Jury
Jury Members
Artur Pizarro (President)
Born in Lisbon in 1968, Artur Pizarro gave his first public performance aged three and made his television début aged four. He was introduced to the piano by his grandmother, pianist Berta da Nóbrega, and her duo partner, Campos Coelho, a student of Vianna da Motta, Ricardo Viñes and Isidor Philipp.
Artur studied with Sequeira Costa, who had been a student 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 in both German and French piano schools and repertoire. Artur studied with Jorge Moyano in Lisbon, and in Paris worked with Aldo Ciccolini, Géry Moutier and Bruno Rigutto. He won first prizes in the 1987 Vianna da Motta Competition, the 1988 Greater Palm Beach Symphony Competition, and at the 1990 Leeds International Pianoforte Competition.
Artur 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 has received 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. He has also been awarded the Albéniz Medal in Spain.
Franco Mezzena
Franco Mezzena, born in Trento, studied with Salvatore Accardo, under whose guidance he graduated with honours, and then at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena and the Hochschule in Freiburg. His activity as a soloist and in chamber ensembles has taken him to major venues and festivals throughout Europe, Japan, Africa, the United States, Central and South America. He has performed twice in Rome’s prestigious season I Concerti del Quirinale di Radio 3. Recently he achieved resounding success at Carnegie Hall in New York interpreting Mendelssohn’s Concerto. He has played with artists such as Salvatore Accardo, Bruno Canino, Rocco Filippini, Bruno Giuranna, Alain Meunier, Bruno Mezzena, Anthony Pay, Franco Petracchi, Ruggiero Ricci and Giovanni Sollima. He is celebrated for his many recordings, including the world premiere of the 29 Concertos for violin and orchestra by G. B. Viotti and the complete Beethoven works for piano and violin with Stefano Giavazzi.
Franco Mezzena founded both the Mezzena Quartet and the Piano Trio Mezzena-Patria-Ballario. He plays in a duo with violinist Patrizia Bettotti and is active as a conductor. He gives many masterclasses (Royal College and Trinity College in London, Hochschule in Leipzig) and holds an annual specialisation course in Rome at the Accademia Ariadimusica. He won the Premio Napoli Cultural Classic Award (XV edition) at Eccellenze 2015, in the music category. Mezzena is the Artistic Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Lecce and Salento. He plays on a violin by Antonio Stradivari from 1695 and on instruments made by Giovanni Osvaldo Fiori, Giuseppe Leone and Roberto Regazzi.
He regularly records for Odradek Records, Brilliant Classics, Dynamic and Luna Rossa Classic.
Muriel Chemin
Muriel Chemin began her musical studies at the age of five, under the guidance of Jean and Marguerite Manuel. She obtained her Diplôme d'exécution and Licence de Concert from the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris with Blanche Bascourret de Guéraldi. She perfected her studies in Italy with Maria Tipo (later becoming her assistant), then in Switzerland at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, where she graduated, being awarded the Premier Prix de Virtuosité.
She held several concerts in Paris at the Salle Gaveau and Théâtre de Paris and in other cities in France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the United Kingdom (with the Southbank Sinfonia), Greece (with the Quatuor Psophos), Turkey, Romania, Russia, Poland, Chile (with the Orquesta Clásica Universidad de Santiago) and the United States, where she performed as a soloist, in piano duets, in chamber music groups and with orchestra, under the guidance of renowned conductors like Árpád Gérecz, Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, Nicolas Rauss, Daniel Barda, David del Pino Klinge, Simon Over, Maurizio Dini Ciacci or Nicolas Krauze.
She has performed in many concerts of Beethoven and Mozart, composers to whom she has dedicated most of her career. She won the Concours International Hennessy-Mozart in Paris, where she was enthusiastically applauded by the jury and, in particular, by the president, Paul Badura-Skoda. Moreover, the great Italian orchestral conductor Carlo Maria Giulini expressed heartfelt admiration after hearing her play the last three Beethoven sonatas in 1998. In 2012, on the occasion of Claude Debussy’s 150th anniversary, she performed his 12 studies in several concerts.
In Italy, Muriel Chemin has been a guest pianist at prestigious musical institutions such as the Orchestra Regionale Toscana, the Teatro Alighieri of Ravenna, and the Auditorium Verdi of Milan in duet with French cellist Alain Meunier.
She lives in Venice, where she has been Piano Professor at the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello since 2014. Many of her students have been awarded in international competitions.
