The Violin Preselection Jury

Philippe Graffin—(France) was a student of the late Joseph Gingold and Philipp Hirschorn and has established a particular reputation for his interpretations of his native repertoire as well for his interest in rare and contemporary works. He regularly partners with cellists Gary Hoffman and Truls Mork; pianists Pascal Devoyon, Steven Kovacevich, Claire Desert and the Chilingirian Quartet and is founder and artistic director of the "Consonances" chamber music festival of St Nazaire, France. He has appeared in the BBC Proms Chamber Music series and has been Artistic Director of several chamber music projects at London's Wigmore hall. Most recently Russian composer, Rodion Shchedrin has written a concerto for violin, trumpet and string orchestra, dedicated to Philippe. He is currently Artist in Residence at the University of New York at Stony Brook.

Boris Kuschnir―(Austria/Russia) has won numerous prizes at international violin and chamber music competitions (Leningrad, Paris, Belgrade, Sion, Florence, Trieste, Gorizia, Hamburg, Vercelli) and played in the Moscow String Quartet, the Vienna Schubert Trio and now in the Vienna Brahms Trio and the Kopelman Quartet. As a solo artist and chamber musician he has performed in some of the world’s most illustrious venues: the Musikverein Vienna, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice, the Wigmore Hall London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris and the Ishibashi Memorial Hall in Tokyo.
In 1988 he was awarded the “Mozart Interpretationspreis” in Vienna and in 2008 he was awarded the “Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver for Services to the Republic of Austria”.

Barry Shiffman―(Canada) is best-known for his chamber music career. In 1989, he co-founded the St. Lawrence String Quartet which has become one of the most sought-after ensembles of its generation, enjoying a busy concert calendar with over 100 performances worldwide.  In addition to performing and recording, Shiffman is a sought-after violin and viola teacher, chamber music coach and director of music programs at the Banff Centre in Canada including the Banff International String Quartet Competition.