Judges

Meet the Panels of world class musicians

piano

James Adler

James Adler is a pianist who “can create whatever type of music he wants at the keyboard” (Chicago Sun-Times) and a composer who writes “with uncommon imagination” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Visit Website

Mark Berman
piano / Jazz

Mark Berman

An internationally renowned pianist, composer and arranger, Mark Berman has written music for, and played and recorded with Aretha Franklin, Phoebe Snow, Gladys Knight, Carole King, and others. He is on-camera bandleader and conductor for season 3 of the Emmy Award-winning “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”. Berman writes and produces music for television and film, and is a powerful presence on Broadway, conducting orchestras and playing lead piano and keyboards. His first violin concerto will premiere in 2022.

Visit Website

Pierre Beaudry
guitar / Baroque

Pierre Beaudry

Guitarist Pierre Beaudry performs through the world. His extensive concert career takes him to Europe, North America, China and South East Asia, where his solo performances are acclaimed both by the public and the press.
He has been on the music faculties of three universities in Quebec, Canada (Concordia, Bishop’s and Sherbrooke)

He was recently appointed as professor of guitar at the Tiziano Rossetti International Music Academy in Lugano, Switzerland.

Visit Website

David Coleman

trumpet

David Coleman

Coleman has taught and performed nationally and internationally for nearly 4 decades as a solo, chamber, commercial and orchestral musician. His career has taken him from Los Angeles to Carnegie Hall, from Seattle to Sarajevo, and from the mountains of West Virginia to the glaciers of Iceland, premiering new works by major composers and garnering numerous accolades.

Visit Website

Ka Long (Chris) Au

piano

Ka%20Long%20(Chris)%20Au%2C%201st%20Priz

From International to Virtual Concert Halls, Award-winning Australian pianist Ka Long (Chris) Au is always passionate and dedicated to bringing the gift of music to your ears through refinement and sincere communication

Whilst studying at the Colburn School and the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music, he was privileged to work with artists such as John Perry, David Louie, Ory Shihor, Leon Fleisher, Menahem Pressler, and Robert McDonald

Ka Long (Chris) Au

Visit Website

František Brikcius

cello

Czech cellist František Brikcius is the top-prize winner of the Anglo-Czech Competition (London), International String Competition (London), and the International String Competition (Jihlava).

He is an artistic director of the "Festival Brikcius" - Chamber Music Concert Series in Prague.

František Brikcius

Visit Website

Natalia Preziosi

composer

"Innovative", "Authentic", "The Only" - Maestro Preziosi is hailed by major magazines, TV and Radio Talk Shows in Italy, Vatican, USA, Germany, for her ballets, symphonic, and orchestral compositions. Her concertos and chamber music are performed and published around the world.

Natalia Preziozi

Natalia Preziosi

Visit Website

Soo Bae

cello

Soo Bae

A recording artist, cellist Soo Bae is an international soloist and chamber musician. She has performed in major venues around the world and has served as a judge for the Juilliard & Mannes school's concerto competition among others. Currently serves as a faculty to the Curtis Summerfest in Philadelphia.

Visit Website

Kelly Hall-Tompkins

Jong-hun Bae

conductor

Conducted throughout Asia, Europe, and North America, Jong-hun Bae is renowned for his excellence in breathing new life into the traditional repertoire, presenting new works by living composers, and charismatic state presence. To see full bio open here

Jong-hun Bae

Visit Website

Francis Wyatt

percussion

Fran%20Wyatt%20picture%20(1meg%20version

Francis Wyatt

Francis had the pleasure of performing and touring with Joe Henderson, Conrad Herwig, Tony Dumas, Rex Richardson, Stefon Harris & George Mraz.

He has also shared the stage with likes of Michael Brecker, Carl Fontana, Bobby Watson, & Arturo Sandoval.

