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).

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.
Aldo Ciccolini first recognized Pasquale Iannone’s talent when he was a young pianist at the Academy in Biella, praising his effortless sound, coherent musical speech, and freedom from mannerism. Ciccolini’s prediction was correct: Iannone has become a pianist capable not only of interpretation but also of tackling the most demanding virtuoso repertoire.
Iannone has achieved success in prestigious international competitions, including the Casella (Naples), Gina Bachauer (Salt Lake City), New Orleans, and Web Concert Hall International Competition (USA). His career spans recitals and solo performances with orchestras across Italy, USA, Japan, Germany, Romania, Spain, Belgium, Turkey, South Africa, France, South Korea, England, Scotland, Venezuela, and Mexico, performing in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Sala Verdi in Milan, and Kumho Recital Hall in Seoul.
As a teacher, he has guided students to excel in major international competitions. His recordings and performances, including Moszkowski’s Concert op.59 and Scharwenka’s 4th Concerto, have earned him recognition as one of Italy’s finest pianists internationally.
In recent years, Iannone has toured extensively in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, debuting in Istanbul, Mexico, Budapest, Bulgaria, Krakow, Malta, and Portugal. He has served as a juror for competitions such as the Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition (2014) and the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition (2021).
His latest recordings include a CD with Suonare News, a 3-CD box featuring his students (Digressione Music), and a solo album with Liszt’s B minor Sonata and Beethoven’s 7th Symphony in Liszt’s piano transcription, praised in Amadeus magazine.
Born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1968, Artur Pizarro gave his first public performance at the age of three and made his television début on Portuguese television at the age of four. He had been introduced to the instrument by his maternal grandmother, pianist Berta da Nóbrega, and her piano-duo partner, Campos Coelho who was a student of Vianna da Motta, Ricardo Viñes and Isidor Philipp. From 1974 to 1990 Artur studied with Sequeira Costa who had also been a student of Vianna da Motta and of Mark Hamburg, Edwin Fischer, Marguerite Long and Jacques Février. This distinguished lineage immersed Artur in the tradition of the ‘Golden Age’ of pianism and gave him a broad education in both the German and French piano schools and repertoire. During a brief interruption of his studies in the USA, Artur also studied with Jorge Moyano in Lisbon, and in Paris worked with Aldo Ciccolini, Géry Moutier and Bruno Rigutto.
Artur won first prizes in the 1987 Vianna da Motta Competition, the 1988 Greater Palm Beach Symphony Competition and won first prize at the 1990 Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, which marked the beginning of an international concert career.
Artur Pizarro performs internationally in recital, chamber music and with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Philippe Entremont, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Sir Andrew Davis, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yuri Temirkanov, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Ilan Volkov, Franz Welser- Most, Tugan Sokhiev, Yakov Kreizberg, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Libor Pešek, Vladimir Jurowski, Ion Marin, John Wilson and the late Sir Charles Mackerras.
Artur is an active chamber musician and has performed at chamber music festivals throughout the world. Artur Pizarro has recorded extensively for Collins Classics, Hyperion Records, Linn Records, Brilliant Classics, Klara, Naxos, Danacord, Odradek Records and Phoenix Edition.
Artur Pizarro has received various awards from his native Portugal for services to classical music and culture including the Portuguese Press Award, the Portuguese Society of Authors award, the Medal of Culture of the City of Funchal and the Medal of Cultural Merit from the Portuguese Government.
Artur Pizarro has created his private teaching studio in Oeiras, Portugal where he coaches students of various ages and levels.

Magdalena Hirsz – Polish pianist with Asian roots, she enchants audiences with her musicality and sensitivity. She has performed at numerous international festivals, including Septembre Musical, Warszawa Singera, Marathon du Piano à Evian, Tel-Aviv, Belém piano meetings in Brazil, Peter Feuchtwanger festival in London. She has also taken part in numerous interactive projects, such as with the Ballet Béjart and the poet David Walters. Magdalena studied at the conservatories of Geneva, Warsaw, Vienna and Lodz. Her repertoire includes an eclectic mix of classical and contemporary music. She has recorded two solo albums, including one with R. Schumann and an album entitled “Sounds of Mind”. She has taken part in masterclasses given by W. Mierzanow, T. Chebanova, L. Naumov and D. Barenboim.

She plays with various orchestras in Poland, Israel and Japan, including the Pomeranian Philharmonic Orchestra in Bydgoszcz, the Polish National Radio Orchestra in Warsaw, the Szczecin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Haifa Symphony Orchestra. She performs regularly as a soloist, duo or trio, notably with Martha Argerich for four hands. In parallel, the pianist is developing her career as a teacher: she has taught piano and chamber music at the Conservatoire F. Chopin in Warsaw, at the Institut International de Lancy in Geneva, at the Ecole St. George in Montreux and now at the Ecole de Musique in Villeneuve and the Institut F. Chopin in Switzerland, of which she is president. The artist is also director of the “Jeune Chopin” competition in Lugano for young talent: www. jeunechopin.com