Online Pre-Selection Jury 2027
Live Jury 2027
Meet the Jury
Denise Lutgens, The Netherlands Pianist, Teacher at Globe CKC and Holland International Piano School, Artistic Director for Globe International Piano Competition.
Denise Lutgens was born in The Netherlands. From an early age it was clear that her passion was music and her love for the piano started at auctions where she went with her father as a toddler and preschooler.
She started her piano lessons with Marianne Maessen at the music school in Venlo. It soon became apparent that she was making great progress and at the age of 8 she was admitted to the Young Talent Class of the conservatory in Amsterdam. In 2000 she continued her young talent training with Ton Demmers at the Conservatory in Tilburg. In 2002 she continued her piano studies at the Anton Rubinstein Akademie with Alla Blatow. Here she became acquainted with Prof. Vladimir Krainev who immediately invited Denise to continue her studies with him in Hanover at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater. She studied here from 2002 - 2008.
In June 2008, Denise passed her grammar school exams at the St. Willibrord Gymnasium in Deurne and then continued her studies at the Royal College of Music in London. Denise was the first Dutch pianist to be admitted to this prestigious training. In 2009 she obtained her Propedeuse of Music at the Royal College of Music. She continued then her studies in The Hague, where she also graduated with Prof. Naum Grubert at the Royal Conservatoire.
During her studies, her love for teaching became apparent. During her 1st year in London she started giving general music group lessons to young children and lessons to beginning children. In 2015 she also organized an International Piano Competition for 83 international young talents in The Hague. Denise herself also participated in a number of competitions at a young age, which resulted in a first prize in the Steinway Competition Netherlands, Rotary Competition, Alexander Scriabin Competition Paris and DTKV Wettebewerb, Germany.
In 2009 Denise opened Holland International Piano School together with collegue pianist Dani Luca, which is still running succesfully in The Hague. Since 2018 she is also a teacher at Globe CKC located in Music Centre for the Broadcast Hilversum, The Netherlands.
In the past few years her students won multiple prizes in competitions amongst 1st prizes at Orbetello Piano Competition, Golden Piano Talents, Danubia Talents, Memorijal Jurica Murai, Monegrarte International Piano Competition, Steinway competition and many more. Her students were invited to play on numeral prestigious opportunities amongst Festival Classique in The Hague, a meet / tv appearance with prime minister Mark Rutte, several tv and news papers publications (Telegraaf, Ivo Niehe, Gooi en Eembode, etc).
Now another function is added and she is artistic Director for Globe International Piano Competition in Hilversum, The Netherlands. Givng concerts throughout Europe, organising summer and winter school, masterclasses and a festival for young pianists.
Giuliano Adorno, Italy Piano teacher at the “D. Cimarosa” Conservatory in Avellino.
Giuliano Adorno, who graduated in Piano under the guidance of M° Antonio Di Cristofano, specialized in Paris at the Ecole Normale “A. Cortot” and subsequently in Madrid with Maestro Leonel Morales.
He has obtained prizes and awards in over 30 national and international piano competitions: "Accademia delle Muse" in Camaiore; “City of Pietra Ligure”; “Pinerolo city of chivalry”; “F.I.D.A.P.A”, Pisa; "City of Albenga"; “Giulio Rospigliosi”, Lamporecchio (PT), “Terme di Saturnia”, Saturnia; “Uliveto Terme”, Pisa; “Franz Schubert”, Tagliolo Monferrato; “City of Cesenatico”, “City of S.Giuliano Terme”(PI), Mallorca International Music Competition, Mendelssohn Piano Competition (Le), “Anton Garcia Abril” in Teruel, Spain.