Visit Website

Michał Szostak
organ

Doctor of Musical Arts in organ performance, acclaimed international concert organist, organologist and author of research books and articles, an Adjunct Professor of the Warsaw University of Social Sciences, a well-known lecturer and member of Royal College of Organists in United Kingdom.

Michal Szostak

Visit Website

Giacomo Franci
conductor

Giacomo Franci

Giacomo Franci is a Master Pianist and the Artistic Director of the New York Chamber Players Orchestra. He is a guest conductor of great orchestras such as The Beijing Symphony and Symphony Orchestra of Grosseto. Maestro Franci is world renowned as the leading interpreter of the music of Aaron Copland and Igor Stravinsky:

" He has a vast knowledge of music. His high level of piano skill is incomparable" - Silk Road (China)

Recently he signed a contract for Sheva Collection Record Company

Visit Website

Donna Weng Friedman

piano

Donna Weng Friedman

Award winning pianist Donna Weng Friedman enjoys a varied career as a soloist, chamber musician, teacher, producer, curator and app developer. Her new EP Heritage and Harmony: Silver Linings, featuring exclusively AAPI/BIPOC artists, aims to promote understanding and tolerance and combat racism, with all proceeds donated to supporting the AAPI community.

In collaboration with WQXR, Ms. Weng Friedman created and produced Heritage and Harmony, a virtual concert video series in celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month. She is the co-creator and co-host of HER/MUSIC;HER/STORY, a mini-series on WQXR as well as a concert series that shines a light on women composers, past and present

Visit Website

Elizabeth Mann

flute

Elizabeth Mann

Solo, Chamber, and Orchestra musician, Principal Flute with Grammy Award winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, member of Pulitzer Award winning ensembles, adjudicator, guest Principal flutist with NY Phil, Boston Symphony.

Visit Website

Avguste Antonov

piano

Bulgarian-born, trained in France and the United States, Avgust Antonov is concert pianist, pedagogue and juror for various competitions. He is faculty at the Conservatoire de Chateaubriant (France).

Avguste Antonov

Visit Website

Samuel Magill

cello

Cellist Samuel Magill has had a rich and varied career as soloist and chamber musician. His first Naxos CD of the Cello Concerto by Vernon Duke was hailed as "flat-out magnificent" by the American Record Guide

Samuel Magill

Visit Website

Peter Askim

conductor

Active as a composer, conductor and educator, Peter Askim is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Next Festival of Emerging Artists and conductor of the NC State and Raleigh Civic Orchestras. Called a “Modern Master” by the Strad, he is known for his music and his advocacy of composers and the artists of tomorrow.

Peter Askim

Visit Website

Jonathan Lane

double bass

Jonathan Lane

Jon Lane is active as a professional double bass player and teacher. Lane is presently Artists Director of the Westwood Ensemble and orchestra clinician for KC Strings. His former students have gone on the top music schools like Indiana University and Julliard, some have gone on to play in the Hong Kong and the Wichita Symphonies

Jonathan Lane

Visit Website

Robert Voisey

composer

Robert Voisey

New York Times acclaimed composer and producer. He is the founder of Vox Novus, 60x60 Dance, Composer’s Voice concerts, and Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame are just a few examples which have presented thousands of composers with more than 500 performances in over 30 countries.

Visit Website

Micah Yui

piano

A recipient of Canada Council grants, the Alberta Achievement Award and the Edmonton Civic Award, Ms Yui performed with Syracuse, Edmonton, Victoria, Montreal Metropolitan, and Baltimore Chamber orchestras. Her recording with the London Symphony won “Record of the Year” from Stereophile Magazine. Ms Yui on the piano faculty at the Colburn School

Micah Yui

Visit Website

Olivier Chassain
guitar

Olivier Chassain

French guitarist Olivier Chassain was born in Paris in 1957. Today, his triple professional activity makes him simultaneously lead a career as an active international concert performer, a career as composer who enjoys seeing his works performed and published, and a career as guitar teacher at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris ( Cnsmdp)

Visit Website

Yael Weiss
piano

Israeli-American pianist Yael Weiss has appeared internationally in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and the Bolshoi Hall. Her discography includes works by over a dozen composers. She has been awarded prizes from the Naumburg International Piano Competition and the Kosciusko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition, and served on the faculties of Indiana University and UCSB. Yael Weiss curates the “32 Bright Clouds” project, commissioning and performing Beethoven-related works in countries of conflict around the world, all unified through a message of peace.

