After 14 editions of “Luciano Gante International Piano Competition” in Pordenone – Italy, since 2011 the “Piano FVG” logo has launched a new project in a cosmopolitan feel, which makes the piano an absolute protagonist of an artistic and cultural path, open to original synergies and ambitious goals. The new International Piano Competition of Friuli Venezia Giulia, first edition of which has been successfully presented in 2012, is a biennial event taking place at the Zancanaro Theatre in Sacile, in addition to many prestigious musical events that have always characterized the City of Livenza, today more than ever confirmed as the ‘City of Music’. Also, new are the contest period (late spring) and the articulation of the rounds, which culminate with the selection of the six finalists who compete in a decisive soul-stirring performance with orchestra.
Even authoritative and consolidated is the artistic and institutional parterre of the event, which sees the Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia and Friuli Foundation amongst the main promoters, naturally with the City of Sacile, in addition to the essential synergy with Fazioli Pianoforti, artistic and technical partner of the project. Together with them, other cultural institutions, local governments and private partners, who have chosen to support the Competition and the various events connected to it, with particular attention to the promotion of the territory and the involvement of students of schools and academies of music, through specific “educational” initiatives dedicated to them.
The Competition will alternate, in the interim, with a series of concerts reserved for the winners, who will thus benefit from an interesting musical tour, as a further showcase for promoting the career of promising soloists. A way to boost the idea of a network of excellence for young musicians on the rise, able to promote a new generation of acclaimed pianists through a shared experience on an international level.
M° Davide Fregona
Artistic Director of the International piano competition of Friuli Venezia Giulia
FVG ORCHESTRA
FVG Orchestra is a recently born symphony orchestra, founded at the behest of the Italian region Friuli Venezia Giulia in order to gather the musical inheritance of the many realities belonging to this border area – rich in musical traditions. Betting against the Italian standard, the foundation of FVG Orchestra represented the choice to invest in the musical values by forming a new orchestra defined to be talented and artistically kind.
Even immediately after its foundation, FVG Orchestra gave concerts in Budapest – in the astounding room which used to be the seat of the Hungarian Parliament, and in many theaters among Friuli Venezia Giulia.
The Principal Guest Conductor is M° Paolo Paroni, already Principal Guest Conductor of the New York City Ballet Orchestra and guest conductor in plenty of Symphonic Institutions in Italy and abroad. The orchestra has also worked with other conductors of the highest repute, aiming to an exponential artistic growth.
While progressively developing in this, FVG Orchestra has regularly hosted many Concertmasters arriving from some of the most prestigious Italian and international realities – such as Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Teatro La Scala Orchestra in Milan, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale Rai in Turin, and other symphonic orchestras known for their undiscussed musical quality.
FVG Orchestra is one of the promoters of the rebirth of the longtime Festival Internazionale dell’Operetta in Trieste, century-old seat of the Light Opera genre – attempting to push its tradition even outside the regional borders.
In late 2020, while facing the national closure of theaters due to the pandemic emergency caused by COVID-19, FVG Orchestra has been one of the first institutions in Italy to program and give a short, online-streamed concert season – involving several top-class soloists and conductors in the major theaters of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region.
FVG Orchestra musicians are first-prize winners in both competitions and international prizes and have played with orchestras such as Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Mozart in Bologna, Teatro La Scala Orchestra in Milan, Filarmonica della Scala in Milan, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale Rai in Turin, Orchestra Haydn in Trento and Bozen, Orchestra dell’Arena di Verona, Orchestra del Teatro Lirico in Cagliari and Orchestra del Teatro Verdi in Trieste.
Competition Rules
Art. 1. It is hereby announced the 26° Friuli Venezia Giulia International Piano Competition, which will take place in Sacile (Italy) from 6 th to 10th May 2025 – I° Phase and from 6th to 9th May 2026 – II° Phase. The competition is open to pianists of any nationality, born after the 1st of May 1994. First prize winners of previous editions are not allowed.
Art. 2. The registration is carried out by sending the signed application form (download available at www.pianofvg.eu) to the International Piano Competition FVG Secretariat at the two following e-mail addresses: office@pianofvg.eu – competition@pianofvg.eu not later than Monday 3rd March, 2025.
Art. 3. Besides the application form, the following documents have to be enclosed:
- A copy of an identification document or a valid passport
- English written resume (curriculum vitae);
- One recent copyright‐free picture, with a resolution suitable for printing (min. 300 dpi), which will be used for any promotional purposes of the Competition.
- A receipt of the application fee – €80,00 (net of taxes). Payment must be made in one of the following modality:
- BANK ACCOUNT
HELD BY: Associazione Piano FVG > Via G. Carducci – 33077 Sacile/Pn ∙ Italia
BANK: BCC PORDENONESE E MONSILE – FILIALE DI AVIANO
IBAN CODE: IT 23 S 08356 64770 000000047570
SWIFT CODE: ICRAITRR9WO
REASON FOR PAYMENT: name and last name – application fee Competition Piano FVG 2025/2026
Art. 4. The Competition is in two years. For the round conditions, the required pieces, prizes and the competitors selection, please see the “Competition Announcement” published by the Organization Board and available on request at the Secretariat or downloadable from the web site www.pianofvg.eu
Art. 5. Round perfomances will start for the I° Phase –6th May 2025 at 10.00 am, II° Phase – 7th May 2026 at 10.30 am. Rounds are divided in two sessions: morning and afternoon. The day and the start time of the assigned session will be announced to each candidate, upon the order of execution previously established by an alphabetical drawing.