He has held concerts for Italian and foreign institutions and has played at the Salle Munch and the Salle Cortot in Paris; Casino di Sanremo, Italy; Piano-Forte Foundation Chicago; Fundacion Manuel da Mota Oporto; Concert Noble and Maison du commune de Anderlecht, Brussels; Sala de Plenos, “Manuel de Falla” Auditorium, Alhambra Castle, Granada; Association of Ars and Music, Valencia; Parador de Xàbia, Alicante; Volkshochschule Reutlingen, Stuttgart; Powsin Festival, Poland; Sinkt Andraa Kirke, Salzburg; Dante Alighieri Society, Bern; Piano Festival of Grosseto, Terme di Saturnia, Theater of Cesenatico, Theater of Marina di Pietrasanta, Mendelssohn Festival (LE), Church of the Ss. Apostoli, Sala Baldini, Domus Talenti, Rome, Sala Monteverdi Cremona, Festival Echos Alessandria, Conservatory Auditorium of Cagliari, European Museum of Modern Art of Barcelona etc.
Among his latest appearances the concert in Chicago for Piano\Forte Foundation, the tour in Japan (Tokyo, Nagoya, Chiba) with a program on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Italy and Japan and the concerts at Lazienki Park in Warsaw for the Chopin Society in 2018 and again in 2023.
His repertoire includes numerous authors, works for piano, chamber music and concerts for piano and orchestra. He has performed Mozart's Concerto K246 with the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra, G. Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue as a soloist with the TBSK Orchestra Tokyo and with the State Police Band directed by M. Maurizio Billi, and has performed as soloist with the Orchestra Città di Grosseto the concert op.18 by Rachmaninov and the concerts op. 15 and op. 58 by Beethoven, in addition to the Concerto n. 1 by Franz Liszt.
Since 2012 he has been the artistic director of the Orbetello Piano Festival and since 2017 he has been the founder and artistic director of the Orbetello International Piano Competition. He recently performed Camille Saint-Saens Concerto No. 2 with the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra. He is frequently invited into jury panels of International piano competitions, and he is the artistic director of Orbetello International Piano Festival and Orbetello International Piano Competition in Italy. He is currently a piano teacher at the “D. Cimarosa” Conservatory in Avellino.
Francesca Vidal, Italy Pianist, Piano Professor at the A. Buzzolla Conservatory in Adria, Artistic Director of the “Città di San Donà di Piave” International Piano Competition.
Francesca Vidal, pianist and Piano Professor at the A. Buzzolla Conservatory in Adria, graduated with honors from the "G. Rossini" Conservatory in Pesaro and obtained the II Level Superior Academic Diploma from the "G. Verdi" Conservatory in Milan with honors under the guidance of Maestro Vincenzo Balzani. She studied with Maestro Piero Rattalino, with Maestros F. Scala, B. Petrushansky, and G. Valentini at the "Incontri col Maestro" Piano Academy in Imola, and at the "Alfred Cortot" School of Music in Paris with Maestro Marian Rybicki. She received her Konzert Diplom with Excellence from the Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel under the guidance of Maestro Filippo Gamba. She studied at the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Bergamo with Maestro K. Bogino, her current teacher. She attended Masterclasses with Maestros L. Morales, P. Badura-Skoda, C. Berner, E. Fadini, M. Beroff, A. Jasinski.
She has won numerous prizes in national and international competitions (Mozart Prize in Paris, Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Competition, Valsesia Musica Monterosa Kawai International Competition, Karl Drechsel Forderpreis International Competition in Nuremberg, Taddei Competition, Città di Abano Terme International Piano Competition, National Humanitarian Competition in Milan, etc.)
As a chamber musician, in a duo with violinist Silvia Mazzon, she won first prize at the Alpeadria, Rovere d'Oro, Luigi Nono, Hyperion International Chamber Music Competitions and second prize at the Rovere d'Oro, Gaetano Zinetti, Rospigliosi and Val Tidone International Competitions.
