2009 Jury

PETER FRANKL, CHAIRMAN
United Kingdom/Hungary

Hungarian – born British pianist Peter Frankl studied at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest and made his London debut in 1962, after winning first prizes at the Marguerite Long Competition in Paris, the Munich Chamber Music Competition and in Rio de Janeiro. He has enjoyed special relationship with the Cleveland Orchestra, playing under George Szell (including his New York debut in 1967), Istvan Kertesz, Lorin Maazel, Yoel Levi, Christoph von Dohnanyi and Vladimir Ashkenazy. He has performed with many of the world’s finest orchestras, among others the Berlin Philharmonic, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, all the London orchestras and the major American orchestras. He has collaborated with other eminent conductors, such as Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Benjamin Britten, Riccardo Chailly, Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur, Yehudi Menuhin, Riccardo Muti and Sir Georg Solti. His world tours have taken him also to the Far East, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. He has also frequently appeared at Festivals in Europe (Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh, London Promenade Concerts, Verbier, Kuhmo, Enescu) and in America (Aspen, Chautauqua, Hollywood Bowl, Marlboro, Norfolk, Yellow Barn, Ravinia, Santa Fe). His many chamber music partners have included the Amadeus, Vermeer, Tokyo, Takacs, Borodin, Guarneri, Bartok, Fine Arts and Lindsay Quartets. Among his recordings are the complete works for piano by Schumann and Debussy; Bartok and Chopin solo albums, a Hungarian Anthology, Concerti and four-hand works by Mozart, 2 Brahms Piano Concerti, Brahms Violin Sonatas (with Kyung Wha Chung),  Clarinet Sonatas, Piano Trios, Bartok works for violin and piano and the Piano Quintets by Brahms, Schumann, Dvorak, Martinu and  Dohnanyi.

In recognition of his lifetime artistic achievements, he received several national awards in Hungary and was named “Honorary Professor” of the Liszt Academy in Budapest. Although he lives in London with his family, he has been on the faculty of Yale University School of Music since 1987. He is giving master classes in many parts of the world.

ANDREA BONATTA
Italy

Andrea Bonatta was born in Bolzano, Italy.  Major influences in his musical development were studies with Paul Badura-Skoda in Vienna, Nikita Megaloff in Geneva, Stephan Askenase in Bonn and Wilhelm Kempff in Positano.  From these masters he learned a profound respect for the form, for the composer, and for the musical score, while at the same time being encouraged to pursue artistic freedom.  Mr. Bonatta has often been defined as a “poet of the piano” as well as “one of the last true romantic pianists.”

He has performed extensively throughout Europe, North and South America, Australia, Korea, China, and South Africa, and is often a member of the jury at the most important international competitions. Recent appearances include Salle Gaveau, Paris, Tchaikovski Conservatory, Moscow, Smetana Hall, Prague, Forbidden City, Beijing, Stilwerk, Berlin, IUC, Rome, Grand Theatre, and Shanghai.
Mr. Bonatta has recorded Brahms’ complete works for piano as well as other CDs dedicated to Liszt and Schubert. These recordings have been highly acclaimed by the international magazines (best CD of the year/Neue Musikzeitung, Choc/Le Monde de la Musique, ffff/Telerama, 4stars Musica).  His book on Brahms’ piano work is considered a milestone in this field and has already been translated into German.  He has been the artistic director of the Feruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, and vice president of the World Federation of International Music Competitions in Geneva.  Besides his activity as a soloist, he is also appreciated as a conductor.

DOUGLAS HUMPHERYS
United States

Douglas Humpherys was the Gold Medalist at the inaugural Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. He holds graduate degrees from The Juilliard School and the Eastman School of Music, where he is currently Professor of Piano and Chair of the Piano Department.  Mr. Humpherys enjoys a successful performance career, which has taken him to major cities throughout Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. 

In high demand as a teacher, he has taught hundreds of master classes at major universities and conservatories across the world. In recent years, he completed appointments as Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan, and at Yonsei University in Korea.  He has taught at many summer festivals including the South Bohemia Music Festival in the Czech Republic, the Chinese American Piano Institute in Cheng-Du, China, and at Teachers del Norte, Pianists del Sur, a program sponsored in part by the American Embassy in Argentina.