It’s possible to change the chosen pieces only one time sending the application change program (download available at www.pianofvg.eu) to the International Piano Competition FVG Secretariat at the two following e-mail addresses: office@pianofvg.eu – competition@pianofvg.eu by 8th april 2025.
Art. 6. All rounds will be recorded in multichannel HD audio format and broadcast in streaming and pubblished on youtube channel and web site of the Organization: www.pianofvg.eu. Competitors waive any claim or request towards the Organization and/or the Institutions sponsoring the Competition for audio or video recordings made on behalf of the Organizer during the trials and concerts of the winners.
Art. 7. All performances will be open to the public. Candidates must play from memory and make the scores of their music program available for the jury, in the edition they are using, before every execution. All the pieces to be performed must be published, except for the piece composed after year 1900.
Art. 8. The performance piano (Fazioli grand concert piano F278) can be tested one day before the beginning of the Competition, in appropriate times and by reservation at the secretariat at the two following e-mail addresses: office@pianofvg.eu – competition@pianofvg.eu. For obvious technical-organizational reasons, the opportunity to try this piano during the Contest cannot be guaranteed. However, a large number of rehearsal pianos will be available for the competitors throughout the Competition.
Art. 9. The members of the jury who have or have had any kind of ongoing educational relationship (public or private) in the two years before the Competition or have a family relationship or affinity with one or more competitors, must abstain from participating in the discussions and the voting phase of the competitors. During the first meeting, each member of the jury will make a statement on his personal situation in relation to the competitors.
Art.10. The prizes, with the exception of those referred in Article 11, will be paid by bank transfer within 90 days from the award.
Art.11. The Special Prizes “CONCERT TOUR”, Special Prizes CD RECORDING – FAZIOLI CONCERT HALL” , Special Prizes a “KNS CLASSICAL” are subject to the signing of a contract by 15 october 2026, under penalty of cancellation of the prize. The first prize can’t be awarded ex aequo.
Art.12. Awards are withholding tax exempt, in accordance with Article 30 of Presidential Decree n. 600 of 29/09/73, as specified by Ministerial Resolution No. 8/1251 of 28/10/1976.
Art.13. The awards winners shall use the winning title in their resume.
Art. 14. At the ending of the I° Phase will be announce the winners of the Special Prizes: “Beethoven”, “Chopin”, “900”, “F.I.D.A.P.A.”, “Giuseppe Molinari”, “CEI‐Central Europan Initiative”.
The winners must play for free, under penalty of cancellation of the prize, in the Special Prizes concert that will take place on Saturday 06th May 2025.
Art. 15. The attendance of the Competition is subject to the acceptance of these regulations and at the final decision of the Jury, which is final. In case of complaints or disputes, the wording of the Italian Regulation will be authoritative.
Art. 16. The Court of Pordenone is competent for any controversy or claim arising.
Awards
> 1° prize € 20.000,00 *
including hotel hospitality for the final phase (2026)
> 2° prize € 7.000,00
including hotel hospitality for the final phase (2026)
> 3° prize € 3.500,00
including hotel hospitality for the final phase (2026)
> 4° prize € 2.000,00
including hotel hospitality for the final phase (2026)
> 5° prize € 1.500,00
including hotel hospitality for the final phase (2026)
> 6° prize € 1.000,00
including hotel hospitality for the final phase (2026)
Competitors admitted to the II° Phase will be host of the Piano FVG Organizzation – International piano competition of Friuli Venezia Giulia (overnight and breakfast).
Other special prizes
> € 1.000,00 “and a Certificate – Special Prize “LYA DE BERBERIIS” for the best performance of L.v. Beethoven’s Sonata”
> € 1.000,00 and a Certificate – Special Prize “CEI‐Central Europan Initiative” for the best competitor coming from CEI Member States (with the exception of Italy): Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraina
> € 1.000,00 and a Certificate – Special Prize “Chopin” for the best performance of Chopin’s Studio
> € 1.000,00 and a Certificate – Special Prize “900” for the best performance of a piece composed after year 1900
> € 1.000,00 and a Certificate – Special Prize “F.I.D.A.P.A” offered by F.I.D.A.P.A. Pordenone to the best female competitor
> € 1.000,00 and a Certificate – “Giuseppe Molinari” scholarship for the best performance of the prelude op. 2 Mnemes by Giuseppe Molinari (not a mandatory test and to be performed in the second session) offered by “La Compagnia dell’Anello” Association, downloadable from the web site www.pianofvg.eu
* THE FIRST PRIZE INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING FOUR SPECIAL PRIZES:
> Special Prize “Concert Tour” € 4,000,00 and a Certificate, for participation in the Piano Festival “piano|fvg 2027”, including a concert tour in Italy and abroad
> Special prize “CD recording” € 1,000,00 and a Certificate, for the recording of an audio CD Technical partners are Fazioli Pianos and Fazioli Concert Hall
> Special prize “KNS CLASSICAL” Digital Publishing and distribution of the CD by KNS Classical label, and a Consulting service on career development
> Special Prize “Luciano Gante” € 1.000,00 and a Certificate, granted to the first classified only in case the Jury has decreed the victory unanimously
Jury 2025
Anna Kravtchenko
Italy
Anna Kravtchenko has distinguished herself on the international piano scene after winning unanimously the first prize at the prestigious “Ferruccio Busoni” International Piano Competition in 1992 at only 16 years old.