Her interpretations of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, recorded in 2017, and the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, recorded in 2021, for Odradek, received many astonishing reviews. She is regularly invited to be a jury member in international piano competitions.
Stefano Giavazzi
Stefano Giavazzi completed his musical studies at the Conservatory of Music in Mantua, graduating with highest honors. He later continued his studies with M° Rinaldo Rossi. He specialized with J. Micault, G. Sandor, J. Achucarro, B. Bloch, M. Damerini, S. Perticaroli, and with Norbert Brainin and the Trio di Trieste for chamber music.
He has won numerous prizes in piano competitions. Notable among them are 1st prize at the Porrino Competition in Cagliari, 1st prize at the Dasinamov International Competition, 2nd prize at the Rendano Competition in Rome, 3rd prize at the AMA Calabria International Competition, and 3rd prize at the Martha del Vecchio Competition in Genoa. He has performed for numerous musical associations in Italy and abroad. In 2000 he was invited to perform for the only Italian edition of the Europiano Congress.
He has played with various orchestras including the Mantua Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of Cagliari, the Genoa Philharmonic, the Costantin Silvestri Orchestra of Bucharest, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Oradea, the Italian Strings and the Pilsen Radio Orchestra with which he performed at the Munich Philharmonic. He has made radio recordings for Radio 3 and Slovenian Radio. He has recorded Brahms' Piano Quintet for piano and strings, a CD with unpublished music by Lucio Campiani, a CD for Bottega Discantica recorded at the Bibiena Theater with violinist Paolo Ghidoni, W. A. Mozart's Concertos No. 3 and No. 4 for piano and orchestra, Astor Piazzola's Four Seasons. In December 2009, a four-CD box set featuring performances of L. van Beethoven's complete works for piano and violin with violinist Franco Mezzena was released on the Wide Classique label. He boasts chamber collaborations with artists such as the Tartini Quartet, Bin Huang, Astor Piazzolla, Lorna Windors, Paolo Ghidoni, Giuseppe Ettorre, Rodolfo Bonucci, Gabriella Munari, Franco Mezzena, Nicholas Jones, Iakov Zats and actors Paolo Belli, Vanessa Gravina and Laura Morante.
He teaches at the Conservatory of Music in Mantua. Since its founding in 1995, he has been artistic director of the Mantua Music Society. In 2010/2011, he was a member of the Music Commission at the Ministry of Cultural Heritage Live Performance section.
Aki Kuroda
After graduating from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts, pianist Aki Kuroda went on to further her studies in Italy with Bruno Mezzena, receiving a degree in 20th-century piano music with distinction from the Accademia Musicale Pescarese.
Aki performs extensively as a soloist and chamber musician both in Japan and in Europe, especially in Italy. She won first prizes in the French Music Competition, Kyogaku Contemporary Music Competition and was awarded the Xavier Montsalvatge Prize for Performance of Contemporary Piano Music in Spain.
Oltre al repertorio classico standard, Kuroda ha eseguito brani di molti compositori del XX secolo e contemporanei, come Ligeti, Xenakis, Donatoni, Boulez, Mochizuki e Sugiyama. Nel 2003 ha tenuto una performance eccezionale al Teatro Regio di Parma, suonando una composizione a lei dedicata da Maurizio Pisati. Successivamente ha eseguito Modifications di Michael Jarrell al Festival Ticino Musica. Nel 2004, Kuroda ha eseguito la Kammersymphonie, Op. 9 di Schoenberg nella sua versione per pianoforte solo a Tokyo e Osaka. Attualmente Kuroda collabora con musicisti rinomati come il clarinettista Alessandro Carbonare e il Quartetto Prometheus.
She has devoted special attention to Astor Piazzolla’s works, to whom her first solo albums are dedicated. Kuroda is acclaimed not only as a classical and contemporary pianist but also as a tango and jazz performer. Her videogame music recording Final Fantasy X. XIII, Piano Collection has been universally praised. In 2004, she released the albums Tarkus and Pictures at an Exhibition, dedicated to the works of Keith Emerson. In 2008, she performed Sylvano Bussotti’s new composition, The Poetic Keyboard, at the Cagliari Spaziomusica Festival.
Aki Kuroda's 2014 disc Firebird, released by the Odradek label, has also earned her considerable critical acclaim, receiving 5 stars from BBC Music Magazine, among various other distinctions. Kuroda is also a member of the Tokyo Gen'On project and the commission of the Piano Teachers' National Association of Japan.
