Jury

People's Artist of Russia. Laureate of the State Prize of Russia.

Born in 1975 in Irkutsk, he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied under the guidance of professors Alexey Nasedkin and Sergey Dorensky. He rose to prominence as one of the most distinguished pianists of his generation after a triumphant win at the Tchaikovsky International Competition in 1998.

He has performed with renowned orchestras like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, among others. He has also collaborated with many illustrious conductors, including the likes of Valery Gergiev, Zubin Mehta, and Lorin Maazel.

Since 1995 he has been a soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic. In 2004 he introduced the "Soloist Denis Matsuev" subscription. He holds the title of Honorary Professor at Moscow University and serves as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO.

Denis is the head of the "New Names" charity foundation and directs the Grand Piano Competition in Moscow as well as Astana Piano Passion. He has been recognized with the Order of Honor and a prize from the Government of the Russian Federation. His discography includes recordings for labels like RCA Red Seal, Sony Classical, and Deutsche Grammophon.

In 2021 he became the first Russian musician to win in the "Best Video Recording" category at the ICMA, for his performance of Rachmaninoff's program with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Chailly.

He served as the Chairman of the Jury for the "Piano" category at the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2019, and as the artistic director of the first Rachmaninoff International Competition of Pianists, Composers, and Conductors in 2022.

Since claiming victory and a Gold Medal at the Fourth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1973, Vladimir Viardo has earned the esteem of the public and his colleagues alike. Having risen to international prominence, he has distinguished himself with some of the most critically acclaimed performances and recordings of his generation, inspiring many, including Sviatoslav Richter and Alicia de Larrocha, to praise him for his extraordinary musicianship. In the years that followed, Viardo collaborated with the world’s leading orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic, Leningrad Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Prague Philharmonic, and many others. Like a handful of other celebrated Soviet artists, from dancer Nuryeev to mathematician Egorov, Viardo’s journey to the West began under an ominous political cloud. No matter that, by the time he was 23, his future was already assured with impeccable credentials, several additional competition wins, including a top prize at the Concours Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud in Paris, and a command of more than 37 concertos, Viardo fell victim to demands of the Soviet authorities. Detained behind the Iron Curtain, Viardo threw himself into his work, only to emerge with even greater determination, now buttressed by exemplary artistic refinement, to bring his art to music lovers everywhere. With the onset of Perestroika, the Soviets at last allowed Viardo to accept engagements in Germany and the United States. In 1989 the North Texas College of Music appointed Viardo to its distinguished faculty, where he soon established a reputation as an extraordinary coach and teacher. His roster of students includes young artists from Europe, the Americas, South Africa, and Asia, many of them competition winners themselves. Viardo's master classes are much in demand throughout the world, and his philosophy of teaching is detailed in Benjamin Saver’s The Most Wanted Piano Teachers in the USA. After returning to the West, Viardo’s international career resumed with several concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln and Kennedy centers, Salle Pleyel, and the Concertgebouw. His concert tours have taken him to leading American, Canadian, and European cities, to Asia and South Africa, as well as to Israel and Central and South America, where he has appeared as a soloist with most of the important conductors in the world, not the least of whom are Mehta, Maazel, Davies, Susskind, Shippers, Kondrashin, Spivakov, Giordano, and M. Shostakovich. His numerous recordings for Melodia, Pro Arte and Nonesuch have been greeted with unanimous critical acclaim.

