The Violin Jury
Yuri Bashmet *Finals Only—(Russia) was granted the second prize at the International Contest of Violists in Budapest (1975) and Grand Prix at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich (1976), attaining worldwide recognition. As a soloist and a conductor, Bashmet has performed with leading symphony orchestras: Berliner Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic, Вауrische Rundfunk, San Francisco Symphony and Orchestre de Paris. He is a founder and jury chairman of the International Contest of Violists in Moscow and President of the L. Tertis International Contest of Violists in Great Britain. He has been granted the high titles of the Honorary Artist of RSFSR (1983), Honorary Artist of the USSR (1991), 1993 "Best Musical Instrument Performer of the Year" and is an Honorary Academician of the London Academy of Arts.
Andrés Cárdenes―(U.S.A.) a prize winner in the 1982 International Tchaikovsky Competition, Grammy-nominated Cárdenes has appeared with over eighty orchestras worldwide, including those of Moscow, Pittsburgh, Saint Louis, Los Angeles, Houston, Helsinki, Caracas, Barcelona, Brussels and Shanghai. He founded the Culver City Chamber Orchestra (CA) where he serves as Music Director and Advisor. He is retiring this year as Concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 1989.
John Corigliano—(U.S.A.) is an American composer who first came to prominence in 1964 when, at the age of 26, his Sonata for Violin and Piano (1963) won the chamber-music competition of the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in Italy. Since then, Corigliano's scores, now numbering over one hundred, have won him the Pulitzer Prize, the Grawemeyer Award, three Grammy Awards, and an Academy Award and have been performed and recorded by many of the most prominent orchestras, opera companies, soloists, and chamber musicians in the world.
Martin Engstroem―(Sweden) founded the Verbier Festival and Academy, which he continues to direct to this day. Before founding Verbier, Martin Engstroem co-founded "Opéra et Concer" Management in Paris in 1975 where he continued to work until 1987. He later served as Vice President of Artists and Repertoire at DGG between 1999 and 2005.
Leonidas Kavakos *Finals Only― (Greece) is a renowned violinist and conductor. He has won numerous competitions and awards including: the International Sibelius, Indianapolis and Paganini Violin Competitions. Since then he has performed with many major orchestras including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, La Scala Filarmonica, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. Kavakos is also increasingly active as a conductor. From October 2007 until September 2009, he was Artistic Director of the Camerata Salzburg, having been the orchestra’s Principal Guest Artist from 2002.
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”.
Anne-Sophie Mutter *Finals Only―(Germany) has performed concerts in all the major music centers of Europe, the USA and Asia. In addition to performing major traditional works she has continually championed new and innovative repertoire .She received the International Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 2008 as well as the Leipzig Mendelssohn Prize. She is a bearer of the Grand Order of Merit of the German Federal Republic, the French Order of the Legion of Honor, the Bavarian Order of Merit and the Great Austrian Order of Merit.
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.
Sergei Stadler―*Finals Only (Russia) winner of the first prize and gold Medal in the 1982 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, he is also a laureate of the Jacques Thibaud competition in Paris, where he won the Grand Prize in 1980. He has performed as soloist with, among others, the London Philharmonic, the Russian National Symphony, and the Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestras, collaborating with world famous conductors. He is currently the Rector at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory.
Victor Tretiakov—(Russia) won the first prize in the III International Tchaikovsky Competition at the age of 19 and was invited thereafter to appear on several international concert tours. He has performed with virtually every major orchestra in the world, including the Berlin, Vienna, Moscow, and Munich Philharmonic Orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Staatskapelle Dresden, and symphony orchestras of Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Dallas, and Toronto. Named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1987 he is a laureate of the Shostakovich Prize, awarded by the Yuri Bashmet International Charitable Fundation, and the Glinka State Prize of the RSFSR (1981) and recently was awarded "The Order of Service to the Fatherland" by then-President Putin.
Maxim Vengerov *Finals Only―(Israel/Russia) launched his professional after winning the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition. He is now one of the most sought-after performers in classical music and has performed with almost every major orchestra and conductor. Vengerov was appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1997 and is the first classical musician to be nominated to such a role. At the 2002 Gramophone magazine awards, he was named Artist of the Year.