The Piano Preselection Jury

Marcello Abbado―(Italy) is former director of the Milan Conservatory and founder of the Symphonic Orchestra Verdi in Milan. He has appeared in recital and as a guest performer on five continents and worked with such eminent artists as Paul Hindemith and Wolfgang Sawallisch, as well as with the Vienna Philharmonic.   Also active as a composer, he has written for a broad variety of instrumental forces.

Dmitri Alexeev―(Russia) was the first-prize winner of the 1975 Leeds International Piano Competition, the first such achievement by a Russian artist. Since then he has enjoyed a top-level international career and has appeared as a recitalist and soloist with the major orchestras throughout Europe, Australia, the Far East, and the United States. Highlights of the current season include a major U.K. tour with the Russian State Orchestra, a performance with Daniele Gatti and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and recitals in Milan, Bari, and St. Petersburg.

Sergei Babayan—(U.S.A.) began his career after winning first prizes in international competitions including the Cleveland International Piano Competition, (formerly Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition) and the International Hamamatsu Piano Competition.  He had the opportunity to study under Pletnev, Gornostayeva, Naumov and Vlasenko at the Moscow Conservatory in Russia.  Babayan is an advocate of new music and has made several recordings for EMC, Connoisseur Society and Pro Piano labels.  He has appeared with many major orchestras throughout the world including the London Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestra of Mariinsky Theatre, the Warsaw Philharmonic and the New World Symphony and collaborated with such conductors as Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov, Neeme Jarvi and Hans Graf.  He was recently invited by Gergiev to perform Prokofiev's 3rd piano concerto in his Easter Festival, and returned to London in 2010 to perform at the Barbican with the LSO under the direction of Gergiev.

Denis Matsuev―(Russia) is a fast-rising star on the international concert stage since his triumphant victory at the eleventh  International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Matsuev is Artistic Director of two famous classical music festivals in Russia: "Stars on Baikal" in Irkutsk and "Crescendo" which is being held all over the world: Moscow, St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Tel-Aviv, Kaliningrad, Paris and Rome.  He is also president of the charitable Russian foundation “New Names.”

Jürgen Meyer-Josten―(Germany) served as the head of music of Bavarian Radio in Munich for more than two decades where he produced programs with Leonard Bernstein.  He was also director of the International Music Competition of the Broadcasting Companies of Germany in Munich.  Having begun his career as a pianist and with several recordings to his credit he has also authored numerous articles on the piano and pianists.

 

Pavel Nersessian—(Russia) has been touring Russia and surrounding states from the age of eight and has enjoyed major success in international competitions including the  Beethoven Competition in Vienna in 1985, Paloma O’Shea Competition in Santander and Tokyo Competition.  He was a pupil of the Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory, where his teacher was Y. Levin. Later he became a student Prof. S. Dorensky. Nersessian has on several occasions given performances in London,  New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Leipzig, Vienna, Budapest, Madrid, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul,  Munich,  Rio de Janeiro,  Kiev and many others.  By special invitation from the Kirov and the Perm Ballet, he performed the solo in Balanchine's Ballet Imperial based on the music of Tchaikovsky's 2nd Piano Concerto with performances at the Kirov, Bolshoi, Chatelet and Covent Garden.