Fu Hong, piano artist and educator, associate professor and Master Tutor of the Piano Major of China Conservatory of Music. She graduated from Shanghai Conservatory of Music and Karlsruhe National Conservatory of Music. She received her Konzert Examen for piano solo and Kuenstlerische Ausbildung for piano chamber music from saatliche Hochschule fuer Musik in Karlsruhe/Germany..
During her study in Shanghai, she studied with masters such as KANG Quefei, ZHANG Yuqing, XIAO Ming and WU Leyi, as well as studied with W. Genuit, D. Joffe, D. Bashkirow and A. Braginsky in Germany.
FU Hong won prizes in International Piano Solo Competition and Piano Chamber Music Competition. For example: won Fostering Young Musicians Association in Hannover, Germany in January, 1990, won the second prize of piano solo in Karlsruhe Music Festival in March, 1992, won the prize of Richard Wagner Association in 1995 and won the first prize of The 8th International Paris Piano Chamber Music Competition in France, November, 1996, etc.

Since 1990, FU Hong has taught in Baden Conservatory of Music, Bretten Conservatory of Music and other three music schools in Germany and has been employed as a teacher in major piano lessons of undergraduate, postgraduate and attached middle school in Piano Major of China Conservatory of Music in Beijing/China since March, 2007. She set up Piano Chamber Music courses for postgraduate in 2009, which filled the gap of Piano Chamber Music in Piano Major of Chinese Conservatory of Music. Her students won important awards in piano competition from home and abroad.

FU Hong has abundant stage experience for several decades. she held solo, concerto and different types of Chamber Music in many cities in Europe and Asia. She also cooperated with many famous conductors such as Peter Eotvos, YE Cong, YANG Youqing and JIN Ye. The productions of famous composers such as Schumann, Chopin, Debussy, and Prokofiev she played have been invited to play in Germany Southwest Broadcast and was also recorded. In 2010, she combined “YU ” piano duet group with YU Meina, a German Pianist originated from China. They hold piano duet concert and record CDs from home and abroad, devote themselves into researching and compiling textbooks of piano duet performance. They has also integrated many excellent Chinese productions into their repertoires in order to put Chinese piano duet performance out into the world.

In order to improve the music exchange between China and Germany, FU Hong founded Chinese-German Mannheim Piano Summer Camp with Professor P. Eicher of Mannheim National Conservatory of Music in 2009 and held master classes as well as conservatory concerts in Germany. In addition, she has been invited by famous conservatories and musical associations such as Chinese Conservatory of Music, Sichuan Conservatory of Music, Xinghai Conservatory of Music, Shenyang Conservatory of Music, Tianjin Conservatory of Music, CNU, National Piano Teacher Association of MUC and Heilongjiang Musical Association and held performances and lectures. Meanwhile, she has been invited as judges of famous international and domestic piano competitions, such as Wiesbaden International Piano Competition in Germany, Santa Cecilia International Piano Competition in Portugal and so on. In recent years, FU Hong has not only recorded several video tutorials but also has published academic journals and transcripts in famous domestic musical publications such as Piano Art and Shanghai Conservatory Music Journal.

Praised by the Los Angeles Times for his “power, virtuosity and mastery of tone color (that) is vivid and evocative,” Korean-born pianist Ick-Choo Moon is the recipient of numerous awards including prizes from the Montreal International Competition, the Geneva International Competition, and the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition at the Juilliard School. In 1989, he gave a critically acclaimed New York recital debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall as winner of the William Petschek Award, one of the highest honors given by Juilliard to its pianists. Since making his United States debut in 1979 with the Minnesota Orchestra under Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Moon has performed in many countries including the United States, Canada, Russia, Japan and Korea. His performances have been broadcast frequently on radio and TV in the United States, Canada and Korea.

Moon grew up in the United States and Canada as well as in his native Korea and studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and with Gyorgy Sebok at Indiana University where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees with highest distinction. He later received his doctor of musical arts degree from the Juilliard School where he worked with Sascha Gorodnitzki

Currently Professor of Piano at Seoul National University in Korea, Moon has also taught at University of California at Los Angeles where he headed the piano department for 12 years. During the summers he has taught and performed at Brevard Music Center, the Chautauqua Institute, Festival MusicAlp in France, Amalfi Music Festival in Italy and in numerous festivals in Korea.

Born in Odessa, the pianist and conductor Boris Bloch has long been regarded as one of the most important interpreters of classical and romantic piano music. After studying at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatory under the world-renowned pianist and pedagogue Dmitri Bashkirov, he soon built up a large and ever expanding repertoire extending from Scarlatti and Bach, the Viennese Classicists, Chopin and Liszt and covering the German and Russian Romantics to the most important composers of the 20th century. Bloch’s detailed knowledge of the piano literature of the last three centuries, his familiarity with the entire history of music and its protagonists along with his stupendous pianism and above all things his strong artistic personality form the basis for the much vaunted depth of expression, the abundance of colour, the amazing stylistic originality and the incomparable “singing tone” of his playing, manifesting themselves equally in the careful composition of his recitals.

After graduating from Moscow Boris Bloch won several international piano competitions, including one of the most eminent awards for pianists, namely the first prize at the “Ferruccio Busoni” International Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy, in 1978.

Several of Bloch’s CD recordings have acquired benchmark status, especially his recordings of Liszt’s opera paraphrases, which were awarded the Grand Prix International du Disque Liszt by the Liszt Society of Budapest and the Diapason d’Or of Paris, the recording of Mussorgsky’s works for piano, which also received the Excellence Disque prize in Paris, or the live recordings of Mozart’s “Coronation Concerto” and Tchaikovsky’s third piano concerto in its complete version (the two last-named recordings appearing also on DVD along with Liszt-Busoni’s Spanish Rhapsody).

