While the composition of the jury may vary from one round to another, members of the jury attend the whole of the round that they have been appointed to judge. Each member of the jury gives his or her marks for all the candidates to the ministerial official at the end of each round. The members of the jury may not vote for their own students. No consultation takes place between them. The role of the Chairperson of the jury is to direct the operations of the competition. He or she is assisted in this task by a Secretary. Neither takes part in the voting.

Chairman of the jury
Gilles Ledure
Gilles Ledure studied musicology at the universities of Leuven and Paris. Since 2011 he is the general manager of the Brussels cultural house Flagey. He started his career in the music world in Belgium at La Monnaie/De Munt and with the Belgian National Orchestra. In 2006 he headed abroad, first to Luxemburg to lead the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg and shortly afterwards to France, where he was artistic director of the Orchestre National de Lille and the Lille Piano Festival until 2011. In 2003 he founded Tactus (Young Composers’ Forum), the non-profit organization that supports young composers in the creation and performance of orchestral works in collaboration with various cultural institutions. Particularly attentive to the training of young talents, Gilles Ledure is on the Board of Directors of the Queen Elisabeth Competition and the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel and is a member of the Artistic Council of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. In 2014 he received the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in France, for his contribution to cultural and artistic relations between Belgium and France.
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Jean-Philippe Collard
France, °1948
Born into a family of musicians in France, Jean-Philippe Collard began learning the piano at the age of five. At sixteen, he won first prize at the Conservatoire de Musique de Paris. Jean-Philippe Collard is one of those artists who moves through space the same way as they play : his measured gestures catch the attention even before he sits down at the instrument. A prolific artist and one of the finest representatives of the French school, he has given hundreds of concerts and made more than sixty recordings. For him, transmitting and revealing the beauty of music is more than a passion : it is a vital necessity. All of his sound worlds are infused with colour. But not just any kind of colour. This is an artist who knows the importance of nuance at all times, creating landscapes of sound in the iridescence of arpeggios and the lingering tones of chords. Mindful of his apprenticeship with Pierre Sancan, of his friendship with Vladimir Horowitz, and of his encounters worldwide with the greatest conductors and orchestras, Jean-Philippe Collard is aware that he can convey all of this to the public.
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Nelson Goerner
Argentina, °1969
The Argentinean pianist Nelson Goerner studied at the National Conservatory of Buenos Aires and, after receiving the first prize at the Franz Liszt Competition (1986), he continued his studies with Maria Tipo in Switzerland. In 1990 he won the Geneva Competition. He is a highly demanded musician at festivals such as Verbier, Salzburg, La Roque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée and the BBC Proms. Orchestras he has worked with include the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, the Orchestre de Paris, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, and he has worked with several of today’s leading conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Philippe Herreweghe, Neeme and Paavo Järvi, Sir Mark Elder, Vassily Sinaisky, Jonathan Nott, Fabio Luisi and Esa‑Pekka Salonen. Furthermore, he plays chamber music with internationally recognized musicians such as Martha Argerich, Steven Isserlis, Gary Hoffman, Sol Gabetta and Renaud Capuçon. Nelson Goerner records predominantly for Alpha Classics. Accolades include a Diapason d’Or of the Year, Choc de Classica, Recording of the month of BBC Music Magazine and Editor’s choice of Gramophone. He has a strong relationship with the Mozarteum Argentino in Buenos Aires and enjoys a long association with the Chopin Institute in Warsaw, where he is a member of the artistic advisory committee.
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Ralf Gothóni
Finland, Germany, °1946
Ralf Gothóni is a Finnish-German pianist, orchestral conductor, composer, and writer. He has performed at the most prestigious festivals and with outstanding orchestras, both as a pianist and as a conductor, sometimes conducting from the keyboard, a double role that he frequently played as principal conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra from 2001 to 2010. A passionate champion of contemporary music, he has premiered works by composers such as Einojuhani Rautavaara, Aulis Sallinen, C. Curtis-Smith, John Tavener, Jeajoon Ryu, and Srul Irving Glick. As Artistic Chairman of the Savonlinna Music Academy, Ralf Gothóni has worked to create international musical connections that allow talented students to perform with eminent teachers. He has taught chamber music in Hamburg, Berlin, Madrid, and elsewhere and regularly gives masterclasses all over the world. His discography contains a hundred recordings, including a number devoted to Schubert and to the concertos of Britten, Villa-Lobos, and Rautavaara. Ralf Gothóni has been awarded the Gilmore Artist Award (1994), the Austrian Culture Ministry’s Schubert Medal, and the Pro Finlandia Medal. He was decorated by Queen Sofía of Spain in 2012.