Honored Artist of Russia Born in 1942 in Kiev, Victor Eresko is a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied piano under professors Yakov Flier, Lev Vlasenko, and Lev Naumov. He is a laureate of the International Long-Thibaud Competition in Paris (1963; I prize) and the International Tchaikovsky Competition (1966; III prize). He has performed in cities across the USSR, Europe, Japan, and the USA, giving solo concerts. He has played in some of the world's premier venues, including the Salzburg Festival, the Concertgebouw, Lincoln Center, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Châtelet Theater, and the Salle Pleyel in Paris. He has collaborated with leading orchestras around the world under the baton of renowned conductors such as Kirill Kondrashin, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Fedoseev, Valery Gergiev, Paavo Berglund, Kurt Masur, etc. His discography includes more than 40 records, encompassing all piano concertos by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, a cycle of Liszt's Transcendental Etudes, and more. The works of Rachmaninoff hold a special place in Victor’s repertoire: on the composer's 100th birth anniversary, he performed all of Rachmaninoff's solo piano works, including world premieres of some transcriptions, in Moscow. Victor Eresko has served as a jury member for various international competitions, including the ARD Competition in Munich and the Long-Thibaud Competition in Paris. He is a knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Hideko Kobayashi, a pianist and teacher born in Tokyo, has been closely connected to Russian culture from childhood, which is reflected in her music education. In Japan, she studied piano with Nobuko Funayama and Hiroko Nakamura, and in Russia with Evgeny Mogilevsky, Assanetta Egisserian, Boris Romanov, and – at the Moscow Conservatory – with Lev Naumov. She completed her music studies under Noel Flores at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. After returning to Japan, she graduated from the Faculty of Letters at Keio University in Tokyo. Hideko Kobayashi is currently a professor and Head of piano at Tokoha University College in Shizuoka, Japan, and has taught at Ferris University in Yokohama. Among her students several prize winners at international and Japanese piano competitions. She is frequently invited to be on the jury of international competitions such as the E. Gilels Competition in Odessa, the Artobolevsky Competition in Moscow, the Music and Earth Competition in Sofia, the Ricardo Viñes Junior Competition in Lleida, Spain, the Alexei Nasedkin Competition in Yaroslavl (jury chair). She was also on the jury of Kawai competition in Japan. Hideko Kobayashi has performed with orchestras, chamber ensembles and as a soloist in Austria, Japan, Russia, and Bulgaria.

Born in 1936 in Shanghai, he studied under Alfred Wittenberg and Tatyana Kravchenko at the Leningrad Conservatory. He is an awardee of the International Smetana Competition and the Prague Spring Festival (1957), and the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw (1960). He emerged victorious at the International Enescu Piano Competition in Bucharest (1958). Li Ming Qiang has performed across Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania. He has been a jury member at numerous major international piano competitions, including those in Beijing, Montreal, Hong Kong, Warsaw (Chopin), Fort Worth (Van Cliburn), Bucharest (Enescu and Lipatti), St. Petersburg (Prokofiev), Tel Aviv (Arthur Rubinstein), Hamamatsu, and the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition, among others. Since 1989, he has lectured and conducted master classes at many leading universities, conservatories, and music schools in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Europe, Australia, and the United States. He served as a piano professor (since 1983) and vice-president (1984-1989) of the Shanghai Conservatory. He is a lifetime member of the American Liszt Society and an honorary member of Trinity College in London. His recordings have been released by Electrecord (Romania), Supraphon (Czech Republic), Alpha Omega (Hong Kong), and China Records.

Born in 1939, he is a distinguished pianist who embarked on his musical journey at Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music before furthering his education at the Moscow Conservatory (Professor Samuil Feinberg). He was internationally recognized when he became a laureate at the International Liszt Piano Competition in Hungary (1956), and at the First Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow (1958; II Prize). He has appeared on stages worldwide and collaborated with renowned conductors like Kirill Kondrashin, Seiji Ozawa, and Lorin Maazel. A milestone in his musical journey was his bestselling recording of Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, led by Seiji Ozawa. Since 1964, his influence extended beyond the stage, becoming a delegate at the National People's Congress and a deputy head of the Artistic Council in the Department of Culture of China. Presently, he is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, serves as the permanent director of the Society for the Promotion of Chinese Culture, and is president of the Hong Kong Association of Literature and Art. He holds honorary professorships at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and other respected conservatories across China. He has presided over numerous national piano competitions in China and served as a jury member in significant international competitions, including the Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and Van Cliburn competitions. Alongside these commitments, he maintains a vibrant concert schedule, giving more than 70 performances annually. His enduring commitment to music education is evident in his work over the past two decades. Over 100 Liu Shih Kun Piano & Arts Centres, along with eight Liu Shih Kun Music and Art Kindergartens, have been established throughout China, demonstrating his dedication to cultivating the country's next generation of musical talents.