Of special importance for Boris Bloch are the centres throughout Europe dedicated to the cultural heritage of Chopin. Thus his annual appearances at the traditional festival “Virtuosos” in the West Ukrainian city of Lviv, formerly Lemberg, where Chopin’s favourite pupil, Carl Mikuli, had taught for some 40 years, leaving behind the most remarkable Chopin legacy. The years 2010 and 2011 saw Boris Bloch performing at other significant Chopin centres throughout Europe: the opening recital of the IX Intermusicale for the Chopin Society Taunus in Oberursel near Frankfurt, a recital at the Chopin Society in Basel – acclaimed as one of the most notable events of the year – a recital at the Chopin Festival in Marianske Lazne, where “his sparkling technique combined with enchanting phrasing was uplifting” (Journal of the International Federation of Chopin Societies “Chopin in the World”, 2011). And after his opening concert given on the eve of the XX International Masterclass for Pianists hosted by the Chopin Society in Darmstadt and conducted by Boris Bloch, Sylvia Adler wrote: “Stormy applause and bravos were Boris Bloch’s reward upon his performance of Chopin waltzes. Bloch had obviously not been moved by the music alone, but made this music strikingly his own” (Darmstäster Echo, 10.10.2011). In 2013 Boris Bloch performed again for the Chopin Society in the BRD in Darmstadt on February 22nd Chopin’s birthday, being also a member of the international jury of the Darmstadt International Copin Piano Competition in October 2013.
Bloch’s teaching at the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen likewise enjoys great popularity and recognition. In 207 Boris Bloch was awarded the music education prize of the Köhler-Osbar-Foundation and the city of Duisburg, the seat of the piano department of Folkwang University since 2002.

Carles Lama was born and grew up in the city of Girona, Spain. There, in the same city, he obtained the Diploma of Professional in piano from the Conservatory “Isaac Albéniz” and later the Superior degree at the Liceu Music Conservatory in Barcelona. He continued his musical training in Paris, with Aquiles delle Vigne, at the École Normale de Musique “Alfred Cortot”, and in the United States with Luiz de Moura Castro. He obtained scholarships and won the Talent Award from the Hartt School of Music (University of Hartford in Connecticut). His international career as a pianist has led him around Europe, America and Asia. He regularly performs in world capitals such as Paris, London, Madrid, Brussels, Rome, Barcelona, Milan, Prague, Belgrade, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Buenos Aires, Montevideo and others. He has made numerous musical recordings for the music companies Ars Harmonica and KNS-classical and also recorded for RNE- Radio Nacional de España, Catalunya Música, Radio France, BBC London and Classic FM Australia. Since 1987 he has a duet of piano four hands with his wife Sofia Cabruja. He has often been invited to conduct master classes in Spain, Italy, Belgium, Greece, China and Singapore. In 2001 he received an honorary distinction from UNICEF in recognition of his humanitarian effort in benefit of the needy children of the world.

Johannes Kropfitsch (born 1960) is one of the most outstanding Viennese pianists. His performances convince with intellectual power as well as high virtuosity. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna with Hans Petermandl and Hans Graf and received his final diploma with unanimous distinction in 1985. He attended master classes with Stanislav Neuhaus (Moscow), Alexander Jenner and Wilhelm Kempff. He received his doctorat in law in 1987.
Johannes Kropfitsch was prize-winner /finalist at the „Busoni“ competition in Bozen, the concours „Marguerite Long“ in Paris, „Alessandro Casagrande“, „Citta di Senigallia“ in Italy and won a new Bösendorfer grand at the “Bösendorfer“ competition (1985) in Vienna.
Since then he performs regularly as a soloist, but also with his sister Elisabeth (violin) and his brother Stefan (cello), forming the famous JESS-TRIO-WIEN, wich has ist own series of Concerts in the Wiener Konzerthaus.
Johannes Kropfitsch was soloist in concerts of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the RSO Vienna, the Slovenian Philharmony, the 21st Century Orchestra Kobe (Japan).
He performs worldwide in the most important music centers, as London (Wigmore Hall), New York (Carnegie, Lincoln Center), Tokyo, Seoul (International Artist Center), Moscow, Barcelona.
In addition to the standard repertory he performed all 32 Sonatas by L. v. Beethoven, the entire Wohltemperiertes Klavier by J. S. Bach and the 24 Studies by F. Chopin.
He founded the well known Johannes Brahms Competition in Pörtschach am Wörthersee in 1993. Johannes Kropfitsch is also a specialist for dodecaphonic music (Schoenberg, Berg, Webern and successors). He is member of the board of the International Chopin Society in Vienna.
He became assistant teacher for the class of Hans Graf at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna in 1985. Since 1998 he is professor at the Music and Art University of the City of Vienna and was appointed chair of the department of keyboard instruments in 2008. Since 2014 he has been elected vice-dean.

He has recorded for the Brussels-based label Empire Master Sound and has recently published a CD for Velut Luna with the integral cycle of Liszt’s 12 Grand Etudes.

He has a predilection for the romantic and twentieth century repertoires with a particular eye to contemporary music, having on several occasions presented compositions never previously performed.

He is a teacher at the Music Academy “Giuseppe Tartini” of Trieste and is regularly invited to give Master Classes (Cajkovskij Music Academy of Moscow and the Liszt Academy of  Budapest).

He has been a member of the jury in several important music competitions.