coordinator of the keyboard department.
He has been on juries of more than twenty international piano competitions and regularly gives masterclasses, most recently in Israel and Washington. Since 1997 he has been Managing and Artistic Director of the Association of the Friends of the Conservatory and is also the Artistic Director of Madeira PianoFest.
Having developed an intense activity as a writer and lecturer on musical topics, Andres has contributed to various prestigious music journals, encyclopaedias and magazines in several countries. In 2001 the Scarecrow Press (U.S.A.) published his book on the beginnings of the scientific approach to piano technique. He is an integrated researcher of INET-md (Institute of Ethnomusicology – Studies of Music and Dance) of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of the Universidade Nova in Lisbon. In 2020 and 2021 he revised and edited two volumes of music for piano of the Anthology of Music in Madeira, and in 2022 year he recorded a CD of piano music written in Madeira in the 19th century.
Pasquale Iannone
Italy
About
A pianist of international renown, Pasquale Iannone has benn graduated cum laude in 1984 at the Bari “N. Piccinni” Conservatory with Gregorio Goffredo, Pasquale Iannone pursued further studies with Aldo Ciccolini, Marisa Somma. In 1987 he got the Diploma with honours at the Royal College of Music in London. From 1992 he has been associated with Eugenio Bagnoli at the Fondazione “G. Cini” of Venezia.
The pianist has won several national competitions and international as well such the “A. Casella” (Naples 1989); “Carlo Zecchi” (Rome 1991. In 1994 Pasquale Iannone has been top prize winner at the prestigeous “Gina Bachauer” International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City (USA) and in 1995 he has been awarded of the Second Prize and the Special Fauré Prize at the New Orleans International Piano Competition.
In July 2003 he succeeded in the “Web Concert Hall International Competition” (USA) winning both as a soloist and as a Piano Duo together with Paola Bruni.
He has also been awarded of the “Foyer 2005” Prize by the “Foyer des Artistes” in Rome for his carreer and the quality of his playing.
Pasquale Iannone has performed in many italian cities (Siracusa, Bari, Lecce, Avellino, Pescara, Mantova, Pesaro, Napoli, Brindisi, Catania, Milano, Roma, Venezia) for important concert association like the Lyceum Club of Catania, Amici della Musica of Trapani, Camerata Musicale Barese, Concerti TELECOM at the “Sistina” Theatre in Rome, Società dei Concerti of Milano, Fondazione “G. Cini” of Venezia. He has played assoloist with the Orchestra Sinfonica della Provincia di Bari, Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana, Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro Petruzzelli, Orchestra Sinfonica della Provincia di Lecce, Orchestra “A. Scarlatti” di Napoli, Orchestra “Cantelli” in Milano, Orchestra Filarmonia Veneta, the Utah Symphony Orchestra in the United States, with many rumenian Orchestras, . Among the conductors who led these orchestras there are the names of Franco Caracciolo, Carlo Franci, Rino Marrone, Michele Marvulli, Jorge Mester, Ovidiu Balan, Flavio Emilio Scogna, Ola Rudner.
Many of Iannone’s performances have been broadcasted live by RAI (Italy) and KBYU (Provo,Utah). In the United States he has performed at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Cleveland, Salt Lake City (Abravanel Hall, Hassembly Hall), New Orleans, Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge), Macon, in France at the Salle Cortot and Centre Bosendorfer of Paris. He has also performed in Edimburgh (Reid Hall), Amsterdam (Concertgebow Recital Hall), and Germany. In 1996 Mr Iannone gave made his debut in South Africa where he played the Rachmaninov 3th Concerto with the Transvaal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Carlo Franci and Reinard Schwartz.
In 1997 Pasquale Iannone has recorded two CDs : the first with a live performance of the Rachmaninov 3th Concerto and the second with the two Brahms’ piano Sonatas and the first two studies.
In 2000 he has record an other CD with Tschaikowsky’s and Rachmaninov’s piano music sponsored by the prestigious “G. Cini” Foundation of Venice which has been awarded as the best Italian Cd of the year.
He also played in two pianos ensemble with the italian pianist Paola Bruni. They have been invited to play by prestigious concert societies in Italy, Usa, Rumenia, Sud Korea and South Africa where they performed with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra. The great conductor and composer Carlo Franci dedicated a piece for 2 pianos, great orchestra and electronic sound to their Duo which has been recorded by the Italian label “Musicaimmagine” under the baton of the composer himself.