Born in Leningrad. At the age of thirteen, he made his debut with the Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic under the baton of Dmitry Kitaenko. Graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he was an intern assistant later (class of Professor Lev Naumov). In 1990 he subsequently trained at the Juilliard School with Bella Davidovich, took lessons from Marta Argerich. Prize-winner at international piano competitions in Tokyo (1989), UNISA competition in Pretoria (1992), in Porto (1995). A recipient of the Angel Awards at the Edinburgh Festival (1997), a recipient of the Rachmaninoff Foundation Prize. Since 1991 he has been a student of and assistant to Alexander Toradze at his piano studio at the Indiana University South Bend. He regularly gives recitals in the best halls of Europe, Asia, Australia, North and South America: Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, Salzburg, Edinburgh, Ravinia, and other venues. As a soloist he has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestras, the Orchestre National de France, the Russian National Orchestra, the Mariinsky Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Novaya Rossiya State Symphony Orchestra, the Svetlanov State Symphony Orchestra of Russia. Collaborates with such conductors as Valery Gergiev, Mikhail Pletnev, Seiji Ozawa, Leif Segerstam, Paavo Järvi, Yuri Bashmet. Honorary Professor and director of the piano programme of Zhejiang University (Shanghai). An artistic consultant to the Jiangsu Centre for the Performing Arts in Nanjing, organized the performances by Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Denis Matsuev, Anna Netrebko, Leonidas Kavakos, the Vienna, Munich and New York Philharmonics. Holder of the title Best foreign expert and the China government's Friendship Award for 1000 talents.

Ick Choo Moon grew up in the USA and Canada as well as in his native South Korea, and studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and with György Sebők at Indiana University Bloomington where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees with highest distinction. Later received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School where he worked with Sascha Gorodnitzki. Recipient of numerous awards including those from the Montreal and Geneva international competitions and the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. In 1989, he gave a critically acclaimed New York recital debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall as winner of the William Petschek Award. Since making his US debut with the Minnesota Orchestra under Stanisław Skrowaczewski, Moon has performed as a soloist with the Montreal, Toronto, and Winnipeg symphony orchestras, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra, the KBS Symphony Orchestra (Seoul), the Korean National Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and others. He has also given recitals in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Russia, France, Japan, and South Korea. Currently Professor Emeritus of Piano at Seoul National University, Moon has also taught at UCLA where he headed the Piano Department and at the University of Southern California. During the summers, he has taught and performed at Brevard Music Center, the Chautauqua Institution, the Festival MusicAlp in France and at numerous festivals in South Korea.

People's Artist of Russia Born in 1958 in Bashkiria. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory (Professor Alexey Nasedkin). He is a laureate of international competitions: pianists in Montreal (1980), Tchaikovsky Competition (1982), winner of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition (UK, 1987), after which he made a triumphant debut in London. He has been a soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic since 1995. He has performed in Russia, Europe, and the USA with solo programs and with major orchestras, among them: the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Svetlanov State Symphony of Russia, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Montreal, Tokyo. He has worked with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, James Conlon, Evgeny Svetlanov, Georg Solti, Vladimir Fedoseyev. He participated in the Edinburgh and Cheltenham festivals, "BBC Proms" (UK), and other prestigious festivals. He taught piano at the Royal Northern College of Music in the UK (1993-1996). In 2011-2016 he was the director of the Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory. Since 2001 he has been an invited professor at Sakuyo University (Japan), since 2005 – a professor at the Faculty of Arts of Moscow University. Currently, he is a professor at the Moscow Conservatory and the head of the piano department at the Russian Gnesin Academy of Music. He is a jury member of prestigious international competitions, including the Viana da Mota competition in Lisbon, the Busoni competition in Italy, the Paderewski competition in Poland, the Grand Piano Competition, the Rachmaninoff Competition for Pianists, Composers, and Conductors, the Tchaikovsky International Competition. He is the chairman of the jury of the All-Russian Music Competition in the piano category.