Harold Schoenberg, one of the most autorithative musical critics and journalists of the New York Times, wrote about her: ”Her radiant sound and poetical interpretations could sometimes reduce audiences to tears“.
Anna Kravtchenko has played in the most important halls and worldwide events such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Great Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw for the “Meesterpianisten serie”, at the Tonhalle in Zurich, at the “La Roque D’Antheron Festival”, for the Brescia and Bergamo Festival, in the Sala Verdi of Milan for “Serate musicali”, in the Herkulessaal in Munich, for the Ruhr Piano Festival, in the Salle Gaveau in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, in the Victoria Hall Geneva, for the “Piano Aux Jacobins” Festival in Toulouse, for the Bergen Festival, etc. She has also toured Japan, South Africa, the United States and Canada.
She has performed with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony, Baltimora Symphony Orchestra, Bayrischer Rundfunk Orchestra, Losanne Chamber Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra, Essen Philharmonic, London Royal Philharmonic, Noord Netherlands Orkest, Orkest van Het Osten, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Real Orquesta Sinfonica de Sevilla, English Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, la Israel Chamber Orchestra, Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra, Brabants Orchester, Prague Virtuosi, Orquesta Sinfonica Ciudad de Oviedo, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, National Orchestra Sweedse (Johannesburg), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (RSO), Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Orchestra Teatro Regio di Parma, Orchestra Haydn Trento e Bolzano, Orchestra Teatro Petruzzelli Bari, working with conductors including Gerd Albrecht, Daniele Gatti, Jaap van Zweden, Antoni Wit, Walter Weller, Gunter Pichler, Jan Paul Tortelier, Alexander Shelley ,Ralph Gotoni, Dmitry Sitkovetsky , Pavel Kogan, Martin Brabbins, Vassili Sinaiski, Joseph Swensen, G.Pehlivanian, Nikolai Alexeev, Heinz Wallberg, Mika Eichenholz, Petr Vronsky, G. Rath, Heinz Wallberg, Stefan Soltesz, Cristian Mandeal.
In addition to solo performances, Anna Kravtchenko performed chamber music with esteemed musicians as Enrico Dindo, Pavel Berman, Sergey Krylov, Georg Hoertnagel, Stefan Milenkovich, Ole Edvard Antonsen.
In 2006 she recorded a CD for DECCA Records, a recital entirely dedicated to Chopin. In the same year Anna Kravtchenko won the International Web Concert Hall Competition in the USA.
Her latest CD for DECCA dedicated to Liszt has been reviewed with five stars and has received the award of the title “Cd of the month” in the main Italian magazines including Amadeus, Classic Voice, Suonare News and Musica.
In 2010 Deutsche Grammophon selected four pieces recorded by her for insertion in the “Grande Classica” and “Classic Gold” box, published in May 2010.
Born in 1976, Anna Kravtchenko began studying piano at the age of five. She studied with Leonid Margarius at the International Piano Academy of Imola, where she was admitted “ad honorem”. After teaching for 15 years at the same Academy “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola, she obtained a position as Piano professor at the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana, University of Lugano, Switzerland.
Fu Hong
China
She 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 Gueraldi. 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 the 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, Nicolas Krauze.
She took part in many Beethoven and Mozart concerts, composers to whom she 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 orchestra conductor, Carlo Maria Giulini, expressed heart-felt admiration after hearing her play the last three Beethoven sonatas in 1998.
In Italy she was guest pianist at prestigious musical institutions such as the Orchestra Regionale Toscana, the Teatro Alighieri of Ravenna, the Auditorium Verdi of Milan in duet with French cellist Alain Meunier. She recorded several CDs for the Solstice record company.
In 2012, on the occasion of Claude Debussy’s 150th birth anniversary, she performed in several concerts with his 12 studies.
She lives in Venice, where she is piano professor at the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello since 2014. Many of her students were awarded in international competitions.
Her Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and the complete piano Sonatas recorded for Odradek, received many astonishing reviews.
She is regularly invited as a jury member in international piano competitions.