In the last years, highly acclaimed performances of Mr Iannone have been the Poulenc 2 Pianos Concerto played with Aldo Ciccolini, appearances in recital and as soloist with orchestra in Japan, two concerts in Carnegie Hall (Stern Hall) in New York, the performance of the Piano Concerto op.59 by Moszkowsky with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Germany and in Milan where he has been immediately invited again to play with the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen the X. Scharwenka’s Piano Concerto n.4 performance which obtained a great success.
Artistic Director of some music organization in Puglia (Italy), Mr. Iannone organizes concert Series and a Summer Piano Festival and is also very active as a teacher in Italy and abroad. Many of his pupils have won National and International prizes.
Among other Prizes, Mr. Iannone’s students have been awarded the 1st Prizes in the : 2013 Hilton Head International Young Artists Piano Competition – USA, Aarhus International Piano Competition 2013- (Denmark), 2012 Eastman Young Artists International Piano Competition – USA, 2012 Thomas & EvonCooper International Piano Competition – USA, 2012 Gina Bachauer Young Artists International Piano Competition – USA, 19th and 20th International Fryderyck Chopin Piano Competition for Children and Youth (Szafarnia – Poland), 2012 and 2011 Young Pianist of the North (Newcastle upon Tyne – England)
and have been prized in the Arthur Rubistein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv and in the Busoni Competition in Italy.
Mr. Iannone played as recitalist and as soloist with orchestra in Italy, Roumania, Japan, France, USA and Germany and gave his acclaimed debut in Istanbul (Turkey) in March 2013 with the Wiener Kammersymphonieand in Mexico with the Orquesta Sinfonica del Estato del México.
In the 2014 he served as a juror in the prestigious “Gina Bachauer” International Artists Piano Competition in Salt Lake City (Utah – USA).
Between the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015, he toured China and gave his debut in Budapest with the Concerto Soirée by Nino Rota with the MAV Symphony Orchestra.
During the following part of 2015 Mr Iannone, among other engagements, played in Ankara with the BaskentChamber Orchestra, gave his debut in Bulgaria with the Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto, gave an acclaimed recital in Milan “Sala Verdi”, performed in Münich in the Gasteig (Carl Orff Saal) and gave his debut in Krakow in Poland.
During the 2016 and 2017 he toured China, played the Beethoven 3rd Concerto in the Hekulessaal in Munich and, in the 2018, gave his debut in Malta and Portugal with the Rachmaninov 2nd Concerto.
In the last three years Mr Iannone has played extensively in recital and with orchestra and he has many other engagements between the end of 2021 and the 2022, including the performance of the Moszkowski Piano Concerto op.59 in the USA.
It has been also published a Cd with the important Italian Music Magazine “Suonare News” and it has been also published a 3CD box with the performance of 15 of his students by the label Digressione Music.
He has also served as a Jury member in the last 2021 Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in Bayreuth-Weimar.
“I remember Pasquale Iannone as a young man seated at the piano awaiting his entrance exam into my class at the International Accademy of Biella. As he played his first few pages, I immediately noticed his rare gifts as a pianist: the ample scale of his dynamics, the coherence of his interpretation free of low level mannerisms, technical precision. I immediately thought this boy would one day make people talk about himself. I don’t think I was wrong: Pasquale Iannone is at ease today with whatever difficulty he meets. With warmest affection I wish him the best success.”
Aldo Ciccolini
I consider Pasquale Iannone to be one of the most gifted pianists of the generation. His very high technical ability and profound sensibility as an interpreter place him at the forefront in today’s international concert scene.
Carlo Franci
Bartosz Zurakowski
Poland
About
Bartosz Żurakowski graduated in conducting at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw, and in music pedagogy at the Grażyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz University of Music in Łódź, as well as in managerial studies at the University of Warsaw, and at the Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus University and the Gdańsk Foundation for Management Development. In 2011, he obtained the title of Master of Business Administration (MBA).