Honored Artist of Russia Professor Born in 1961 in Moscow, he graduated from the Central Music School (class of Anna Artobolevskaya) and the Moscow Conservatory (class of Professor Alexey Nasedkin). As a concert pianist, he performed in all major cities of the USSR, as well as in countries of Europe and Asia. He is a recognized chamber performer and has been a long-term partner in duets with People's Artists of Russia Mikhail Khomitzer, Marine Yashvili and many others. He worked at the Department of Special Piano at the Moscow Conservatory (1994–2016), and since 2009 he has been a professor at the department. He has been teaching at the Central Music School since 1984, since 2001 – head of the special piano department, since 2016 – director of the Central Music School, since 2022 – rector of the Central Music School – Academy of Performing Arts. Under his leadership, according to the decree of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin, unique educational projects in the regions were opened: branches of the Central Music School "Baltic", "Siberian", "Primorsky". He is a renowned teacher. More than 150 times, students of Professor Pyasetsky became laureates of international and all-Russian competitions. A special place is occupied by Denis Matsuev - the winner of the P.I. Tchaikovsky International Competition (1998). He is a jury member of the Grand Piano Competition, Astana Piano Passion, P.I. Tchaikovsky and S.V. Rachmaninoff International Youth Competitions, S.V. Rachmaninoff International Competition for Pianists, Composers and Conductors, the Central Music School International Competition, and the "Constellation" All-Russian Competition for Young Musicians.

Born in Vietnam in 1966, Ta Quang Dong initially studied at the Vietnam Academy of Music (class of Professor Tran Thu Ha) before pursuing further studies at the Moscow Conservatory (class of Professors Nina Yemelyanova and Viktor Bunin) and the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music (class of Professors Boris Berlin, Tamara Rusanova and Irina Susidko). Doctor of Arts. He has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician in Russia, Vietnam, and the United States, with broadcasts of his performances reaching national and international audiences. Ta Quang Dong co-founded several international piano competitions and festivals in Vietnam. He served as the Vice-Rector of the Hue Academy of Music and the Rector of the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music, with many of his students winning awards at international and national piano competitions. Since 2019, he has served as the Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism for the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

He was born in Hohensalza. While studying the piano with Eliza Hansen in Hamburg and Wilhelm Kempff in Positano, Justus Frantz studied the conducting with Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg. He won the attention of a large audience as a prizewinner at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in 1967. When Herbert von Karajan engaged the young pianist in 1970, he achieved his international breakthrough. Tours with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Czech Philharmonic through France, Germany, and Austria as well as appearances at the Salzburg Festival followed. In 1986, Justus Frantz founded the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and was its Artistic Director for many years. He has made it one of the most important festivals in Europe and created a format that has become the model for numerous other festival foundations. For 10 years, the conductor directed and hosted the successful television show “Achtung! Klassik”, for which he was awarded the Golden Camera in 1993. Justus Frantz is Artistic Director of the Philharmonie der Nationen, which he founded in 1995 and was co-inspired by Leonard Bernstein and Yehudi Menuhin. With this collective, he has performed in more than 1,000 concerts. Regularly works with renowned orchestras around the world, such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Orchestre de Paris, the Mariinsky Orchestra, the China, Japan, and London philharmonic orchestras, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, etc. His annual Finca Festival “Frantz & Friends” on Gran Canaria has been one of the “insider tips” of international musical life for years.