Yael Weiss

Visit Website

Lehner String Quartet

Natasha Bogachek

violin

Zino Bogachek

violin

Philippe Chao

viola

Igor Zubkovsky

cello

Claire Eichhorn

clarinet

Clarinetist Claire Eichhorn, Artistic Director of the Ensemble da Camera of Washington, was born in Stuttgart. She has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Kennedy Center Orchestra, Baltimore Opera, Virginia Chamber Orchestra, Washington Concert Opera, National Gallery Orchestra and for ten years was a member of the Washington Chamber Symphony.

Claire Eichhorn

Visit Website

Michelle Kim
violin

Michelle Kim

As a violin soloist and member of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Ms. Kim has received acclaim as a performer on both acoustic and electric violin, a chamber musician and as a cultural activist.

Visit Website

Massimiliano Donninelli
conductor

Massimiliano Donninelli

One of the best international conductors of his generation, M. Donninelli collaborated with orchestras, artists as Luciano Berio and many composers and soloists worldwide. He recorded for RssSky, Rete A, Telequattro, RadioVaticana, RAI, UN Radio, Discovery Channel, RadioShalom, RTV-Slovenija, CBC, Rai, Rai-Slo, RNE, Rusty Records, Palomar Records, Radio-Moldova, RadioFrance.

Visit Website

Michelle Lynne
piano

Michelle Lynne

Canadian pianist Michelle Lynne enjoys an active career of performing, teaching, adjudicating and speaking. Having performed widely across Europe, she is the Artistic Director of Opus 16 Concerten in the Netherlands. She has facilitated workshops and coached musicians since 2016 and lectured at the college level on topics such as stage fright, creating a community online and preparing for performances. She is the co-founder of The Fearless Artist Mastermind, a coaching program that helps musicians create their own careers in the classical industry

Visit Website

Fred Karpoff

piano

Fred Karpoff received the MTNA Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy Award and is Professor of Piano at Syracuse University. A Steinway Artist and former USIA Artistic Ambassador, he is the artistic producer and founder of Entradapiano.com

Fred Karpoff

Visit Website

Mike Vaccaro
clarinet / saxophone

Mike Vaccaro is a freelance musician in greater Los Angeles, California. He is active in the fields of motion pictures, television, jingles, live theater, and classical, jazz, and pop concerts. Performing on a multitude of woodwind instruments including the clarinet, flute, saxophone, and oboe families his background and current performance activities are varied.

Mike Vaccaro

Visit Website

Angela Chan
piano

Angela Chan

Recognized as the great-grand student of Alfred Cortot (from the lineage of Frederyck Chopin),Dr. Angela Chan is an accomplished concert pianist who has performed extensively worldwide and has been featured on the Discovery Channel (Canada), Global TV, CBC, the Australian Television Network, CJAD, CJOH, RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) and other media networks

Visit Website

Anzel Gerber
cello

Anzel Gerber

Cellist, Anzél Gerber, is performing on internationally renowned stages
as soloist and chamber musician. Her passion for teaching served as
inspiration to obtain her PhD and to conduct post-doctoral research in
the field of cello training for gifted young cellists in Asia, USA and
Europe.

