Jury

Xin Wang established herself in spite of her young age as one of the leading pianists of the inner Mongolia China. She came into public attention when she won a special prize at the national Piano Competition China with the age of seven and has since gone on to give piano concerts an recitals in concert halls all over China. She studied with Jolio Largacha and Gabriel Rosenberg in Cologne and Nurnberg. During her study she got a scholarship of the DAAD. Xin Wang has won numerous honors and prizes including the piano competition Lengano Italy, the piano competition Bettona Italy and many others.

She is regularly a welcome guest at diverse well-known concert places in Europa and Asia like Berliner Philharmonie, Schloss Elmau in Germany, Qintai Concert Hall in Wuhan, Concert Hall in Xiamen, Henan Art Center in Zhengzhou, Concert Hall in Ningbo, Poly Grand Theatre in Hohhot and many others. As a soloist Xin Wang appeared with many famous orchestras, among them Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Aachen, Sinfonia Rotterdam, Kammerphilharmonie St. Petersburg, Marchigiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Karlsbad Symphony Orchestra, Zagreb Soloists and Berliner Camerata under the baton of famous conductors like Kazem Abdullah, Christopher Ward, Conrad van Alphen, Marek Štilec, James P. Liu, Juri Gilbo, Eduardo Strausser and Fuad Ibrahimov. She is a regular guest at international festivals such as Skrjabin Piano Festival Grosseto Italy, Piano Festival „federi musica“ Neapel Italy, International Piano Festival Salerno Italy, „IBLA Claasic“ Sicilia Italy, Piano Festival Orbetello Italy, „Friday Nights with Yury Revich“ Wien Austria, International Art Festival Kotor Montenegro, International Music Festival Deià Spain, Festival „Palau March Museu“ Palma Spain, „Festival de musique classique a Pompignan“ Toulouse France, Palais Sommer Dresden Germany, „Monschau Klassik“ Germany, „International Piano Festival Wuhan" China and many others. As a passionate chamber musician she regularly works with colleagues like Echo-Klassik prize winner Yury Revich or Alexandre Debrus in China and Europe.

Xin Wang is founder and artist director of the international piano festival in Geilenkirchen Germany and jury president of the international piano competition "Euregio Piano Award". She is often inivited as a jury member in many international piano competitions such as Campillos Spain, „Isidor Bajic Piano Memorial Competition“ Novi Saad Serbia, „Neue Sterne“ Wernigerode Germany, „Mauro Paolo Monopoli Prize“ Barletta Italy, „Notes in Harmony“ Bettona Italy, „Academy Award“ Rom Italy, Asian Youth international piano Competition Hongkong, and many others.

Since 2012 she teaches as a guest professor at different music universities in China and gave several master classes in China and Germany with prestigious teachers from well known music universities in Europe.

Defined by The New York Times “an artist with supreme technical mastery, dazzling and charming with his highly cultivated sound”, Alberto Nosè is one of the most awarded piano artists of his generation. His musical education started at Verona Conservatory and continued at Imola International Piano Academy. His artistic development has been also enriched by his musical studies with Maurizio Pollini, Murray Perhaia, Andrzej Jasinski, Paul Badura-Skoda, Michael Beroff, Alexander Lonquich, Arie Vardi, Fou Ts’ong, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling.

Top prize winner of Montecarlo Piano Masters, New York Concert Artists, Paloma O’Shea in Santander, Long-Thibaud in Paris, Maj Lind in Helsinki, Busoni in Bolzano, he was laureate at the F. Chopin International Piano Competition in 2000 which led him to a worldwide career as soloist as well as with major orchestras in the most renowed concert venues like Carnegie Hall in New York, Southbank Centre in London, Konzerhaus in Berlin, Théâtre du Châtelet and Salle Pleyel in Paris, Auditorium in Madrid, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, City Hall in Hong Kong, Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, La Fenice in Venice, Santa Cecilia in Rome. Jury member in many international piano competitions like Kiev, Tbilisi, New York, Hong Kong, Helsinki, Budapest, Graz, Ljubljana, Warsaw, he is co-founder of the Amadeus Competition in Lazise, Italy.

His debut album for Piano Le Magazine featuring works by Brahms, Chopin, Liszt and Prokofiev won several awards like CHOC du Monde de la Musique and La Clef by ResMusica. His CD of the Keyboard Sonatas by J. Ch. Bach, recorded on modern piano and published by Naxos, has been broadcast by Radio France, BBC 3, Radio 4 Netherland, Radio New Zealand, ABC Classic FM USA and Australia. His third album with Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet for Harmonia Mundi won Diapason d’Or.