People's Artist of the USSR Violinist, teacher, conductor, one of the bright symbols of the Russian violin school. As a student at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of the legendary Yuri Yankelevich, he became the winner of the Tchaikovsky International Competition in 1966. From this time on, his rapid performing career began. The musician's concerts are always successful. The geography of his tours includes the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Austria, Poland, Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Spain, the Scandinavian countries, and Latin America. The core of his repertoire consists of 19th-century violin concertos (Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bruch, Tchaikovsky); his interpretations of 20th-century works, primarily by Shostakovich and Prokofiev, are considered exemplary. Victor Tretyakov is the chairman of the jury for numerous international competitions. He has raised a galaxy of outstanding violinists as a professor at the Moscow Conservatory and the Cologne University of Music. From 1983 to 1991, he headed the USSR State Chamber Orchestra. He is a recipient of numerous awards. Knight of the Order of Friendship of Peoples, "For Merit to the Fatherland" III degree, artist of UNESCO. Honorary citizen of Krasnoyarsk.

Having spent much of his childhood in Venezuela where he played as soloist with many of the country’s leading orchestras, Baráti returned to Budapest to study at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and was later mentored by Eduard Wulfson, himself a student of Nathan Milstein and Yehudi Menuhin. Baráti has performed at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, at London’s Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Has played with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC Philharmonic and Hague Philharmonic orchestras. He performs regularly with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra both in Russia and on tour around the world including in the USA and China. A regular recital and chamber music player, Baráti has performed with Mischa Maisky, Yuri Bashmet, Enrico Pace, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Zoltán Kocsis, and Kim Kashkashian among others. In 2016, he made a sensational debut at the Verbier Festival when he performed the complete solo sonatas and partitas of Bach and has since been back every year. He is Artistic Director of the Kaposvár International Chamber Music Festival. Baráti has an extensive discography which includes the five Mozart concertos, the complete Beethoven and Brahms sonatas with Klára Würtz, and Ysaÿe solo sonatas for Brilliant Classics as well as Bach’s sonatas and partitas for solo violin on the Berlin Classics label. Baráti plays Stradivarius’ “Lady Harmsworth” (1703), by kind arrangement with the Stradivarius Society (Chicago).

People’s Artist of the USSR (1991). Laureate of the State Prize of the USSR (1986), the State Prizes of Russia (1994, 1996, 2001). Hero of Labor (2022) Yuri Bashmet transformed the viola into a dazzling solo instrument, greatly expanded its repertoire, including works specifically written for the musician. For the first time in world performance practice, he gave solo viola concerts in the world’s largest halls, including Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, the Barbican Hall, the Philharmonie Berlin, La Scala, Suntory Hall, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and others. He collaborated with many distinguished conductors, among them Rafael Kubelik, Seiji Ozawa, Valery Gergiev, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Colin Davis, John Eliot Gardiner, Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, Nikolaus Harnoncourt. As a soloist and conductor, he performs with the best orchestras: the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker, the New York Philharmonic, the orchestras of the Bavarian Radio and the Radio France, the Chicago and Boston symphony orchestras, and others. In 1985, he began conducting. Yuri Bashmet is the founder of the only International Viola Competition in Russia – in Moscow. He is the artistic director of 15 festivals in eight countries of the world, and the founder of the All-Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra (2012). Since 1978, he has been teaching at the Moscow Conservatory, currently – a professor and head of the Viola Department. Recipient of awards from Russia and other countries: knight of the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland” II, III, and IV degrees (2002, 2013), officer of the Order of Arts and Literature (1999), commander of the Legion of Honor (2003), commander of the Italian Republic (2000). He is the laureate of the Award-1993 in the nomination "Best Musician-Instrumentalist of the Year", Sonnings Musikfond Prize (1995).