Pina Napolitano
After studying with Giusi Ambrifi in her native Caserta, Pina Napolitano studied with Bruno Mezzena at the Accademia Musicale Pescarese, graduating in Piano Solo Performance and 20th-Century Piano Music. She has performed with multiple orchestras in Italy and abroad (Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Liepāja Symphony, Colibrì Ensemble, Lithuanian National Symphony, Facade Ensemble, New Vienna International).
Her discography includes Schoenberg: Complete Piano Works (shortlisted as 2012 Sinfini “Disc of the Year”); Elegy, “proof that dodecaphonic music can be both melodic and moving” (Graham Rickson); Brahms the Progressive (Vol. 1), “at once forceful and seductive” (Michael Church); “great Brahms, up there with Gilels” (5* International Piano Magazine, “Record Geijutsu”, Five Diapasons); and Tempo e Tempi (selected as The Sunday Times 2020 “Best Contemporary Classical Album”, described as “... brilliantly executed … vividly recorded … vigorous yet precisely pointed….”, “A provocatively brave album” (5* BBC Music Magazine), in which “... Napolitano shines …” (Wiener Zeitung). Her last album, Brahms the Progressive (Vol. 2) with the Lithuanian Symphony Orchestra and Modestas Pitrėnas, combined Brahms’ 2nd with Webern’s Concerto (“There’s no sense of struggle… Napolitano’s fingerwork operates at its graceful, supple best… her dynamic range and burnished sonority truly blossom…” (Gramophone), “an almost poetic dramaturgy… an immense amount of emotion… glows with poetic elegance…” (Pizzicato, ICMA nomination), “...Napolitano shines as a member of Webern’s nonet as well as commanding proceedings in Brahms’ huge solo part… fine, poetic playing…” (International Piano), “a real and unexpected pleasure” (BBC Music Magazine).
She earned two BAs from the University of Naples “L’Orientale”, in Classical Philology and Slavistics, and then a PhD in Slavistics. She has translated numerous books of Russian poetry, including I Taccuini di Marina Cvetaeva with Voland (2014 “Premio Italia-Russia”), Osip Mandel’štam: i Quaderni di Mosca with Firenze University Press in 2016, and in 2021 both Mandel’štam: Quaderni di Mosca with Einaudi Editore and Marina Cvetaeva: Ultimi Versi with Voland. She was the 2021 recipient of the “Paul Celan Fellowship for Translators” at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.
She has taught at Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome, Istituto Gaetano Braga in Teramo, Conservatorio Torrefranca of Vibo Valentia, Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini of Bologna, and in 2022 was made a full professor of piano at Conservatorio Tartini of Trieste.
Stefania Santangelo
Stefania Santangelo completed her musical studies at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory, graduating in piano with highest honors. Her meeting with Bruno Mezzena was decisive for her training, an artistic journey that lasted more than 10 years. Salvatore Accardo said of her, "Stefania is in possession of an absolutely astounding technique, her sound is most noble, powerful and exciting, her musicality is pure and imaginative."
She made her debut at the age of ten, accompanied by the "Nova Musicorum Arcadia" Orchestra of Milan, a debut that enabled her to begin a leading concert activity. She has participated in major national piano competitions, obtaining numerous first prizes. She is a second prize winner of the "Arcangelo Speranza" Competition in Taranto and a semifinalist at the Busoni Competition in Bolzano. She has performed as a soloist in Italy, France, England, the Czech Republic, Romania, Spain, Mexico and the United States.
She has also collaborated as a soloist with the Pescara Symphony Orchestra, the Bari and Lecce Provincial Orchestras, the Proarte Marche Orchestra, the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra, the Brescia Chamber Orchestra, the Bucharest State Radio Orchestra, and the "Silvestre Revueltas" Philharmonic Orchestra of Queretaro (Mexico), performing, among others, Chopin's two concertos and Rachmaninov's second and third concertos.
She has participated in radio and television broadcasts: her performances of Rachmaninov's Second Sonata and Chopin's 12 Etudes Op. 10 have been broadcast several times by RAI. She recorded the three Brahms sonatas for violin and piano with Laura Gorna and the Brahms Paganini Variations for Dynamic. She holds a professorship at the "Nino Rota" Conservatory in Monopoli.