Press reviews
“Who is Muriel Chemin? Simply one of the best interpreters of Beethoven in the world.” Hervé Pennven – Hebdo National
“Muriel Chemin reminds of Pollini’s objective purity from a few years ago, along with Brendel’s humor!” Luc Nevers – Classica
“She works as a synthesis of Schnabel’s furious frenesy, Arrau’s poetic meditation, Brendel’s nervous anxiety.” Philippe van den Bosch – Répertoire
“The breath, the balance of her concept, the combination of rigour, richness and analytical awareness are astonishing.” Patrick Szersnovicz – Le Monde de la Musique
“5 diapasons – Familiar with the work of Beethoven, the pianist embraces the thirty-three variations in a great vigorous gesture, thus creating a sense of homogeneity within this series of composite atmospheres. With frank accentuations, basses full of depth and scintillating highs, she releases the crazy energy that Beethoven has injected into Diabelli’s waltz, without ever succumbing to a demonstration of virtuosity or emphatic effusion.” Jérôme Bastianelli, October 2017 – Diapason
“The result (Op.120) is comprehensive and a very satisfying chain of beautifully realised transformations.” Jan de Kruijff, June 2017 – Musicalifeiten
“…and rediscovering her today, affirming with eloquence and elegance her devotion to Beethoven, is a joy to behold.” Jean-Charles Hoffelé, April 2017 – ARTAMAG’
“She approaches the late Opus 120 in a rather aristocratic way: the reverence for the greatness of the work sounds through, she plays technically perfectly, rich in substance and with a differentiated sound.” Isabel Fedrizzi, May 2017 – Piano News
Giuseppe Andaloro
Italy
Born in Palermo in 1982, he started a passionate and intense concert activity at a very young age, carrying out a wide repertoire which ranges from Renaissance to modern and contemporary music. He has been guest of renowned festivals (Salzburger Festspiele, Ruhr Klavier, Spoleto Due Mondi, Bucarest Enescu, Ravello, “Chopin” Duszniki-Zdròj, A.B. Michelangeli di Brescia e Bergamo, “Al Bustan” Beirut, “Mehli-Mehta” Mumbai) and in some of the most important concert venues in the world, including La Scala in Milan, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Gasteig in Munich, Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Santa Cecilia at “Parco della Musica” in Rome, Rudolfinum Dvořák Hall in Prague, Anfiteatro Simón Bolívar in Mexico City, Teatro Oriente in Santiago de Chile, Sumida Triphony Hall in Tokyo, Esplanade Auditorium in Singapore, City Hall Concert Hall in Hong Kong, etcetera.
He regularly plays with major orchestras (London Philharmonic, Tokyo NHK Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Philharmonische Camerata Berlin, London Mozart Players, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra) and great conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Gianandrea Noseda, Andrew Parrott and internationally acclaimed artists, including Sarah Chang, Giovanni Sollima, Sergej Krylov, Anna Tifu, Svetlin Roussev, John Malkovich.
First Prize Winner in some of the most prestigious international piano competitions – such as “Ferruccio Busoni” in Bolzano, London Piano Competition, Porto, Sendai, Hong Kong – in 2005 he was praised for artistic merit by the Italian Ministry for Heritage and Cultural Activities.
He has many records on his credit (Sony, Warner, Naxos, Fontec labels) and has been guest in various Radio-TV broadcasts, such as NHK-BS2 Tokyo, BBC London, Radio France Musique, Amadeus 103.7 Buenos Aires, Classic FM Radio Allegro Johannesburg, RTSI Lugano, RDP Radiodifusão Portuguesa, Rai Radio3 Italia, German Radio SWR2, Vatican Radio, WRR Dallas Classical Radio, Hong Kong Radio 4, Singapore Symphony 92.4FM, Fresno Valley Public Radio, etc.
Andaloro gives master classes in Italy and abroad (Tokyo Showa University, Fresno California State University, International Keyboard Academy of Thailand, Kuala Lumpur Chopin Society, Hong Kong Chopin Society) and has served the jury in international piano competitions.
Pavel Gililov
Ukraine
Pavel Gililov was born in Donetsk in Southeastern Ukraine where his parents fostered his obvious musical genius from a young age. The boy received his first piano lessons from his father, a music lover and amateur musician.
Soon young Pavel was playing in public. He made his first appearance with an orchestra at age eight and by his 11th year performed the third piano concerto of famed composer Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky with such aplomb that the grand master invited him to study in St. Petersburg (Leningrad) at an academy for highly gifted children. The school has produced such talent as Boris Pergamenschikow, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky, Grigory Sokolov and many others.
During his studies, Pavel Gililov received high honors at the All-Russian Piano Competition in Moscow (1972) and the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw (1975). As his talents were recognized he became a sought after performer throughout the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact nations. Gililov also displayed outstanding abilities as an instructor and after his graduation in 1976 he became the youngest professor of concert piano at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
Soon he came to detest Soviet oppression and in 1978 applied to emigrate. He first moved to Austria and then to Cologne, Germany, where he re-ignited his passion for musical instruction.