Born in 1953 in Riga, he played his first solo concert at the Riga Conservatory at the age of nine. He studied at the Leningrad Conservatory (Mikhail Vaiman) and at the Moscow Conservatory (Igor Bezrodny). In the 1970s, he furthered his studies in Western Europe with Nathan Milstein, Yehudi Menuhin, Henryk Szeryng, and Miriam Solovieff. He is a laureate of the Paganini International Violin Competition and the violin competition in Zagreb, and laureate of the Grand Prix des Beaux Arts in Munich. He has performed solo and in ensembles with such great musicians as Natalia Gutman, Yuri Bashmet, Yehudi Menuhin, Ida Haendel, Dmitry Yablonsky, Valery Grokhovsky, Vadim Sakharov, and others. According to maestro Menuhin, "Eduard Wulfson's performance embodies the best of Russian traditions." For more than 30 years, he has been a leading consultant for unique string instruments such as those crafted by Antonio Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesu, and Nicolo Amati. He is the founder and director of the "Consultancy for Rare Musical Instruments" company in Geneva. He is known as an outstanding teacher. Many musicians who have studied with Eduard Wulfson have won major awards at the most prestigious international competitions in Paris, Brussels, Moscow, and Geneva. Among his students are Kristof Barati, Alexandra Conunova, Mark Bushkov, and since 2015 he has been working with Daniel Lozakovich and many others. He is a jury member of major international competitions.

Graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music Middle School in 1988. During his time there, he became a concertmaster with the China Junior Orchestra. Liu Zhiyong pursued higher education at the Central Conservatory of Music, graduating in 1992. Soon after, he embarked on an illustrious career as a concertmaster of the China Youth Symphony Orchestra. Simultaneously, he joined the National Centre for the Performing Arts. In 1996, Liu Zhiyong joined the China National Symphony Orchestra. He was subsequently selected for an opportunity to work with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. Since 2003, Liu Zhiyong has been an instrumental figure in the World Orchestra for Peace, representing the musical prowess of China as the sole musician from the country within the orchestra. The artist performed at prestigious venues across countries including Germany, Great Britain, Russia, China, Austria, the USA, Belgium, Hungary, the UAE, etc. He participated in the Salzburg Festival and the BBC Proms. Liu Zhiyong is currently serving as an assistant concertmaster of the China National Symphony Orchestra, an esteemed expert appointed by the Ministry of Culture, and a distinguished evaluator for the National Art Fund. With a remarkable career in the field of music, Liu Zhiyong also holds the prestigious role of Artistic Director for the “Charm of China” Arts Festival.

Born in 1984 in Perm, he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory and its postgraduate course (class of Vladimir Ivanov). He continued his education at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz and the Vienna Institute of Music and Performing Arts (class of Boris Kushnir). Pavel Milyukov is a laureate of numerous international competitions, including the Paganini Moscow International Violin Competition (2007), Astana Violin (2008), the Khachaturian International Competition (Yerevan, 2012), and the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition (Moscow - St. Petersburg, 2015). He leads an active concert life in Russia and abroad, performing in major concert halls with such orchestras as the Tchaikovsky Grand Symphony Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra, the Svetlanov State Symphony of Russia; under the direction of Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Spivakov, Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Fedoseev, James Conlon, and others. Since 2007, he has been a participant in the concert programs of the St. Petersburg House of Music. Since 2012, he has been a soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic. He has been a teacher at the violin department of the Moscow Conservatory since 2016. He runs the program for music performance art at the "Sirius" Educational Center (Krasnodar region). He plays on the ex-Szigeti Pietro Giovanni Guarneri violin. He was awarded the Order of Friendship in 2016.

