THE JURY OF THE COMPETITION 

Chairman of the Jury 

Vladimir Ashkenazy

One of the leading musicians of the world, with a career which has encompassed a wide variety of musical performances and forms of expression, maestro Ashkenazy is uniquely qualified to chair a group of his peers in judging this competition. He himself, in the early stages of his career, won the first prizes at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1956 and at the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1962.

For  over three decades after these successes, has he performed widely both as a soloist and  in concertos, or in chamber groups with artists, among others, of the stature of Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zuckerma, Lynn Harrel and Barbara Boney.

From the 1970s onwards, Vladimir  became increasingly active in conducting. He has made guest appearances with major orchestras with, among others, the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Concertgebouw. He has also held several conducting positions including with the Philharmonia and the Cleveland Orchestras, and the Royal Philharmonic. From 1998 to 2003 he was the chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with which he toured and recorded widely. He is at present the music director of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, conductor laureate of the Philharmonia and of the Iceland Symphony Orchestras and music director of the European Union Youth Orchestra.

His discography is enormous and covers, among others, the complete piano sonatas of Beethoven, the complete piano works of Chopin, the solo piano works of Schuman the complete Mozart piano concertos and the complete Beethoven violin and piano sonatas- to mention but a few. His most recent CDs cover piano works by Shostakovich.

Members of the jury (in alphabetical order) 

Leon Fleisher

Tracing musical pedigrees can be an intriguing exercise, if nothing else because it shows the continuity of musical tradition  as well as its development.

So,for example, Beethoven taught Czerny who taught Leschetizky who taught Schnabel who taught Leon Fleisher ! This in itself can mean little or nothing except that, in his pupil ,Schnabel had found an exceptional talent reflected, but not only, in Leon winning the Queen Elisabeth competition in 1952. Leon went to on to an illustrious career of concertising and recording especially with the Cleveland Orchestra and George Szell.

His performing career in 1965, at the early age of 37, was seemingly cut shot when a nervous disorder affected his right hand. Undaunted, he developed a threefold path to his musical expression. He continued to perform and record the repertoire and compositions for piano for the left hand, (see also the intriguing performance with his friend and colleague Gary Graffman for duo of left hands!). After a recent medical, treatment he started to play again with both hands and has issued his first two-handed recording in 40 years. He also flourished as a conductor and as a teacher.

His conducting includes associations with, among others, the Baltimore, Chicago, San Francisco, Montreal and Detroit Symphony Orchestras as well as with the New Japan Philharmonic.

His teaching since 1959 has centred on the Andrew W. Mellon chair at the Peabody Conservatory for Music and also with posts at the Curtis Institute and the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. During 1987-97 he was the artistic director of the Tanglewood Music Centre and continues to give masterclasses in various countries and centres in the world.

Gary Graffman

The president of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and successor to previous heads such as Josef Hofmann and Rudolf  Serkin, will be bringing to the jury of this competition more than just than his own decades of rich artistic experience, but also the aura and prestige of this exceptional teaching institution. Gary himself won in 1949 the Leventritt Award  and counts among his teachers no less than Vladimir Horowitz and Rudolf Serkin.

The artistic world��s attention was additionally focused on his career by the  fact that in 1979 an injury to is right hand forced him to concentrate on the piano repertoire for the left hand alone. He had ,however, already left a  recording legacy before this injury which included,  in addition to solo piano works, several acclaimed recordings of the classic piano concertos with orchestras such as the New York, Cleveland, Chicago and Boston and with conductors such as L.Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Eugene Ormandy and George Szell. In a way the partial  curtailment of his performing career  was a boon to the numerous students he could turn his attention to but also set an example  in terms of fortitude and musical development.

Gary Graffman continues to perform and record piano works specifically composed for him including piano concertos by Ned Rorem, Daron Hagen, Richard Danielpour, Luis Prado, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. Gary together with Leon Fleisher premiered William Bolcom��s piano concerto for two left hands!

Vladimir Krainev

Vladimir Krainev possesses that rare combination of the talent of a world-class pianist and that of a wonderfully communicative teacher, he himself having being taught at the Moscow Conservatory by the legendary Heinrich Neuhaus. His participation in the jury of this competition is particularly welcome as he brings to it a wealth of experience as a jury member, teacher and prizewinner himself  having won the first prize in piano at the 1970 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Vladimir is now professor at the Music Hochschule in Hanover and a jury member of several competitions including the Leeds, Clara Haskil and Tchaikovsky. In addition to his teaching duties he concertises widely across the world. His discography is extensive, with pride of place going to his several recordings of all five Prokofiev��s piano concertos, as well as Mozart��s piano concertos among  others. He has recently recorded a series of CD concentrating on Chopin, including  Chopin��s cello sonata together with the cellist A.Rudin

In 1992 Professor Krainev established in  Kharkov, his birthplace, an international competition for young pianists  as well as a charitable foundation to help young pianists.

Gabriel Kwok

Since 1989 Gabriel has been the Head of Keyboard Studies at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts which he had joined in 1984. He completed his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Guy Jonson and, later on, studied with Louis Kentner. In 2003 he was elected  Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.

Since his return to Hong Kong in 1978, Gabriel has developed a dual career as a teacher and a performer. On stage he has worked with a large number of artists including Jean-Pierre Rampal, Aaron Rosand and Nathaniel Rosen.