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François-Frédéric Guy
François-Frédéric Guy's has performed worldwide under such great conductors as Philippe Jordan, Kent Nagano, Daniel Harding and Esa-Pekka Salonen as well as alongside such orchestras as the Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, NHK Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra. Curious about the music of his time, he has performed the works of many contemporary composers and frequently gives world premieres. Since 2012, he has regularly conducted from the piano. In 2022 he was appointed musical director of the Microcosme ensemble. He recently performed in Paris in recital and with orchestra at the Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Théâtre du Châtelet. He teamed up with Philippe Jordan again in Munich with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and in Vienna with the Wiener Symphoniker. His latest concerts have taken him to Portugal, where he conducted Beethoven’s five concertos from the keyboard, to Denmark, Switzerland and Japan with the NHK Symphony Orchestra.
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Daejin Kim
Daejin Kim is one of the leading pianists and pedagogues in Korea. In 1985 he won First Prize at the Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition (Cleveland Competition). Since then, he has performed in recital and with orchestra in the United States, Europe and Asia. He was awarded the ‘Professor of the Year’ Award by the Music Association of Korea and the ‘Artist of the Year’ decoration by the Korean Ministry of Culture, as well as the 2017 Grand Prize of the Daewon Cultural Foundation. He was also a two-time recipient of the Professor Award by the Kumho Music Foundation. He has been a jury member of such competitions as the Ferruccio Busoni, Beethoven (Bonn), Rubinstein and Leeds. From 2008 to 2017, he was the Music Director of the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra. His recordings on the Sony label include two Mozart piano concertos with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, which he conducted from the keyboard, and live recordings of the complete cycle of Sibelius and Tchaikovsky Symphonies. A professor in the piano department for over thirty years, he is currently the President of the Korea National University of Arts.
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Momo Kodama
Born in Japan, Momo Kodama spent her early years in Europe. After attending the Conservatoire de Paris, she went on to study under Murray Perahia, András Schiff, Vera Gornostaeva and Tatiana Nikolayeva. In 1991 she became the youngest laureate of the ARD Music Competition in Munich. She has been invited to play with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Boston Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared at such concert halls as the Vienna Musikverein, Berliner Philharmonie, Suntory Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Theatre des Champs-Élysees, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ (Amsterdam) and Wigmore Hall. Her repertoire ranges from the classical period to contemporary works by Toshio Hosokawa, Jorg Widmann and Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier that have been dedicated to her. Momo Kodama has recorded for ECM with the Mito Chamber Orchestra. For Pentatone, she has also recorded CDs with her sister Mari Kodama. In 2022 she was appointed professor at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe.
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Aleksandar Madzar
Belgium, Serbia (Rep.), °1968
Aleksandar Madžar was born in Belgrade in 1968. He first studied the piano under the guidance of Gordana Malinovic, and later of Arbo Valdma, at the Belgrade Academy of Music. He went on to further studies with Elisso Virsaladze in Moscow and Daniel Blumenthal in Brussels. He is a laureate of several competitions, winning Third Prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1996 and First Prize at the Geneva Competition (1987) and the Ferruccio Busoni (1989) and Umberto Micheli (1997) competitions. He made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Iván Fischer in 1990. Since then, he has performed regularly all over Europe in recital and in chamber music. He also occasionally tours North and South America, South Africa, and the Far East. Aleksandar Madžar teaches at the Royal Brussels Conservatory (Flemish section) and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg.