A frequent adjudicator, Mr. Humpherys has served on numerous international competition juries; among them, the Gina Bachauer International Competition, the Hilton Head International Competition, the Rachmaninoff Young Artists Competition in Russia, and the PTNA International Competition in Japan. His experience in this regard led him to create and direct the Eastman Young Artists’ International Piano Competition, which is held biennially in Rochester, NY.

Mr. Humpherys has recorded a wide variety of repertoire on compact disc, and has been featured in live broadcasts of performances on affiliates of PBS Television and National Public Radio.

CHOONG-MO KANG
South Korea

Born in South Korea, Choong-Mo Kang has performed to critical acclaim with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, and Korea’s leading orchestras.  He has performed at Carnegie Hall, The Opera House in Sydney, and throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia.  In 2003 Mr. Kang performed in Moscow and St. Petersburg to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of Russia’s revered pianist Tatiana Nikolaeva.  He aspires to master and perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s entire works for the keyboard.

Mr. Kang’s recordings include Bach Goldberg Variations, Inventions and Sinfonias, and The Well-Tempered Clavier.  The great pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher praised Mr. Kang’s Goldberg Variations as “A quite spectacular performance.  A notable addition to the Goldberg discography.”

Mr. Kang is a teacher at the Korea National University of Arts in Seoul and his students have been winners in prominent competitions around the world.  He is an artistic director of the Euro Music Festival and Academy in Leipzig and a faculty member of the Ishikawa Music Festival in Japan.  Mr. Kang has served on the jury of prestigious international competitions such as Warsaw, Dublin, Shanghai, Sydney, and many more.

DORIAN LELJAK
Serbia/Croatia

Dr. Dorian Leljak is currently Professor of Piano at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade (Serbia) and Deputy Teacher of Piano at the Royal College of Music in London (Junior Department). His previous engagements include teaching at the Yale School of Music. He has studied with Arbo Valdma and Boris Berman.

Dr. Leljak has won several international piano competitions and been awarded numerous prizes, including a University of Novi Sad Merit Award, Yale University Mary Clapp Howell, Irving Gilmore and Parisot Prizes.  He has appeared in recital and with orchestras around the world including the Windstrings Orchestra, Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, Yale Philharmonia Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonics, Belgrade Radio-Television Orchestra, Voyvodina Philharmonics, Yale Repertory Orchestra, and many others. Dr. Leljak enjoys a successful career as a chamber musician, establishing collaborations with cellist Istvan Varga and Pianist Ninoslav Zivkovic. In 2002 he made his debuts in Carnegie Hall and Boston Philharmonia Hall.

Dr. Leljak has been a member of the jury at many international piano competitions including the International Piano Competition in Namur, Isidor Bajic Piano Memorial Competition, and others.  He has given master classes and lectures around the world, including the University of Pretoria, the South-African Association of Music Teachers, Conservatoire de Namur-Jambes, University of Missori-Columbia, and many others. He is Artistic Director of the Isidor Bajic Piano Competition and President of EPTA Voyvodina.

SONTRAUD SPEIDEL
Germany

Sontraud Speidel began piano lesson at the age of five.  At the age of eleven, she entered the University of Music Karlsruhe where she studied with Irene Slavinand Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen.
Then followed studies with Branka Musulin, Stefan Askenase, and Géza Anda. After winning various awards in Germany, she won the first prize of the Johann Sebastian Bach International Piano Competition in Washington D.C. She is also the recipient of the Boston Symphony's Jackson Prize for Modern Music and Italy's Ettore Pozzoli Prize.
Ms. Speidel has given recitals in both solo and chamber music, and performed with orchestra extensively through Germany and in most European countries, North America, Israel, and Asia. 