Born in Bucharest in 1962, he studied at the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory in Bucharest (Ștefan Gheorghiu). From 1986 to 1992, he was the concertmaster of the Finnish National Opera Orchestra, followed by his tenure as the concertmaster of the Munich Philharmonic from 1992 to 2022. He has performed with distinguished conductors such as Sergiu Celibidache, Christian Thielemann, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, and Valery Gergiev. In 1996 he founded the Trio Celibidache, which toured extensively. In 2000, he became the first violin of the Berlin Philharmonic Octet. He performed as a violinist, soloist, and concertmaster with the "Philharmonic Virtuosos of Berlin," Sextet of the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Deutsche Sinfonietta Berlin. From 2004 to 2022 he led the Munich Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, with which he gave numerous concerts in different countries, including with well-known soloists such as Hélène Grimaud, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Nikolaj Znaider, David Fray, Martin Stadtfeld, Vadim Repin, Nikolai Lugansky, Daniil Trifonov, Alexander Kantorov. In 2012 he founded the Octet of soloists of the philharmonic orchestras of Berlin, Munich, and Vienna. Since 2013 he has been leading the Mariinsky Stradivarius Ensemble. From 2022 he has been directing the Münchner Virtuosen chamber orchestra he founded. He was a professor at the Higher School of Music of the Basque Country (San Sebastian, 2014–2017), and taught at the Sendzoku Gakuen Music College in Tokyo (2011–2019). He plays Antonio Stradivarius’ “ex-Heifetz” violin (1732), which was played by the young Jascha Heifetz.

People's Artist of Russia Born in 1971 in Novosibirsk, he was a student of Zakhar Bron. At the age of 11, he won the Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition and made his debut performances in Moscow and Leningrad. At 17 he became the youngest winner in the history of the most prestigious violin competition - the Queen Elisabeth International Competition in Brussels. By the age of 14 he had already performed in Tokyo, Munich, Berlin, and then at Carnegie Hall. Since then, he has been a constant presence on all major concert stages worldwide. Among his stage partners are Vladimir Ashkenazy, Pierre Boulez, Valery Gergiev, Christoph von Dohnányi, Charles Dutoit, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, Seiji Ozawa, Yuri Temirkanov, Christian Thielemann, Myung-Whun Chung, Riccardo Chailly, Martha Argerich, Itamar Golan, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, Denis Matsuev, and Alexander Knyazev. He was the first to perform several compositions by Sofia Gubaidulina, James MacMillan, Benjamin Yusupov, and Lera Auerbach. He is the founder and artistic director of the Trans-Siberian Art Festival (since 2014). The artist's discography includes over 30 albums, many of which have received awards such as the ECHO Award, Diapason d’Or, Prix Caecilia, and Edison Award. People's Artist of Russia. Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Winner of the prestigious French national award Victoires de la musique in the field of classical music (along with Mstislav Rostropovich, Montserrat Caballé, Evgeny Kissin, Anne-Sophie Mutter).

People's Artist of the Republic of Armenia, laureate of the State Prize of Armenia. Edward Tadevosyan was born in 1947 in Yerevan. He gave his first solo concert while being a fifth-grade student at the Yerevan Tchaikovsky Music School. In 1963, at the anniversary evening of Aram Khachaturian, Tadevosyan performed his violin concerto accompanied by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia at the composer's suggestion. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory under Leonid Kogan. He is the laureate of the International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition (1967), and the Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition (1969). From 1970, he was invited to the "Komitas" quartet as the second violin, and since 1976 to this day, he is the first violin and artistic director of the ensemble. Alongside active quartet activity, he performed as a solo violinist in the USSR and abroad. He headed the String Instruments Department at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory (1988-1998). From 1986 to 2018, he was the dean of the Orchestra Department of this conservatory. He has repeatedly been the chairman of the jury of Republican and international competitions, including the IV International Khachaturian Violin Competition (2012). He plays a violin made by Pietro Guarneri. In 2010, he was awarded the Order of St. Mesrop Mashtots, and in 2018 - the Order for Merit to the Fatherland of the I degree.