Soon after his arrival in the West, Gililov won top honors at the renowned Viotti competition in Vercelli, Italy. Thus began a new phase in his life as performer. Always in popular demand, he has appeared countless times both solo and with orchestras. He played with philharmonic orchestras from Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Moscow and Warsaw; with the Polish Broadcast Orchestra, the Philharmonia Hungarica, the Vienna Symphony, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Cologne’s Gürzenich Orchestra, RAI- Turin, the Irish National Orchestra and the Detroit Chamber Orchestra. He has worked with such renowned conductors as L. Foster, A. Jansons, V. Gergiev and J. Conlon. In his musical travels Gililov has visited many of the world’s cultural centers, playing in the Berlin Philharmonic, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Vienna’s Musikverein, La Scala in Milan, Madrid’s Teatro Real, the Palao de la Musica in Barcelona, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Zurich’s Tonhalle, the Palais de Beaux-Art in Brussels, the Teatro Cologne in Buenos Aires and countless others.
Pavel Gililov’s recording career includes albums and CDs for Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Victor, Toshiba EMI, Virgin and Orfeo to name a few. His discography provides a mere sampling of the wide-ranging talents of this versatile and vastly accomplished musician.
He is also an honored guest at major festivals such as Edinburgh, Newport, Schleswig Holstein and Rheingau; at the Salzburg and Ludwigsburg Festivals and many more. He enthusiastically pursues projects with contemporary composers and has premiered many of their works. In addition to his solo concerts, he is a lover of chamber music. Along with his schoolmate and friend, the late Boris Pergamenschikow, he created a duo that gained international renown. He also founded the Gililov Piano Quartet (formerly the Philharmonic Piano Quartet Berlin).
Despite his hectic concert schedule, he continues to guide and instruct promising young musicians. He is a Professor at the Cologne University for Music and Dance, and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg where he has instructed a long list of international award-winning musicians. Many of these have gone on to stellar careers. Pavel Gililov travels the world giving masterclasses to young pianists and for years has supervised the Summer Academy in Lausanne. In addition, he is a jury member in many international competitions.
In 2005, Pavel Gililov founded the Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn where he is currently artistic director and jury president.
Murie Chemin
France
She 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 Gueraldi. 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 the 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, Nicolas Krauze.
She took part in many Beethoven and Mozart concerts, composers to whom she 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 orchestra conductor, Carlo Maria Giulini, expressed heart-felt admiration after hearing her play the last three Beethoven sonatas in 1998.
In Italy she was guest pianist at prestigious musical institutions such as the Orchestra Regionale Toscana, the Teatro Alighieri of Ravenna, the Auditorium Verdi of Milan in duet with French cellist Alain Meunier. She recorded several CDs for the Solstice record company.
In 2012, on the occasion of Claude Debussy’s 150th birth anniversary, she performed in several concerts with his 12 studies.
She lives in Venice, where she is piano professor at the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello since 2014. Many of her students were awarded in international competitions.
Her Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and the complete piano Sonatas recorded for Odradek, received many astonishing reviews.
She is regularly invited as a jury member in international piano competitions.
Press reviews
“Who is Muriel Chemin? Simply one of the best interpreters of Beethoven in the world.” Hervé Pennven – Hebdo National
“Muriel Chemin reminds of Pollini’s objective purity from a few years ago, along with Brendel’s humor!” Luc Nevers – Classica
“She works as a synthesis of Schnabel’s furious frenesy, Arrau’s poetic meditation, Brendel’s nervous anxiety.” Philippe van den Bosch – Répertoire
“The breath, the balance of her concept, the combination of rigour, richness and analytical awareness are astonishing.” Patrick Szersnovicz – Le Monde de la Musique
“5 diapasons – Familiar with the work of Beethoven, the pianist embraces the thirty-three variations in a great vigorous gesture, thus creating a sense of homogeneity within this series of composite atmospheres. With frank accentuations, basses full of depth and scintillating highs, she releases the crazy energy that Beethoven has injected into Diabelli’s waltz, without ever succumbing to a demonstration of virtuosity or emphatic effusion.” Jérôme Bastianelli, October 2017 – Diapason
“The result (Op.120) is comprehensive and a very satisfying chain of beautifully realised transformations.” Jan de Kruijff, June 2017 – Musicalifeiten
“…and rediscovering her today, affirming with eloquence and elegance her devotion to Beethoven, is a joy to behold.” Jean-Charles Hoffelé, April 2017 – ARTAMAG’
“She approaches the late Opus 120 in a rather aristocratic way: the reverence for the greatness of the work sounds through, she plays technically perfectly, rich in substance and with a differentiated sound.” Isabel Fedrizzi, May 2017 – Piano News
Jury 2026
Anna Kravtchenko
Italy
Anna Kravtchenko has distinguished herself on the international piano scene after winning unanimously the first prize at the prestigious “Ferruccio Busoni” International Piano Competition in 1992 at only 16 years old.
Harold Schoenberg, one of the most autorithative musical critics and journalists of the New York Times, wrote about her: ”Her radiant sound and poetical interpretations could sometimes reduce audiences to tears“.
Anna Kravtchenko has played in the most important halls and worldwide events such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Great Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw for the “Meesterpianisten serie”, at the Tonhalle in Zurich, at the “La Roque D’Antheron Festival”, for the Brescia and Bergamo Festival, in the Sala Verdi of Milan for “Serate musicali”, in the Herkulessaal in Munich, for the Ruhr Piano Festival, in the Salle Gaveau in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, in the Victoria Hall Geneva, for the “Piano Aux Jacobins” Festival in Toulouse, for the Bergen Festival, etc. She has also toured Japan, South Africa, the United States and Canada.
