Third round jury
Christine Anderson, a native of Berlin, graduated in the violin in Dresden and musicology and Italian literature in Hamburg, Bologna and Berlin. Her dissertation on the Italian avant-garde music of the 20th century included extensive research in Rome. Since 2006, she has been active as a producer in the musical section of the Deutschlandfunk Kultur public radio station. Her activities include the regular “Musikfeuilleton” musical program, searches for new talent, the leadership of the “Debüt im Deutschlandfunk Kultur” concert cycle, the holding of concerts of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the production of recordings and so on.
Jakub Hrůša is one of the most active and influential representatives of Czech musical culture and the Czech school of conducting in the world. He is a regular guest of leading orchestras in Europe and the USA. He is currently the principal conductor at the Bamberg Symphony and the principal guest conductor at the Czech Philharmonic and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a regular guest at the Glyndebourne opera festival, at the State Opera House in Vienna, the Royal Opera in London, the Opéra national de Paris or the Frankfurt Opera and occasionally also at Czech opera houses. He has received the BBC Music Magazine’s Award for his recording of works by Dvořák and Martinů, as well as for a DVD recording of the opera Vanessa from Glyndebourne. In 2020, the Academy of Classical Music awarded him the Antonín Dvořák Prize
The violinist Václav Hudeček began his astonishing international career as a fifteen-year-old when he performed in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was a pupil of the legendary David Oistrakh, whose legacy he still follows. Since his London debut, he has performed on the most prestigious stages throughout the world and with leading orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker or the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. He is often invited to significant international festivals, including those in Salzburg, Istanbul and Helsinki. His recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (1992) is still the most successful recording in the Czech Republic and the performer has received a gold and platinum disc for it. He systematically supports the up-and-coming generation of Czech performers.
The polish pianist Ewa Kupiec performs at leading international festivals, holds master classes throughout Europe, is a jury member for a number of renowned competitions and works as a piano teacher. Her partners on concert stages have included Neeme Järvi, Stanisław Skrowaczewski or Marin Alsop and orchestras such as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic or Orchestre de Paris. She specialises in the performance of contemporary music and a number of composers have even dedicated works to her. She also has a number of CDs to her name that have been released with Solaris, Sony and Hänssler. She was elected as a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in July 2018.
Andrew Marriner was the principal clarinet at the London Symphony Orchestra from 1986 to 2019 and at the same time, performed solo and chamber concerts all around the world . He was also a member of the famed Academy of St Martin in the Fields orchestra. He has worked with significant soloists such as Alfred Brendel, André Previn, András Schiff, Lynn Harrell, Emmanuel Ax, Hélène Grimaud, Sylvia McNair and Edita Gruberová, and with many leading string quartets. He currently also performs with Magdalena Kožená. He has recorded the core clarinet repertoire for various record companies. He is a prolific teacher and often sits on juries for international competitions.
The Israeli-Russian trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov is one of the most sought after trumpet players on the international scene. He has been gifted with the combination of virtuosity, a delicate and velvety sound and a deep sensitivity for expression. Nakariakov has often been called the “Paganini of the trumpet” or the “Caruso of the trumpet”. He has developed long-standing relationships with many of the world’s most highly respected orchestras, conductors (including Valery Gergiev, Christoph Eschenbach and Neville Marriner) and soloists (Vadim Repin, Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky and others). His wide repertoire not only covers the entire range of original literature for the trumpet, but also a number of arrangements by contemporary composers. Nakariakov has single-handedly brought the fluegelhorn to prominence on the concert platform. His recordings for Teldec Classics always garner great enthusiasm from the critics.
The Russian oboist and conductor Alexei Ogrintchouk studied in Moscow and Paris and performed as an oboist in Russia, Europe and Japan from the tender age of 13. He is the winner of a series of international competitions, including the prestigious international CIEM competition in Geneva. He was appointed the first solo oboist at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam in 2005. Before that he held the same position with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from the age of 20. As a soloist, he has performed under the baton of the conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Valery Gergiev, Fabio Luisi, Daniel Harding or Andris Nelsons. As a conductor, he has worked with the Mariinsky Orchestra, Bruxelles Philharmonic, Monte-Carlo Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra amongst others. He also dedicates himself to chamber music and recording. He is professor of oboe at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva.
The violinist and conductor Dmitry Sitkovetsky has cooperated with a number of the world’s leading orchestras (including the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Berlin Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony), conductors (Sir Colin Davis, Mariss Jansons and Sir Neville Marriner) and soloists (Martha Argerich, Pinchas Zukerman and Mischa Maisky) throughout his music career. He is famous for his transcriptions of many works from Bach to Desyatnikov. Sitkovetsky has made around forty recordings from a wide–ranging repertoire. His diverse activities include directing music festivals, presenting TV programs, conducting interviews, giving masterclasses and participating as a jury member for international competitions. During the Pandemic he produced 15 distant video-recordings with his NES Virtual Ensemble which reached an audience of more than 250,000 viewers.
The pianist Milan Langer graduated from the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. At the age of seventeen, he won the Chopin competition in Mariánské Lázně and he received other laureate titles and diplomas at prestigious competitions in Bolzano, Moscow and Santander or at the Prague Spring competition throughout the remainder of his studies. He has received widespread attention for his solo recordings of the piano works of A. Reicha and V. J. Tomášek. He has been a solo piano and chamber music teacher at the Prague Conservatory since 1998 and he leads piano courses and seminars in the Czech Republic and abroad. He has been a member of the Czech Trio since 1994, with which he has recorded a number of award-winning recordings for Supraphon, Arco Diva and others.
The pianist Ivo Kahánek is one of the most successful current Czech performers. After graduating from the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, he continued his education at the renowned Guildhall School in London. At the age of twenty-five, he became the absolute winner of the Prague Spring International Music Competition. In addition to solo performances, he also performs at home and abroad with renowned orchestras and conductors. In November 2014, he performed with the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle as only the second Czech pianist in history to perform with this orchestra. He has released a number of award-winning recordings with the works of Fryderyk Chopin, Leoš Janáček and so on. The prestigious British BBC Music Magazine named his CD of Dvořák and Martinů piano concertos the recording of the year.