Jury

Born in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Martha Argerich began learning piano at the age of five with Vincenzo Scaramuzza. A child prodigy, she soon was giving public performances, before moving to Europe in 1955 to continue her education in London, Vienna and Switzerland, with Friedrich Gulda, Nikita Magaloff, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and Stefan Askenase. In 1957, she won the piano competitions in Bolzano and Geneva, and in 1965 the Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Ever since, she has been regarded as one of the world’s finest pianists. She is particularly highly regarded for her interpretations of the virtuoso piano literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Her broad repertoire notably includes works by Bach, Bartók, Beethoven, Messiaen, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, Franck, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. Argerich works continually with the most outstanding orchestras, conductors and festivals in the world. Chamber music also plays an important part in her artistic activities. She regularly performs and records with pianists Nelson Freire and Alexandre Rabinovitch, cellist Mischa Maisky and violinist Gidon Kremer.

Since 1998, she has been Artistic Director of the Beppu Festival, Japan. In 1999, she created the International Piano Competition and the Martha Argerich Festival in Buenos Aires, followed by the Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano, in 2002.

Her many awards and distinctions include Officer (1996) and Commander (2004) of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia Award (1997), the Order of the Rising Sun with Gold Rays and Rosette from the Emperor of Japan and the prestigious Praemium Imperiale of the Japanese Arts Association (2005).

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.

He stood out the international music world at the age of eleven winning 1st Prize at the Jugend für Mozart International Competition in Salzburg.

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 (London Philharmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonique de Radio France, Sinfonica de Madrid) 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.

Martín García García is a pianist born in Gijón, Spain. He began his musical studies at the age of 5, with his teachers Natalia Mazoun and Ilyà Goldfarb. Graduated from Reina Sofía School of Music, he studied there for more than a decade with Galina Eguiazarova -receiving from Her Majesty the Queen Sofía the prize for the Best Student of the chair-, he is also Master in Piano by Mannes School of Music in New York.

Martín has won first prize in several national and international
competitions, highlighting his victory at 2021 Cleveland International
Piano Competition, and his 3rd Prize at XVIII International Chopin
Piano Competition (and the special award for the Best Concerto), the
most relevant competition on the world stage. Furthermore, he got
the 1 st Prize at 2018 International Keyboard Institute & Festival, held
in New York, which allowed him to obtain the scholarship with which
he was able to establish himself there. He resided in New York City
for the past two years completing his artistic training with the
distinguished pianist Mr. Jerome Rose.

He has given concerts as a soloist in venues around Europe and
United States, receiving very positive reviews from musicians and
pianists of the stature of Vladimir Kraniev, Dmitri Alexeev, Arcadi
Volodos, Dimitri Bashkirov, Joaquín Achúcarro or Tatiana Copeland
(Sergei Rachmaninov’s grandniece), among others. He has also been
invited to the International Ruhr Piano Festival under the sponsorship
of Maestro Radu Lupu.

After all the success of the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, held
during October 2021, Martin has planned several tours in Japan,
Europe, and USA.

Cédric Pescia – who performs his jury duties both in the jury and the preselection jury – is pianist of dual French and Swiss nationality, was born in Lausanne. He studied with Dominique Merlet at the Conservatoire de Musique in Geneva and with Klaus Hellwig at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. In addition he has studied with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Daniel Barenboim, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Christian Zacharias and with the Alban Berg Quartet. From 2003 until 2006 he was invited to attend the famous International Piano Academy, Lake Como (Italy) where he worked with Dimitri Bashkirov, Leon Fleisher, William Grant Naboré, Menahem Pressler, Andreas Staier and Fou Ts’ong. Cédric Pescia was the brilliant First Prize Winner (Gold Medalist) at the 2002 Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition in Salt Lake City (USA). Concert tours have taken him throughout Europe, Asia, North and South America. He has performed at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Hamburg Laieszhalle, the Mozarteum Salzburg, Carnegie Hall New York, Paris Philharmonie, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Tokyo Sumida Triphony Hall, Wigmore Hall London, Tonhalle Zürich, Vienna Konzerthaus and has appeared in leading music festivals such as: Prague Spring Festival, Lucerne Festival, Menuhin Festival-Gstaad, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg. In 2012 he was appointed professor for piano at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève. He is giving master classes in the USA and in Europe, a.o. at the Accademia Pianistica Internazionale “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola, Italy. Cédric Pescia is founding member and artistic director of the Lausanne chamber music series Ensemble enScène. He is the chairman of the artistic committee of the Geneva International Music Competition. For Claves Records, AEON, La Dolce Volta, BIS, Genuin, he has recorded works by J. S. Bach, F. Couperin, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Debussy, Busoni, Enescu, Messiaen, Cage, Suslin, Gubaidulina. These CDs have been acclaimed by the press.

Magdalena Hirsz – who performs her jury duties both in the jury and the preselection jury – a Polish pianist of Asian descent has been impressing audiences, critics and fellow performers alike with her vibrant pianism and sensitive musicality. She is prized for command of a rich and vivid tonal palette, and a virtuosity that is allied to intuitive and thoughtful interpretation. Among highlights of recent seasons have been recital engagements in Europe, Asia and Latin America. She has appeared at choice festivals including Septembre Musical and Lourmarin with different interactive projects as the G. Mancini, Béjart ballet or with the contemporary painters and photographers.

Magdalena Hirsz began her musical studies in Poland at the Music School and at the age of 14 she gave her first public concert performing Chopin and her own improvisations. On her 18th birthday she became a student in Geneva Music Conservatory in Switzerland. She nevertheless continued to study, musicology at the University of Geneva, then at the the Academy of Music in Łódź, Warsaw and Viena. Magdalena Hirsz’s repertoire is an eclectic mix of music from the Classical period to contemporary music. She has recorded 2 CDs. Besides, she has been developing a parallel career as a pedagogue: she was in charge of the piano class and chamber music at the Institut International de Lancy in Geneva, at Rene Gościnny French High School in Warsaw, the F. Chopin Music Conservatory in Warsaw, St. George’s International school in Montreux and Ecole de Musique in Villeneuve.

Magdalena is also a creator and artistic director of three Winter Piano Festivals in Warsaw, International Piano Competition for Youth “Jeune Chopin” in Lugano and the President of F. Chopin Institute in Switzerland.