She has performed with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony, Baltimora Symphony Orchestra, Bayrischer Rundfunk Orchestra, Losanne Chamber Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra, Essen Philharmonic, London Royal Philharmonic, Noord Netherlands Orkest, Orkest van Het Osten, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Real Orquesta Sinfonica de Sevilla, English Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, la Israel Chamber Orchestra, Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra, Brabants Orchester, Prague Virtuosi, Orquesta Sinfonica Ciudad de Oviedo, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, National Orchestra Sweedse (Johannesburg), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (RSO), Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Orchestra Teatro Regio di Parma, Orchestra Haydn Trento e Bolzano, Orchestra Teatro Petruzzelli Bari, working with conductors including Gerd Albrecht, Daniele Gatti, Jaap van Zweden, Antoni Wit, Walter Weller, Gunter Pichler, Jan Paul Tortelier, Alexander Shelley ,Ralph Gotoni, Dmitry Sitkovetsky , Pavel Kogan, Martin Brabbins, Vassili Sinaiski, Joseph Swensen, G.Pehlivanian, Nikolai Alexeev, Heinz Wallberg, Mika Eichenholz, Petr Vronsky, G. Rath, Heinz Wallberg, Stefan Soltesz, Cristian Mandeal.
In addition to solo performances, Anna Kravtchenko performed chamber music with esteemed musicians as Enrico Dindo, Pavel Berman, Sergey Krylov, Georg Hoertnagel, Stefan Milenkovich, Ole Edvard Antonsen.
In 2006 she recorded a CD for DECCA Records, a recital entirely dedicated to Chopin. In the same year Anna Kravtchenko won the International Web Concert Hall Competition in the USA.
Her latest CD for DECCA dedicated to Liszt has been reviewed with five stars and has received the award of the title “Cd of the month” in the main Italian magazines including Amadeus, Classic Voice, Suonare News and Musica.
In 2010 Deutsche Grammophon selected four pieces recorded by her for insertion in the “Grande Classica” and “Classic Gold” box, published in May 2010.
Born in 1976, Anna Kravtchenko began studying piano at the age of five. She studied with Leonid Margarius at the International Piano Academy of Imola, where she was admitted “ad honorem”. After teaching for 15 years at the same Academy “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola, she obtained a position as Piano professor at the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana, University of Lugano, Switzerland.
Fu Hong
China
She 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 Gueraldi. 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 the 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, Nicolas Krauze.
She took part in many Beethoven and Mozart concerts, composers to whom she 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 orchestra conductor, Carlo Maria Giulini, expressed heart-felt admiration after hearing her play the last three Beethoven sonatas in 1998.
In Italy she was guest pianist at prestigious musical institutions such as the Orchestra Regionale Toscana, the Teatro Alighieri of Ravenna, the Auditorium Verdi of Milan in duet with French cellist Alain Meunier. She recorded several CDs for the Solstice record company.
In 2012, on the occasion of Claude Debussy’s 150th birth anniversary, she performed in several concerts with his 12 studies.
She lives in Venice, where she is piano professor at the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello since 2014. Many of her students were awarded in international competitions.
Her Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and the complete piano Sonatas recorded for Odradek, received many astonishing reviews.
She is regularly invited as a jury member in international piano competitions.
Press reviews
“Who is Muriel Chemin? Simply one of the best interpreters of Beethoven in the world.” Hervé Pennven – Hebdo National
“Muriel Chemin reminds of Pollini’s objective purity from a few years ago, along with Brendel’s humor!” Luc Nevers – Classica
“She works as a synthesis of Schnabel’s furious frenesy, Arrau’s poetic meditation, Brendel’s nervous anxiety.” Philippe van den Bosch – Répertoire
“The breath, the balance of her concept, the combination of rigour, richness and analytical awareness are astonishing.” Patrick Szersnovicz – Le Monde de la Musique
“5 diapasons – Familiar with the work of Beethoven, the pianist embraces the thirty-three variations in a great vigorous gesture, thus creating a sense of homogeneity within this series of composite atmospheres. With frank accentuations, basses full of depth and scintillating highs, she releases the crazy energy that Beethoven has injected into Diabelli’s waltz, without ever succumbing to a demonstration of virtuosity or emphatic effusion.” Jérôme Bastianelli, October 2017 – Diapason
“The result (Op.120) is comprehensive and a very satisfying chain of beautifully realised transformations.” Jan de Kruijff, June 2017 – Musicalifeiten
“…and rediscovering her today, affirming with eloquence and elegance her devotion to Beethoven, is a joy to behold.” Jean-Charles Hoffelé, April 2017 – ARTAMAG’
“She approaches the late Opus 120 in a rather aristocratic way: the reverence for the greatness of the work sounds through, she plays technically perfectly, rich in substance and with a differentiated sound.” Isabel Fedrizzi, May 2017 – Piano News
Carles Lama
Spain
Steinway Artist and concert pianist, co-founder and director of the label KNS Classical and artistic director of several cycles and festivals of music, Carles Lama has also won a reputation for mentoring a wide number of young talents.