Huang Bin, one of the most outstanding violinists from China, won 1st prize at the Junior International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition at the age of 14. She has maintained international prominence, winning both the International Violin Competition “Premio Paganini” in Genoa and the ARD International Music Competition in Munich. Huang Bin’s concert career has taken her throughout the world, playing with leading orchestras at important venues. In 2019, Huang Bin’s trio recording with Zhou Yubo (piano) and Alexander Suleiman (cello) won the OPUS KLASSIK prize in Germany. Huang’s live recording of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto on Paganini’s own violin, “Cannon”, released by the Dynamic label (2013), was praised by Diapason, calling it “an interpretation of the highest class”. Huang Bin’s Baroque Violin Favourites, released by Naxos (2003), was given the Editor’s choice in American Record Guide. Her recordings of The Christmas Story on Dynamic (2013), Complete Mozart Violin Sonatas on Vermeer (2017), Brahms Violin Sonatas on the NCPA Recording label (2023), and her live performance of the complete Mozart violin concertos with the Teatro Carlo Felice Orchestra (2017) have also won critical acclaim. Huang Bin is currently the chair of the Orchestral Instrument Department and the professor of violin at the China Conservatory of Music. She received her doctorate degree at the Eastman School of Music, where she worked later on as an associate professor of violin. Huang Bin also taught at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and was a jury member at the 53rd and 55th International Violin Competitions “Premio Paganini”.

Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1997) He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in the violin class (Maya Glezarova). He was an artist, then a principal of the group, and for five years - the director of the Great Symphony Orchestra of Central Television and All-Union Radio (now Tchaikovsky GSO) (1976–2002). As the director of the orchestra, he took part in organizing the recordings of more than 30 audio discs, filming dozens of video programs, organizing more than 300 concerts and festivals in cities of Russia, Austria, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, the United States, and Japan. Since 2003 he has been the general director of the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic. In 2008–2012 he headed the Department of State Support for Art and Folk Creativity of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. In May 2012 he returned to his previous position at the Moscow Philharmonic. President of the Union of Concert Organizations of Russia. He was awarded the Russian Government Prize for his contribution to domestic culture (2014), the Russian Order of Honor (2017), and the French Order of Arts and Literature (2019).

Born in Schorndorf (Baden-Württemberg, Germany), Wilfried Strehle studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart and the Hochschule für Musik Detmold – with Emil Kessinger, Ulrich Koch, and Tibor Varga. He initiated his orchestral career at the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and Tibor Varga Chamber Orchestra before joining the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1971.He began his career with the Berliner Philharmoniker directed by Herbert von Karajan, acting as the principal violist from 1984 until 2013. He was a founding member of the Brandis Quartet, which he was part of from 1976 onwards. He showcased his talent globally, both as a soloist and as part of various chamber ensembles of the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Philharmonic Friends Vienna–Berlin ensemble. His skills also led him to perform as a soloist with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra from 2013 to 2015. In 2001 he began imparting his knowledge at the Berlin University of Arts, later extending his pedagogy to the Herbert von Karajan Academy at the Berliner Philharmoniker. He also taught at the Barenboim–Said Academy in Berlin from 2017 to 2020. He conducted masterclasses at notable institutions such as the Salzburg Mozarteum Summer Academy, Yale University School of Music, as well as conservatories in Moscow, Tokyo, Beijing, and Shanghai. A great deal of chamber music has been recorded by Harmonia Mundi, ORFEO International, Teldec, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon and Nimbus Records. He was honored with the European Parliament's award in 1997 for his chamber music performances as part of the Trio Berlin which he founded.

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Mr. Bagratuni began his musical education there, studying with Zareh Sarkisyan. He continued his studies at the Moscow Conservatory with Natalia Shakhovskaya and taking lessons from Daniil Shafran. He is a Silver Medal winner at the 1986 Tchaikovsky Competition and in 1988, he won First prize in the Vittorio Gui Competition. In the United States he was awarded the Artist Diploma of the New England Conservatory of Music, studying with Professor Laurence Lesser. He has gone on to an international career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and recording artist. His recital and chamber music appearances have included guest invitations with international festivals in USA, Russia, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Korea, China and Taiwan. Mr. Bagratuni has commissioned and premiered numerous Concertos and works for cello and ensembles. Mr. Bagratuni has recorded for Centaur, Melodiya, CMH, BGR, and has been featured on CBC Radio Canada, the Bayerischer Rundfunk in Germany, and WNYC in New York, NPR, WGBH Radio in Boston, and NHK TV Japan. His discography consists of 20 CD and LP recordings including solo and ense