She was “Distinguished Visiting Professor” at California State University and at the University of Montreal, Canada.  She has served on the juries of international piano competitions in Leipzig, Athens, Senigallia, Vienna, Dublin, Rome, and Israel, among others.  She gives master classes every year in Vienna, Austria; Tel Hai, Israel; and Athens Greece.  Ms. Speidel won first prize at the Johann Sebastian Bach International Piano Competition in Washington, D.C. and was the recipient of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Jackson Prize for Modern Music.

Ms. Speidel has recorded 22 commercial CDs.  She was the first pianist to record works for piano solo by Fanny Hensel, the sister of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.  Her recording of all the works of Reger for two pianos, together with Evelinde Trenkner, was awarded with the first prize in the category of “Solo Instruments” of Audiophile Reference.

DUBRAVKA TOMSIC
Slovenia

Dubravka Tomsic, Slovenia, began her studies at the Ljubljana Academy of Music, where she currently serves as a Full Professor.  At the age of 12, she moved to New York where she attended The Juilliard School, studied privately with Artur Rubinstein, and began a brilliant performing career.

In 1989, after a hiatus of almost 30 years, she was reintroduced to American audiences and has since had tremendous success.  Highlights of recent seasons include several performances with the Boston Symphony under both Seiji Ozawa and Bernard Haitink and a solo recital at the Tanglewood Festival.  Over the course of her career Ms. Tomsic has been heard her in dozens of cities, including Munich, Berlin, Prague, Moscow, St. Petersburg, London, Rome, and New York.  She has appeared with the Vienna Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, and many others in Europe, the U.S. and Australia.

More than 80 CD recordings released since 1987 attest to Ms. Tomsic’s status as a major recording artist.  In 2003 she won the Grand Prix du Disque of the Franz Liszt Society in Budapest for her CD on the ip label, featuring an all-Liszt program that includes the B minor Sonata.

DINA YOFFE
Israel/Germany

Dina Yoffe graduated from Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music in Moscow and was a top prize winner at the R. Schumann and F. Chopin International Piano Competitions.  She enjoys a successful solo and orchestral career, highlighted by concerts with the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, Japanese Radio Orchestra NHK under Neville Marriner, Moscow Philharmonic with Valery Gerglev and Dmitri Kitayenko, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra with James DePrest.

Ms. Yoffe conducts master classes in Germany, France, Spain, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
She was professor at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv University and a visiting professor at Japan's Aichi University.  She is a frequent guest professor for Yamaha master classes in Paris, Hamburg and Tokyo, as well as the Summit Music Festival in New York.  Ms. Yoffe serves as Artistic Director of the Moulin d’Ande Cultural Centre in France, where she also teaches master classes.  She also is a frequent adjudicator at international piano competitions and served on the jury in Cleveland in 2007.

Currently Ms. Yoffe is a Professor at the Anton Rubinstein International Academy in Düsseldorf. She has recorded extensively, including the works of Chopin, Schumann, Schubert, Franck, Prokofiev, Scriabin, and Rachmaninov.


ZHANG JIN
People’s Republic of China

Zhang Jin is the head of the Piano Performance Section of the Music School attached to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.  He graduated from the Piano Department of the Central Conservatory of Music with outstanding marks.

Professor Zhang is a frequent judge of various piano competitions and has been a lecturer in many cities of China, Germany, Canada, USA and Japan.  His students have won many awards among different competitions, including The 8th V. Krainev Int’l Piano Competition For Young Pianists, Villa-Lobos Int’l Piano Competition, The 6th Hamamatsu Int’l Piano Competition, The 11th Unisa Int’l Piano Competition, Gina Bachauer Int’l Young Artists Piano Competition Salt Lake, 2008 Minnesota International Piano E-competition and many others.

For his excellence in teaching, Professor Zhang received the Outstanding Teacher Award from the Central Conservatory of Music in 2000, and was honored for the Fourth “Yang Xuelan” Music Teaching Award the same year.  In 2004, the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China conferred upon him the “Ou Yongxi” teaching award in art.  He was awarded “Bao Gang” teaching award in 2007 for his great contribution at piano teaching. Professor Zhang is listed in the “Dictionary of Well-known World Intellectuals” and in the “Index of Chinese Contemporary Artists.”