Since 2019 he has been founder, artistic director and producer of Amadeus Sound Project, an independent record label which releases all his new recording projects. Invited to teach master classes around the world, he was guest professor at the Music Conservatory in Geneva, Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Mannes College of Music in New York, as well as at Music Academies in Gdansk and Bydgoszcz. He has been Piano Professor at Verona Conservatory of Music since 2022 and on the faculty of the International Accademia Amadeus in Valeggio sul Mincio, Italy.

Álvaro Teixeira Lopes is an acclaimed pianist, artistic director, and educator known for his international performances, master classes, and leadership roles in prestigious music festivals and competitions worldwide.

Pianist Álvaro Teixeira Lopes is the Artistic Director of the Santa Cecilia International Competition (CISC) and the Santa Cecília International Festival, an invited professor at Aveiro University, and Director of Curso de Música Silva Monteiro (CMSM). He attended the Conservatório de Música do Porto and continued his studies in Vienna and Paris with Paul Badura-Skoda, Noel Flores, and Marian Rybicky. The recipient of several prizes, he developed intense national and international acclaim as a soloist and chamber musician and has been invited to play in some of the most prestigious festivals internationally. 

Artistic director of several festivals, Lopes has directed numerous master classes in Portugal, France, Brazil, Taiwan, China, Spain, and Italy, as well as being an invited professor at the Brecia International Festival and Summer Academy. He is frequently invited to join panels of piano competitions and has been a jury member of the Orbetello International Competition, Rospigliosi International Piano Competition, Rina Sala Gallo International Piano Competition, Iturbi International Piano Competition, Compositores de España, Isidor Bajič International Piano Competition, Pro-Piano, Concours International de Piano de Lyon, Concours International d’Epinal, César Frank International Competition, Cleveland Virtualoso, Maestro Arts Taiwan, Porto Piano International Competition, Festival Internacional de Piano do Rio de Janeiro, and many others all over the world. 

Lopes serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors of Casa da Música in Porto, Portugal.

Since his triumphant success at the Concours Géza Anda in Zurich in 2009, Jinsang Lee has established himself as one of the most promising pianists of his generation. At that time, he not only won the first prize, but also became the first participant in the history of the competition winning all the special prizes: the Audience Prize, the Mozart Prize, and the Schumann Prize.

Lee's artistic talent had already been honored in several prior prestigious piano competitions: first prizes at the Hong Kong International Piano Competition (2008, chaired by Vladimir Ashkenazy) and at the International Pianoforte Competition Cologne, Germany (2005) following several top prizes in Korea and Japan.

Lee’s collaboration includes concerts with Vladimir Ashkenazy, David Effron, Eivind Gullberg-Jensen, Peter Gülke, Mikhail Jurowski, Roman Kofman, Jonathan Nott, Ola Rudner, Muhai Tang, Umeda Toshiaki, Mario Venzago, Christopher Warren-Green, and Nikolaj Znaider. His orchestral collaboration includes Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Berner Symphonieorchester, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, Nürnberger Symphonieorchester, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Wiener Kammerorchester, WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne, Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, and Zurich Chamber Orchestra. Lee has performed at music festivals including Busoni Festival, Lucerne Festival, Menton Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Montreux Festival, Murten Classics, Ruhr Piano Festival, and Seoul Art Center Orchestra Festival.

In search of the perfect sound, Lee took a bit of unusual path by spending time at Steinway Austria under the direction of Stefan Knüpfer (piano technique master and protagonist of the documentary "Pianomania"). He continued to educate himself the craft of piano making at Steinway Hamburg. A passionate chamber musician, he is a member of the Beethoven Trio Bonn. Also a highly regarded writer, he regularly writes articles for magazines and newspapers in Korea. Lee is currently a faculty member at the Korea National University of Arts.

The German pianist and music manager Florian Koltun studied at university of music in Cologne and at the University of Music Trossingen by Prof. Ilja Scheps and Tomislav Baynov.

He had Masterclasses also with prestigious teachers like B. L. Gelber or G. Rosenberg. His active concert work started at the age of 14 when already calling attention to himself by winning several first prizes at the German competition Jugend musiziert as well as the national Bach Competition in Köthen.

He is first prize winner of several international piano competitions, like the piano competition in Caraglio / Italy, the international piano competition for young pianists in Luxembourg, the Henri Herman Concours in Maastricht / Netherland or the international piano competition “Notes in harmony” in Bettona / Italy.

Florian Koltun is regularly a welcome guest at diverse well-known concert places in Germany, Belgium, Netherland, Italy, France, Spain or China. He performed recitals in prestigious places such as the Alte Oper Frankfurt, Berliner Philharmonie, Thürmer-Saal Bochum or Schloss Koethen.

He is artistic director diffrent concert series and festivals in Germany (Heinsberg, Aachen, Windeck, Geilenkirchen, Boltenhagen and Monschau) and gave several masterclasses at different music universities in China and Europe since 2012. From 2015 until 2017 he was teaching piano at the music university Cologne.