Together with superior studies in piano performance in Spain, Paris and United States and having directed the Conservatory of Music in Girona -from 2006 to 2012 – he studied Music Business, Branding and Digital Marketing and has founded Music Talent Lab, and presented workshops and lectures in different institutions in order to guide and enlighten the musicians ‘careers.
At the same time, he has taught Master-Classes around the world and has been jury member of many renowned international competitions.
He is member of the acclaimed “Carles & Sofia piano duo” with his wife Sofia Cabruja, with whom they have played around the world, including venues like Carnegie Hall, Palau de la Música Catalana, Sala Verdi or Teatro Solís, among others. They have been praised by public and critics alike as one of the best piano duos in the world. Their discography of more than 10 CDs includes masterworks for four hands and brilliant and demanding orchestral transcriptions, as well as original and exclusive projects created by the duo, including the transcription of the opera “Goyescas” or a “Lieder Project”, with transcriptions for four hands of Brahms, Schumann and Schubert lieder repertoire.
Always committed with social needs, he has a UNICEF award for his humanitarian aid.
In 2012, together with his wife, they founded Concerts4Good, Music on a Mission, a solidarity project. And in 2020, they created their own Foundation: Carles & Sofia Music Foundation.
He has been recognised as a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation and has received the Golden Star for the Professional Excellence, the Golden Medal for the Merit at Work and the European Golden Cross.
Vincenzo Balzani
Italy
VINCENZO BALZANI graduated under Alberto Mozzati Magna Cum Laude from G.Verdi Conservatory of music Milano. 1965 he won the Ricordi International. 1967 he got Liszt prize at Maria Canals in Barcelona. 1971 he was top prize winner in many famous competitions as: Pozzoli, Treviso, G.B.Viotti internationals. 1975 he successfully represented RAI television at Ravel Competition in Paris. He has performed 1200 concerts (recitals, chamber and symphonics) all over the world including the most prestigious Italian theatres and festivals (Scala, San Carlo, Regio-Turin, Olimpico-Rome,Festival Michelangeli,Festival dei Due Mondi, Settembre Musica). He is recording on Radio and TV and has recorded several LPs and CDs including Scarlatti, Mozart, Hummel, Beethoven, Chopin, Rossini , Schubert-Liszt.
Since 1973 he became piano professor in the Conservatory of Piacenza and since 1996 in the Conservatory of Milan.
He is jury member of many international competitions (“Las Rozas Piano Competition -Madrid, “London International Piano Competition- London, G.B. Viotti”- Vercelli, “Rina Sala Gallo”- Monza, “Pozzoli”- Seregno, “Russian Piano Music Competition – Sanremo, “A. Scriabin” International Piano Competition- Grosseto, “MozArte” International Piano Competition- Germany, “Tchaikovsky junior” – Kurashiki, “Takamatsu International Piano Competition”- Japan , “Parnassos” di Monterrey- Mexico, “Hummel”International Piano Competition-Slovacchia, China Shenzhen International Piano Concerto Competition -China, “Maria Canals” Competition -Barcelona, International Piano Competition of Lyon – France) and holds courses, masterclasses lectures in Italy and abroad.
He is artistic director of Città di Cantù, Valsesia Musica, Pianotalents, Pozzolino, Monterosa Kawai, Tadini International and Champion’s Keyboard Piano Competition Online.
From 2010 to 2021 he has been artistic consultant of the prestigious “Pozzoli” competition in Seregno and from 2012 to 2020 of Pozzolino.
In 2009 in Milano he has founded the Pianofriends association organizing festivals, concerts, stages. He is president of PianoIn association of Varese. Since January 2018 he has been regularly invited to hold concerts, seminars and masterclasses in the most important halls of the People’s Republic of China and in Hong Kong as testimonial of the Yangtze River Grand Piano.
He was invited in October 2023 to hold a seminar and a masterclass at the University “F. Chopin” Warsaw.
Professor since 2021 at the Academy of the Ridotto di Stradella.
Pavel Gililov
Ukraine
Pavel Gililov was born in Donetsk in Southeastern Ukraine where his parents fostered his obvious musical genius from a young age. The boy received his first piano lessons from his father, a music lover and amateur musician.
Soon young Pavel was playing in public. He made his first appearance with an orchestra at age eight and by his 11th year performed the third piano concerto of famed composer Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky with such aplomb that the grand master invited him to study in St. Petersburg (Leningrad) at an academy for highly gifted children. The school has produced such talent as Boris Pergamenschikow, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky, Grigory Sokolov and many others.
During his studies, Pavel Gililov received high honors at the All-Russian Piano Competition in Moscow (1972) and the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw (1975). As his talents were recognized he became a sought after performer throughout the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact nations. Gililov also displayed outstanding abilities as an instructor and after his graduation in 1976 he became the youngest professor of concert piano at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
Soon he came to detest Soviet oppression and in 1978 applied to emigrate. He first moved to Austria and then to Cologne, Germany, where he re-ignited his passion for musical instruction.