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Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden
Belgium, °1947
Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden entered the Conservatoire Royal de musique de Bruxelles at age 12, studying under Eduardo Del Pueyo until the end of his training at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. He was only 16 when he was proclaimed a laureate of the 1964 Queen Elisabeth Competition. He has performed along many symphony orchestras, including the Saint Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, Residentie Orkest in The Hague and several Belgian orchestras. He has worked with such conductors as Paul Kletzky, Rudolf Barshai and Yuri Temirkanov. As a chamber musician, he has played with Belgian and international partners, including Véronique Bogaerts, Marie Hallynck, Augustin Dumay, Silvia Marcovici, Michaela Martin, Miriam Fried, Gérard Caussé, Frans Helmerson, Michel Strauss, José Van Dam and Walter Boeykens as well as the Enesco Quartet, Melos Quartet, Quatuor Ysaÿe and César Franck Ensemble. He is currently an honorary professor at the Conservatoire de Bruxelles, Master in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel and artistic director of the Eduardo Del Pueyo Music Centre.
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Elisso Virsaladze
Georgia, °1942
Elisso Virsaladze attended the conservatory in her native city, Tbilisi (Georgia), before moving to Moscow. At the age of 20 she won the Third Prize in the Tchaikovsky Competition and four years later the First Prize at the Schumann Competition in Zwickau. Ever since, she has been recognised as one of the great interpreters of Schumann. Her heart also goes out to the composers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, especially Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. At the same time, the pianist is well known for her wide repertoire up to and including modern Russian composers. Elisso Virsaladze today regularly performs in London, Milan, Rome, Paris, Lisbon, Baltimore, Tokyo and Berlin, both with orchestra and in recital. She regularly performs under renowned conductors such as Rudolf Barschai, Kyril Kondraschin, Mariss Jansons, Ricardo Muti, Kurt Sanderling, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Evgeny Svetlanov and Juri Temirkanov. She teaches at the Moscow Conservatory and at the Munich Musikhochschule and frequently serves as a member of the jury of international competitions, including those in Santander and Munich, the Geza Anda in Zurich, the Rubinstein in Tel Aviv, and the Tchaikovsky in Moscow. Her recordings on the Live Classics label perfectly convey her musical personality.

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Alexei Volodin
Russian Federation, °1977
Born in Leningrad in 1977, Alexei Volodin studied at the Gnessin Academy in Moscow and later at the Moscow Conservatory under Elisso Virsaladze. He won the Géza Anda Competition in 2003. He has performed with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Mariinsky Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the SWR Symphonieorchester. This season he performs with the Bern Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liege, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Russian National Orchestra. An active chamber musician, Alexei Volodin has for several years collaborated with the Borodin Quartet ; previous chamber partners include Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin, Mischa Maisky, and Sol Gabetta. His discography includes a recording with the Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiev and solo albums devoted to Rachmaninov, Schumann, Ravel, Skryabin, and Chopin. Alexei Volodin is a regular guest at celebrated festivals such as the Kaposvár International Chamber Music Festival, Les Nuits du Château de la Moutte, Les Variations Musicales de Tannay, the Kissinger Sommer, the Festival de La Roque d’Anthéron, Les Rencontres Musicales d’Évian, La Folle Journée, the White Nights Festival in St Petersburg, the St Magnus International Festival, and the Moscow Easter Festival.
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Shai Wosner
Israel, °1976
Born in Israel, Shai Wosner studied the piano under Opher Brayer and Emanuel Krasovsky and composition, analysis, and improvisation under André Hajdu before going on to study under Emanuel Ax at the Juilliard School. He has performed with many orchestras, including the leading orchestras in the US, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Belgian National Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. His discography on the Onyx label includes concertos and caprices by Haydn and Ligeti with the Danish National Symphony, as well as solo recordings, including a recent double album of Schubert’s last sonatas. He has also recorded Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano with Ralph Kirshbaum. Shai Wosner has received many distinctions, including the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. He has had a residency at the BBC as a New Generation Artist and was a member of the Chamber Music Society Two at Lincoln Center. He currently lives in New York and is a member of the faculty of Bard College Conservatory of Music.
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