She has played in important Concert Halls for primary institutions both in Italy and abroad: at the Auditorium Verdi in Milan, at the Alfred Cortot Theatre (Paris, ANIMATO Association), at the Stora Salen of the Royal College (Stockholm), at the Manuel De Falla Theatre (Granada), at the Steinway & Sons (Munich), at the Hamamatsu Concert Hall (Japan), at the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice, at the Italian Cultural Institute in Barcelona, at the Grosser Saal of the Musik-Akademie in Basel (Switzerland), at the Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome for the Festival "Uto Ughi per Roma", at the Teatro dell'Aquila for the Sinfonica Abruzzese, at the UNESCO in Paris, at the Sala Puccini (Conservatory of Milan, Concert Society), at the Foundation Pierre Gianadda (Martigny, Switzerland), at the Parco della Musica in Rome, at the Church of San Girolamo in Assisi (Festival "Assisi nel mondo"), at the Philharmonic Academy "Sala Mozart" (Bologna), at Sala Piatti in Bergamo and in many other institutions.
She has recorded for radio and television stations such as Radio Classica, Canale 5, and Italia Uno. She has collaborated with various orchestras, including the Kiev Radio and TV Orchestra conducted by Maestro Vladimir Sheiko, the Mihail Jora Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacau, the Piccola Sinfonica di Milano, the Ensemble Discovery for MITO, and the Cantelli Orchestra of Milan. She has also performed in chamber music groups with leading musicians such as V. Balzani, A. Vinnisky, L. Armellini, O. Semcuk, S. Mazzon, L. Fiorentini, and M. Massa.
She is the Artistic Director of the "Città di San Donà di Piave" International Piano Competition. She regularly holds masterclasses in Italy and abroad and she is invited as a jury member at several International Competitions.
Dorian Leljak, Serbia / Croatia Professor of piano at the Royal College of Music in London and at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad; artistic director of the International Isidor Bajić Piano Competition; president of the World Piano Teachers Association.
Dorian Leljak has won several international piano competitions, among them the Rachmaninov Competition in Belgrade and the Novi Sad Piano Competition, and has been awarded a University of Novi Sad Merit Award as well as the Mary Clapp Howell, Irving Gilmore and Parisot Prizes at Yale. He studied with Arbo Valdma and with Boris Berman, taking his doctorate at Yale University.
He performs worldwide in recital and with orchestras including the Belgrade Philharmonic, the Belgrade Radio-Television Orchestra, the Vojvodina Philharmonic, the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra and the Yale Philharmonia, and made his Carnegie Hall and Boston Philharmonic Hall debuts in 2002. As a chamber musician he has formed lasting partnerships with the cellist Istvan Varga and the pianist Ninoslav Zivkovic.
He is Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music in London and at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, and previously taught at the Yale School of Music. Alongside his teaching he is Artistic Director of the International Isidor Bajić Piano Competition, President of the World Piano Teachers Association, the World Piano Conference and the WPTA International Piano Competition, Honorary President of the European Piano Teachers Association in Vojvodina, and the ABRSM’s representative for South-East Europe.
He sits regularly on the juries of international competitions, among them the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Top of the World in Tromsø, the Rome International Piano Competition, Parnassos in Mexico, the Enschede International Piano Competition for Young Musicians, Namur/Waterloo in Belgium, the Grosseto “Scriabin” Competition, the Chopin Mazovia Piano Competition and EWON Cheonan in Korea. He gives masterclasses across the world, from the University of Pretoria and the Conservatoire de Namur-Jambes to Chetham’s International Summer School, the Anton Bruckner Universität in Linz, the ASIA International Piano Academy in Cheonan, Scotch College in Melbourne and the Elder Conservatorium in Adelaide.
Markus Schirmer, Austria Professor of Piano at the Music University in Graz, Artistic director of ARSONORE.
Energy, expression and emotion characterise Austrian top pianist Markus Schirmer's music-making. No matter where he tours he receives audience acclaim for his charismatic musicianship and his ability to tell vivid stories with the instrument. One of his reviews sums him up precisely: "A pied piper on the piano...music that comes straight from the heart, the brain and the fingertips."