His teaching activities naturally extend into serving as visiting faculty member to various institutions including the Shenzhen Arts School, and the TCU/Cliburn Piano Institute in Fort Worth. He has held masterclasses in various cities in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand as well as in the PRC, Taiwan, Singapore and S.Korea. He has also given classes at , among others,  the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music, the Sydney and the Queensland Conservatories, the Eastman School of Music, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Texas Christian University and the Yale School of Music.

Gabriel is a seasoned member of juries of international piano competitions including the Rome International Piano Competition, the Vianna da Motta International Piano Competition and the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition.

Li Mingqiang

In a dignified, but also painful way, Mingqiang��s career plots the development of piano performance in postwar China. Born in Shanghai, he received his first piano lessons by a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, Alfred Wittenberg, himself a student of the famous violinist J. Joachim. Later on he joined the Shanghai Conservatory studying under the Russian pianist T.P. Kravchenko and won the first prize at the Enescu International Piano Competition in Bucharest in 1958.

The Cultural Revolution put an abrupt end to his artistic development, as it did for most of his colleagues. During 1965-71 he was sent to work in the countryside and in factories, where the fingers of his right hand were seriously damaged. As the conditions for artistic expression in the PRC improved after 1977 he was able to  tour internationally.

Since 1993 Mingqiang has lived in Hong Kong where he leads an active professional life, teaching, giving masterclasses, and participating as a member of jury in most major international piano competitions.

This competition is delighted by his participation and also because he will play at the jury��s gala recital-his first public performance since 1988 when the worsening condition of his hand precluded him from further public performances. The Alpha Omega Music ( the recording and CD label of the Hong Kong Chopin Society) will be issuing at the end of the year a double CD featuring a selection of Mingqiang's earlier recording of Chopin and  Enescu and of a selection of Chinese piano compositions.

Cristina Ortiz

Her Brazilian origins and cultural heritage have added a distinct color and passion in her performances of a wide repertoire and of her large discography. In addition to over twenty-five years of performing career, Cristina brings to this competition her own experience as the gold medallist of the 3rd Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

She has appeared with numerous orchestras, including the Berlin and the Vienna Philharmonics, the Philarmonia and Cleveland Orchestras, the Chicago Symphony and the Czech Philharmonic. She has also worked with conductors such as Kurt Masur, Andre Previn, Neeme Jarvi, Kyril Kondrasin and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Cristina is a keen chamber musician and has performed with numerous partners who included Michael Collins, Lynn Harrell, Truls Mork and the Prague Wind Quintet.

Her discography is wide and eclectic covering works by Beethoven, Chopin, Clara Schuman, R.Schuman, collections of French impressionist piano works and by Spanish composers as well as the solo piano works and the complete piano concertos of her compatriot H. Villa-Lobos. Recent appearances included concerts with the Stuttgarrt and Royal Philharmonics.

In recent years Cristina has dedicated an increasing amount of time to the younger generation in teaching and giving masterclasses all over the world.

Pascal Roge

Pascal Roge has come to exemplify all that is best in French pianism today both in his continuous recital performances and his extensive discography of the genre.

He studied in the Paris Conservatory and also with  Julius Katchen who had an important influence on his artistic development.

Pascal is no stranger to competitions having himself won the first prize for piano at the age of twenty at the  Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition.

His regular concertising  takes him virtually around the world, appearing regularly in Europe, the US, Latin America, and Australia with annual visits to Japan becoming focal point. Recent activities included appearances at the International Piano Series in London as a guest artists, and performances with the Ysaye Quartet, a part of his regular and enthusiastic chamber music performances.

Orchestras he has appeared with include the Philadelphia, the Montreal Symphony, Concertgebouw, Vienna Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, the NHK Symphony, l��Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, l��Orchestre de Paris as well as all the major London orchestras.

His discography is extensive including cycles of Debussy and of Bartok with the London Symphony Orchestra. His recordings have won many prestigious awards including two Gramophone awards, a Grand Prix du Disque and an Edison award for his interpretations of the Ravel and Saint- Saens concertos.

Eleanor Wong

Eleanor studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Frederic Jackson and Max Pirani, graduating with top honours and awards. As a Boise Scholar, she then continued her studies in Paris with Vlado Perlemuter, himself a student of Cortot, and later on with Arthur Balsam in New York. If we were to extent our previous exercise of  linear connections with teachers of the past, we could mention that Cortot received instruction in the early part of his  studies by Emile Decombes, himself a disciple of Chopin- an appropriate link between Eleanor and the Chopin Society of Hong Kong !

A consummate teacher herself, she is now Artist-in-Residence (keyboard) and Senior Lecturer at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Since 1997 she has  been holding a visiting professorship at the Shenzhen School of Arts. Eleanor is also the chairperson of the Piano Teachers�� Association in Hong Kong.

Her performing career has taken her to London (Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room), the US as well as Hong Kong. Since 1986, Eleanor has formed a piano duo with her sister and they have   toured the PRC and US as well as performing in her home base in Hong Kong.

Eleanor has wide experience in piano competitions having participated as a juror in competitions in  Hong Kong, the PRC and Thailand. Several of her students have won prizes in international and local competitions, she herself being a silver medallist at the Viotti International Competition in Italy.