She regularly presents master classes at universities and
festivals

Visit Website

Galina Ivannikova

mezzo-soprano

Ukrainian born American operatic dramatic mezzo-soprano, voice teacher and diction coach is hailed by critics alike her rich, lustrous voice as much as her passionate dramatic portrayals. For the last few seasons, she sang the leading roles of Verdi and Wagner repertoire in many opera theaters in the USA. She gained her DMA (ABD) in the music performance at the UofM, TN and her students are successfully singing at the opera theaters all over the world

Galina Ivannikova

Visit Website

Annie Chang-Center
viola

Violist, pianist, educator and visual artist, Annie Chang-Center has performed in Europe, Asia and the U.S. as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician. Annie has performed as a piano soloist with major symphony orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. As a violist, she was a prize winner of the Irving Klein International String Competition, and has performed at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Olympic, Utah, Prague, Red Rocks, and Music In The Mountains Festivals where she has collaborated with members of the Juilliard, Guarneri, Emerson, Cleveland and Philadelphia string quartets. She has created multimedia presentations for live concerts and promotional videos for numerous orchestras and performing arts organizations.

Annie Chang-Center

Visit Website

John Paul Johnson

conductor

A conductor, singer, and teacher, John Paul Johnson has performed throughout the United States and Europe, on national television and public radio, and at national music conferences. He has been conductor-in-residence at the Chopin Academy of Music, Warsaw, and Trinity College of Music in London, and as a guest conductor/clinician/adjudicator of more than 700 festivals and workshops worldwide

John Paul Johnson

Emil Chudnovsky

violin

Emil Chudnovsky

Emil is an expert violin teacher, faculty of the Catholic University, and a juror for local, regional, and international competitions. Chudnovsky conducts master-classes in the United States, Mexico, South America, New Zealand, China and Japan. His students often perform with renowned orchestras.

Visit Website

Evangeline Benedetti

cello

A member of the New York Philharmonic for more than 40 years, Evangeline is widely recognized as a performer, educator, clinician and teacher of the cello and the Alexander Technique. Her innovative methods focus on achieving efficient movement for musical results. She is the author of Cello, Bow and You: Putting It All Together, published by Oxford University Press.

Evangeline Benedetti

Visit Website

Stanislav Pronin

violin

Stanislav Pronin

Violinist and composer Stanislav Pronin has performed in major venues across Europe, North and South America, China and Scandinavia. Appearances in festivals included Verbier, Kronberg, Banff, Parnu/Jaarvi Festival and Interlaken Classics. He recorded for WDR Radio Cologne, CBC Canada, Naxos/Sono Luminus, DaCapo and Decca

Visit Website

Alla Lowery
composer

A diverse composer Alla Lowery works in acoustic as well as midi and electronic composition styles

With more than 30 years of successful career of a classical pianist in Russia, Lithuania, and the US, Alla Lowery started working extensively with MIDI and samples, and it eventually became her next specialty.

Visit Website

Melanie Ragge
oboe

Oboist Melanie Ragge is a Founder member of the New London Chamber Ensemble

Dedicated teacher, recitalist, musicologist and chamber musician

Research interest in use of Electromyography to reduce strain injuries in performance

Visit Website

Devin Patrick Hughes
conductor

Devin Patrick Hughes is an American orchestral and operatic conductor of Irish and Guatemalan descent. He is concurrently serving as Music Director and Conductor of the Boulder Symphony and Arapahoe Philhar- monic.

Previously he has held artistic leadership positions with the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Youth Symphony Association, Denver Young Artists Orchestra, and Denver Philharmonic Orchestra

Visit Website

Catherine Julia Barrow
violin

Catherine Barrow fell in love with classical music at the age of 6 and from that point on there was no turning back. At the age of 15 she performed with a youth orchestra in Carnegie Hall while she was still studying with the principal second violin of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and from there moved to NYC to study with the world-famous Dorothy Delay. She moved to Mexico after college and fell in love with the people as well as the country

Visit Website

Zheyang "Jerry" Xiong
violin

Zheyang "Jerry" Xiong joined the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in September of 2020.

Recent performances include the Schubert C major Fantasy with pianist Alessandro Deljavana as well as being a featured soloist with Oberlin Orchestra in Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2

Visit Website