After intense studies with Rudolf Kehrer, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling or Paul Badura-Skoda the Graz born artist went on to win numerous prizes and honours and to take a number of major concert halls and festivals by storm: the Wiener Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Herkulessaal and Philharmonie am Gasteig/Munich, Suntory Hall/Tokyo, Wigmore Hall/London, Gewandhaus/Leipzig, Philharmonie and Konzerthaus/Berlin, Rudolfinum/Prague, Palais des Beaux Arts/Brussels, Finlandia Hall/Helsinki, Teatro Teresa Carreño/Caracas, Palau de la Musica/Valencia, Victoria Hall/Geneva, Festspielhaus/Baden-Baden, Teatro Olimpico/Vicenza, Megaron/Athens, Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Festival international de piano "La Roque d'Antheron", Ruhr Piano Festival, "Stars of White Nights Festival" St. Petersburg, Festival pianistico internazionale "Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli" Brescia, Vilnius Festival, Kissinger Sommer, styriarte, Bregenz Festival, Schubertiade, ISCM Music Festival and many more.
He has worked with renowned orchestras: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Orchestra St. Petersburg, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Radio Symphony Orchestras of Vienna, Munich, Leipzig, Sofia, Zagreb, Borusan Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, Adam Fischer, Sir Neville Marriner, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Jukka Pekka Saraste, Marie Jacquot, Sir Charles Mackerras, Michael Gielen, John Axelrod, Fabio Luisi, Philippe Entremont, James Judd, Paul Goodwin, Michael Gielen and Philippe Jordan among others.
He adores Schubert above all but is also enthusiastic about more obscure works such as Britten's ironic piano concerto, the transcendental solo piano oeuvre of Szymanowski or "Castelli Romani", an epic piano concerto by Joseph Marx. Chamber music plays an important role in his work and his partners have included Renaud Capuçon, Julian Rachlin, Vadim Repin, Benjamin Schmid, Sharon Kam, Nils Mönkemeyer, Christian Poltéra, Konstantin Krimmel, Angela Hewitt, Mnozil Brass, the Ensemble Wien-Berlin, the Hagen Quartet, the Jerusalem Quartet and many more.
His love affair with the unusual, his daring and his eagerness to explore new territories ensure the development of sensational events outside the traditional classical repertoire: SCURDIA is an improvisation project which brings together extraordinary musicians from all over the world on one stage, thus allowing new artistic and creative energies to be set free by bridging various cultures. Markus Schirmer has great pleasure in working with actors, combining literature and music, and has developed unusual programs which are celebrated by audience and critics alike. In collaboration with the American singer and actress Helen Schneider f.e. he presented his own adaptation of Kurt Weill's "The Seven Deadly Sins" for voice and piano.
For his exceptional artistic diversity Markus Schirmer was awarded the "Music Manual Award" and is a recipient of some of Austria's most prestigious awards, the Karl Böhm Interpretation Prize and the "Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst". He received the German Record Critics' Award for his debut CD of Schubert Sonatas. Further recordings including works by Haydn, Beethoven, Ravel, Mussorgsky and his strongly acclaimed outing "The Mozart Sessions" together with the uplifting US chamber orchestra A FAR CRY have won numerous international prizes. 2025 Nimbus Records UK recently has released the complete sonatas for viola & piano by Julius Roengten (together with Herbert Kefer from Artis Quartet Vienna).
In the upcoming season he will be performing at many festivals and concert series in Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Denmark, the US, Japan, South Corea, China, Sweden, Brazil, Kosovo and Austria. In addition to his work as a successful Professor of Piano at the Music University in his hometown Graz - many of his students are acclaimed prizewinners - Markus Schirmer regularly gives international masterclasses for piano and is a sought after adjudicator at several prestigious piano competitions. Furthermore, Markus Schirmer is artistic director of the international music festival ARSONORE, which every September invites world class musicians to perform in the Hall of Planets at Eggenberg Castle (UNESCO World Cultural Heritage) in Graz/Austria.
Davor Matačić, Croatia Principal of the Varaždin School of Music; recipient of the Order of Isabella the Catholic; jury member and artistic director of international competitions.
Davor Matačić was born in Varaždin where he enrolled in the Varaždin School of Music at an early age. At the 29th Croatian National Competition for Music and Dance Students he won 1st prize. He enrolled in the Music Academy in Zagreb under Professor Đorđe Stanetti, where he graduated with honors in 2002.