Soon after his arrival in the West, Gililov won top honors at the renowned Viotti competition in Vercelli, Italy. Thus began a new phase in his life as performer. Always in popular demand, he has appeared countless times both solo and with orchestras. He played with philharmonic orchestras from Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Moscow and Warsaw; with the Polish Broadcast Orchestra, the Philharmonia Hungarica, the Vienna Symphony, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Cologne’s Gürzenich Orchestra, RAI- Turin, the Irish National Orchestra and the Detroit Chamber Orchestra. He has worked with such renowned conductors as L. Foster, A. Jansons, V. Gergiev and J. Conlon. In his musical travels Gililov has visited many of the world’s cultural centers, playing in the Berlin Philharmonic, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Vienna’s Musikverein, La Scala in Milan, Madrid’s Teatro Real, the Palao de la Musica in Barcelona, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Zurich’s Tonhalle, the Palais de Beaux-Art in Brussels, the Teatro Cologne in Buenos Aires and countless others.
Pavel Gililov’s recording career includes albums and CDs for Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Victor, Toshiba EMI, Virgin and Orfeo to name a few. His discography provides a mere sampling of the wide-ranging talents of this versatile and vastly accomplished musician.
He is also an honored guest at major festivals such as Edinburgh, Newport, Schleswig Holstein and Rheingau; at the Salzburg and Ludwigsburg Festivals and many more. He enthusiastically pursues projects with contemporary composers and has premiered many of their works. In addition to his solo concerts, he is a lover of chamber music. Along with his schoolmate and friend, the late Boris Pergamenschikow, he created a duo that gained international renown. He also founded the Gililov Piano Quartet (formerly the Philharmonic Piano Quartet Berlin).
Despite his hectic concert schedule, he continues to guide and instruct promising young musicians. He is a Professor at the Cologne University for Music and Dance, and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg where he has instructed a long list of international award-winning musicians. Many of these have gone on to stellar careers. Pavel Gililov travels the world giving masterclasses to young pianists and for years has supervised the Summer Academy in Lausanne. In addition, he is a jury member in many international competitions.
In 2005, Pavel Gililov founded the Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn where he is currently artistic director and jury president.
Roberto Prosseda
Italy
Roberto Prosseda, born in Latina in 1975, is one of the most active and versatile Italian musicians on the current international scene.
He gained international fame following his Decca CDs dedicated to the piano music of Felix Mendelssohn, which he recorded in full on 10 CDs (2005 – 2014), published in a single box set in 2017 (“Mendelssohn Complete Piano Works”) .
Over the past twenty years Roberto has performed regularly with some of the world’s leading orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Moscow State Philharmonic, Santa Cecilia, Filarmonica della Scala, Brussels Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest, Netherlands Symphony, Berliner Symphoniker, Staatskapelle Weimar, Calgary Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus. He has performed under the baton of David Afkham, Marc Albrecht, Christian Arming, Harry Bickett, Oleg Caetani, Riccardo Chailly, Pietari Inkinen, Yannik Nezeit-Seguin, George Pehlivanian, Dennis Russel-Davies, Tugan Sokhiev, Jurai Valcuha, Jan Willem de Vriend.
With the Gewandhaus Orchester conducted by Riccardo Chailly, he recorded the unpublished Concerto in E minor by Mendelssohn, published by Decca in September 2009. In Italy he is a regular guest of the major concert institutions, including the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, the Teatro alla Scala, the Unione Musicale of Turin, the Teatro la Fenice, the Accademia Chigiana of Siena, the Teatro Comunale of Bologna.
Roberto is also particularly appreciated in the interpretations of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, authors to whom he has also dedicated himself in his most recent Decca recordings. His recording of Mozart Sonatas, recorded on Fazioli piano with unmatched Vallotti tuning (6 Decca CDs, 2015-18), has received considerable international acclaim. In 2022 Roberto completed the recording of Mozarts’ complete piano works in 11 CDs.
In 2010 Deutsche Grammophon selected twelve recordings by Prosseda to include them in the “Classic Gold” box set, published in May 2010. Since 2011, he has also played the piano-pedalier in public, having rediscovered and presented in modern premieres various pieces by Alkan and the Concert by Charles Gounod for piano-pedalier and orchestra with the Toscanini Philharmonic of Parma, which he has re-performed with the Berliner Symphoniker, the Weimar Staatskapelle, the Lahti Philharmonic, the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and recorded the 4 pieces by Charles Gounod for Pedal Piano and orchestra with Orchestra della Radio Svizzera Italiana and Howard Shelley for Hyperion. Roberto Prosseda gave 100 concerts with the pedal piano, contributing to the rediscovery of the instrument and its repertoire.
Roberto Prosseda is equally active as a music writer and author Radio and TV project, being also the creator of innovative musical programs of international scope. He conceived three TV documentaries, directed by Angelo Bozzolini, about Mendelssohn, Chopin and Liszt, produced by RAI and worldwide distributed by Euroarts.
His book “Il Pianoforte”, a listening guide to piano repertoire, was publushed by Curci in 2013.
Roberto is currently artistic director of Cremona Musica International Exhibitions, of Ascoli Piceno Festival, of Patmos Chamber Music Festival.