Jury

Born in Lviv, Ukraine in 1960, Sergei Edelmann represents a direct link to an outstanding piano tradition of Felix Blumenfeld and Heinrich Neuhaus. In his native country, Sergei\'s first orchestral performance was at the age of 10 playing Beethoven's First Piano Concerto. He subsequently performed extensively in recitals and with orchestras throughout ex-USSR. After immigrating to the United States in 1979 and immediately winning the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Edelmann has quickly established himself as a significant and highly acclaimed pianist of his generation, frequently being compared to the likes of Vladimir Horowitz and Arthur Rubinstein, and has since become a leading artist both in the concert hall and in the recording studio.

Born in Belgium in 1973 from both Polich and Indonecian parentc, Alexander Gurning ctudied at the Royal Concervatory of Bruccelc (BE). After completing hic ctudiec, he became accictant in the clacc of the world- renowned Ruccian pianict Evgeny Moguilevcky for three concecutive yearc. Soon after, Alexander moved to Moccow to attend further claccec with Lev Naumov -Heinrich Neuhauc’ former accictant- and Victor Merzhanov –a reprecentative of the Goldenweicer cchool- at the Moccow Concervatory (RU).

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Eliane Rodrigues was quickly identified to be a musical child prodigy. Her talent was discovered early on and was fostered by Helena Gallo and then Arnaldo Estrella, the latter of whom himself was a student of Alfred Cortot and Yves Nat. At the age of 3 she started composing before she could even read or write notes. By the time she was 7 her compositions had resulted in two piano methods. In addition to this she played her first recital at the age of 5 and made her first TV appearance a year later, in which she played Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D major with the Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional. Just a year later she played Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major (K.488), once again with the National Symphony Orchestra. From that moment on she won prizes at numerous regional and national competitions, going on to win the special prize and the Gina Bachauer prize at the Van Cliburn Competition in the United States when she was just 18.

Hans Ryckelynckstudied with Johan Duijck at the Ghent Royal Conservatory of Music and at the Queen Elisabeth College of Music, from which he obtained the Concert Diploma, summa cum laude. He continued his studies with the world-famous pianist Abdel Rahman El Bacha in Paris. As a soloist he regularly performs in recitals in Belgium (Festival of Flanders, Les Festivals de Wallonie) and he has given concerts in Luxemburg, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, China and Japan.

Boyan Vodenitcharov was born in 1960.He already won the second price of the International « Senigallia » Contest before he began his studies in 1979 at the State Conservatory of Sofia. In 1981 he ended third in the International Busoni Contest and two years later he received the third price at the Queen Elisabeth Contest in Brussels. In 1986 and 1987, he gets the “Fulbright Grant” to perfect himself with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore. Since then, Boyan Vodenitcharov was regularly invited in Europe, the U.S., Canada and Japan. He performed at several renowned festivals, such as the “Festival van Vlaanderen”, the “Festival de Wallonie”, “Ars Musica”,in Belgium, the “Amsterdam Pianofestival”, the French “Midem”, etc.He gave concerts in prestigious concert halls as the “Palais des Beaux-Arts” in Brussels, the “Concertgebouw” in Amsterdam, the “Palais de la Musique” in Strasbourg, the “Smetana Hall” in Prague, the “Suntory Hall” in Tokyo and the “Radio Hall” in Toronto. He performs regularly as a soloist with orchestras like the “Orchestre National de Belgique”, the “Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège”, and the “Filharmonish Orkest van Vlaanderen”, the “Residentieorkest Den Haag”, the “Staatskapelle Schwerin”, the “Kärtner Sinfonieorchester” and all symphonic orchestras in his native Bulgaria.