Jury members

Mikhail Khokhlov was born in Moscow in 1955. He started teaching at the age of 18. In 1974 he graduated from the Gnessins School of Music (specialising in piano, Valentina Aristova’s class). In 1981 he graduated from the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory (Professor Vera Gornostayeva’s class). In 1983 he finished his time as an assistant-apprentice. He also attended symphony orchestra conduction classes by Yuri Simonov and Dmitry Kitayenko.

Russian pianist Dmitri Alexeev is one of the world's most highly regarded artists. His critically praised recitals on the world's leading concert stages and his concert appearances with the most prestigious orchestras have secured his position as one of "the most remarkable pianists of the day" (Daily Telegraph). He has performed in the major concert halls around the world with most of great orchestras such as Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Concertgebouw, all London orchestras etc. under many celebrated conductors (Giulini, Ashkenazy, Boulez, Muti, Pappano, Temirkanov, ...

Andrei was born into a family with a strong musical tradition. His father, Col. Boris A. Diev, was a military composer and conductor. His mother, Rimma A. Dieva, was the Head of Piano at Gnessin State College of Music. Both parents were alumni of the Moscow State conservatoire. Andrei commenced his music studies at Gnessin College in 1965. In 1973, he transferred to Moscow Central Music School, joining the class of Prof. Leo Naumov. Andrei continued his studies under Prof. Naumov at Moscow Conservatoire until his graduation in 1981.

Pavel Gililov was born in the Soviet Union and was discovered by Dimitry Kabalevsky, as a musical talent. In 1972, whilst still a student, he won the Moscow National Piano Competition and was awarded a prize at the 1975 International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. From 1982 until his retirement, in 2013, he was piano professor at the Hochschule fur Musik in Cologne and is Guest Professor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. The pianist holds several master classes throughout Europe and the Far East and is Chairman of the Jury and Artistic Director at the International Telekom Beethoven Competition, Bonn. ...

Born 1956 in St. Petersburg. Grigory Gruzman had his first piano lessons at the age of five. He attended Special music school for gifted children in St. Petersburg. While attending school he had more than 300 appearances on stage in different Russian cities. He studied with Prof. Gregory Haimowsky at the Academy of Music in Jerusalem and with Prof. Vitalij Margulis at the College of Music in Freiburg (Germany). He is a prize winner of international piano competitions in Monza and Vercelli (Italy).

Vladimir Ovchinnikov continues the traditions of the world known G. Neighaus Piano School. The pianist is a graduate of the famous Central Special Music School (the class of A. Artobolevskaya) and the Moscow Conservatoire (class of Prof. A. Nasedkin). The only pianist ever to win the top prizes at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1982) and Leeds International Piano Competition (1987), Ovchinnikov is also a laureate of the Concours International de Montreal (Canada, 1980, 2nd Prize), and the International Chamber Ensembles Competition in Vercelli (Italy, 1984, 1st Prize). It ...

Yossi Tavor graduated from the Jerusalem Academy of Music. He is a television and radio journalist, a columnist on Cultural Affairs, a presenter at the radio "Orpheus", an author of numerous articles in Russian, Hebrew and English languages. A co-author of documentary films for the tv-channel "Culture" about the famous Russian pianists Nikolay Petrov, Mikhail Voskresensky, Dmitri Bashkirov and a Jury Member of the performing arts in Israel and Russia.