Among many concerts, he has performed at prestigious venues and festivals such as: Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the Festival of St. Mark in Zagreb, the Croatian Music Institute in Zagreb. He also performed with the Zagreb soloists at the 34th Varaždin Baroque Evenings Festival. He has taken numerous master courses with eminent music educators, such as R. Kehrer, S. Benda, L. Baranyay, K. Richter and K. H. Kämmerling. He has also recorded for the Croatian Radio and Television educational program. He has worked at the Varaždin School of Music since 2002 and has achieved remarkable results as a music teacher and piano accompanist. He has also served as a jury member at piano competitions in Croatia, Slovenia, Italy as well as at the prestigious International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition. On his initiative the Varaždin Woodwind & Brass International Competition and Memorijal Jurica Murai and Murai Grand Prix International Piano Competition were established. He also serves as the chairman and artistic director of the Organizing Committee of these two competitions.
Davor Matačić completed his postgraduate studies in International Relations at the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb. He is a lecturer in the Music and Media Department at the University of the North. He was appointed to the Varaždin Baroque Evenings Jury on several occasions, and is part of the jury panel of this oldest European festival dedicated to baroque music. In May 2022 he participated at the Séjoure culture program in the organization of the French Ministry of Culture and the Maisons des Cultures du Monde.
By the decision of His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain, in occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between The Kingdom of Spain and the Republic of Croatia, he was given the Order of Isabella the Catholic in recognition of extraordinary service in promotion of international cultural relations.
Currently, he is serving his third mandate as the Principal of the Varaždin School of Music.
Bartłomiej Kominek, Poland Professor at the Academy of Music in Kraków and Head of its Department of Chamber Music; faculty member at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw; artistic director of the “Duettissimo” International Piano Duo Festival.
Bartłomiej Kominek graduated with distinction from the Academy of Music in Kraków, where he studied piano under Professor Janusz Olejniczak, and deepened his training in masterclasses with Andrzej Jasiński, Oxana Yablonskaya, Lee Kum-Sing and Ryszard Bakst. He now serves as Professor at that same academy, where he obtained his habilitation in 2015, and has headed its Department of Chamber Music since 2020. Since 2021 he has also been a faculty member at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.
A prizewinner of international competitions and festivals in Sweden, Glasgow, London, Słupsk and Tarnów, he performs regularly throughout Poland and abroad, in concert halls across Europe, the Middle East and Japan. He has appeared at the Polish Piano Festival in Słupsk, Warsaw Autumn, the “Bravo Maestro” Festival in Kąśna Dolna and the Festival of Polish Music in Kraków, as well as at the Chopin festivals of Ghent, Valldemossa and Nohant.
As a chamber musician he works with leading orchestras and ensembles, among them Sinfonia Varsovia, the Kraków, Poznań, Świętokrzyska and Kalisz Philharmonic Orchestras, Capella Cracoviensis, and the DAFÔ, Camerata and Prima Vista string quartets. He has performed alongside conductors and soloists including Wojciech Michniewski, Tomáš Brauner, Janusz Olejniczak, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka and Urszula Dudziak. Since 2014 he has formed the Chopin Piano Duo with pianist Anna Boczar, appearing at festivals across Europe and Asia.
He has recorded extensively for Polish Radio and Television. His album devoted to Grażyna Bacewicz, released by DUX in 2010, was nominated for Poland’s Fryderyk Award; later recordings include a solo Prokofiev album, Aquarelle with soprano Joanna Freszel, and piano trios by Marek Stachowski and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. He is also the author of arrangements of Chopin for piano and string quartet, published by PWM Edition.
An esteemed pedagogue, he gives masterclasses throughout Europe and sits on the juries of national and international piano competitions, including the Roma Piano Competition, the Ischia International Piano Competition and the François Samson Competition in Nice. Since 2016 he has been Artistic Director of the “Duettissimo” International Piano Duo Festival in Kraków. In 2019 he received the Medal of the Minister of National Education for his achievements in music education.