He was born in Opole and from his early childhood years, he entered the world of music in this city, through the atmosphere of his family home and subsequent levels of education. At secondary school, he became interested in the art of conducting and in artistic management, and these two areas gradually became his passion. From 2001 onwards, he has been associated with his indigenous philharmonic, successively as an assistant conductor, conductor and manager of the Opole Philharmonic. Since September 2016, he has been the first conductor and artistic director of the Sudeten Philharmonic Orchestra in Wałbrzych.
Bartosz Żurakowski has taken part in master classes in conducting, domestically and internationally – including those by Kurt Masur. He is a laureate of the Witold Lutosławski International Conducting Competition. In 2007, he established the Opole Philharmonic Choir, of which he was the conductor and artistic director until the end of 2015. In December 2015, as part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Public Theatre in Poland (directed by Laco Adamik), he conducted the première performance of Stanisław Moniuszko’s ‘The Haunted Manor’ at the Kraków Opera.
He is the founder and president of an artistic foundation supporting young artists, and in that role, organizes great music events. Moreover, he is the originator and artistic director of the “BelleVoci” International Music Festival, which takes place every year in Lower Silesia. Bartosz Żurakowski is also an artistic director of the International Festival of Sacred Music “Masters of Prayer with Music” in Katowice and the International Festival of Vienna Music.
The year 2012 was a breakthrough year for the artist in his career as a conductor, thanks to favorable reviews in foreign press on an album produced by Divine Art Records that consisted of violin concertos by the Maltese composer, Karl Fiorini. This resulted in numerous invitations to world concert halls, including that of May 2014, when the artist was invited to conduct the Scottish Opera in Glasgow, together with the City Glasgow Chorus, in a performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Requiem”. In 2015, Bartosz Żurakowski again performed with artists from Glasgow, this time the piece was Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis”.
He has performed at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York (USA), Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto (Canada), at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City (Mexico), at the Gran Teatro National in Lima (Peru), Sala Sao Paolo in Sao Paolo (Brazil), at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow (Scotland), and at the Opera in Lviv (Ukraine). He regularly performs in North and South America, the USA, Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Mexico, as well as in France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania, as well as in a number of renowned halls in other European and Asian countries.The artist has many recordings in his output. He also cooperated with the most distinguished soloists and personalities: Kaja Danczowska, Neal Larrabee (USA), Ingolf Wunder (Austria), Alexi Volodin (Russia), Evgeni Mikhailov (Russia), Eugene Indjić (USA), Alena Baeva (Russia), Piotr Paleczny, Simonem Trpceskim (Macedonia), Shlomo Mintz (Israel), Jeremy Findley (Canada), Piotr Pławner, Martin Kasik (Czech Republic), Massimo Mercelli (Italy), Józef Olechowski (Mexico), Kazimierz Olechowski (France), Agnieszka Rehlis, Wojciech Kilar, Krzysztof Penderecki, Gwendolyn Bradley (USA), Urszula Kryger, Małgorzata Walewska, Ewa Podleś, Lorenzo Di Bella (Italy), Pierluigi Camicia (Italy). The artist has vast professional background in working with young people both in the area of music education in organizing concerts for children and young people, and as a promoter of young artists whom he brings to the stage every year. For his entire artistic activity, in 2021, Żurakowski was awarded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage with honorary badge “Meritorious for Polish Culture”.
Silvana Libardo
Artistic Director - Italy
About
She has been active both as soloist, with orchestra and in chamber music with renowed artists as M. Larrieu, R. Fabbriciani, O. Yablonskaya, M.K. Ykonomi, quatuor “Cassoviae” and others.
The didactic work she accomplished in University masterclasses and in Music High schools is outstanding and many of her former students are awarded in prestigious piano competitions.
She is often member of jury for national and international competitions; she founded the “Associazione Artistico Musicale Nino Rota”, the International Competition of Musical performances in Ostuni, and she is the artistic director of “G. Piliego” International Piano Competition in Brindisi.
She has been professor at “T. Schipa” State Conservatory in Lecce, at Music academy “Pierluigi da Palestrina” and “Arts Academy in Rome.
Anna Ferrer
Spain
About
ANNA FERRER, Catalan pianist of great renown, winner of high distinctions and professor at the Conservatory of Girona, as well as a member of the jury sought after at international competitions and a soloist invited by leading orchestras.
She records for different radio and television stations and publishes for the German record label Lambdoma, being highly praised by specialized critics for his way of interpreting Mozart.