Jury

Anastasia Galenina, born in Ekaterinburg, is a graduate of the “Rimsky Korsakov” Conservatory in Saint Petersburg and the Folkwang University in Essen, where she studied with Evgeni Sinaisky. The winner of numerous competitions from 2006 to 2020, she is now pursuing an active concert career, including a solo recital (Bach’s Goldberg Variations) at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. She will be teaching major piano at the Anton Rubinstein International Academy of Music from the winter semester 22/23.

Dr. Lukas Beck is the Artistic Director of the Ruhr Piano Festival, described as the “world’s most important piano festival” (Fono Forum). Previously, he served as a classical music programmer at the Southbank Centre in London, head of artist relations at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, and played a key role in the development and opening of the Blaibach Concert Hall in the Bavarian Forest. In 2021, he earned his PhD from the University of Oxford with a dissertation on the chamber music of Robert Schumann and received numerous scholarships. In addition to studying musicology at universities in Munich, Dublin, and Oxford, he studied piano with Prof. Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy (University of Music and Performing Arts Munich) and Prof. Anthony Byrne (Royal Irish Academy of Music), as well as philosophy and music education. He is a prizewinner of the Audrey Chisholm Sonata Cup at the PianoFest Dublin and has published on Robert and Clara Schumann with Cambridge University Press.

From the age of 7, Mikhail Mordvinov was taught at the Moscow Gnessin Music School in the piano class of Tatjana Zelikman. After graduating from high school in 1994, he began his studies at the Russian Gnessin Academy of Music under Prof. Vladimir Tropp. This was followed by postgraduate studies at the Hanover University of Music and Drama with Prof. Bernd Goetzke. From 2004 to 2010 he taught at the Russian Gnessin Academy of Music. Since receiving the Scriabin Scholarship of the Moscow Scriabin Museum in 1994, he has been a permanent participant in the Scriabin Music Festival.
In 1997/98 Mikhail Mordvinov received a H. Neuhaus Scholarship from the “New Charitable Fund of Scholarships by M. Rostropovich”, as well as a Russian Presidential Scholarship several times. In 2000/2001 the pianist received a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service. 2004-2006 Mikhail Mordvinov was supported and promoted by Keyboard Charitable Trust London. Numerous international concert appearances mainly in European countries and Russia, also in the USA, Japan and Korea, as solo pianist and chamber musician. Participation in festivals, radio recordings and CD production.
First prize at the XII. International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau (1996).
First Prize and Special Prize of the VI International Schubert Competition in Dortmund (1997)
First Prize and Special Prize of the XII. International Competition in Andorra (2006)
From the winter semester 2016/17 Mikhail Mordvinov is a lecturer for piano at the International Music Academy Anton Rubinstein Berlin.

Italian pianist Gabriele Leporatti actively performs throughout Europe, US and China appearing in many prestigious venues including London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, NDR Hannover, He Luting Hall Shanghai and in festivals such as the Settimane Musicali di Ascona, Festival de Torroella de Montgrí, International Keyboard Institute & Festival New York, Tbilisi Piano Fest;  2016 marks his debut with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under the baton of Thomas Søndergård.  Gabriele´s schedule in the 2021/22 season includes orchestral appearances with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana as well as solo and chamber music concerts in Europe and abroad.
A keen chamber musician, he has been concertizing with ensembles such as the Trio Suleika and with a variety of internationally renowned soloists; moreover, he regularly appears in duo with his wife Gesa Lücker.  Several of his performances have been broadcasted on radio and television including BBC Radio 3 (UK), SAFm (South Africa), BR Klassik, RBB, SWR 2, WDR 3 (Germany), NPO Radio 4, Avrotros (Netherlands), SRF2 (Switzerland), Rai3 (Italy).
In 2015 he founds Etera Classics – a record label with a distinct authorial connotation and a publishing division dedicated to the promotion of young artists – for which he records his latest three commercial albums.  Gabriele´s discography includes both solo and chamber music recordings – a monographic Brahms CD and one featuring piano works by Schumann and Respighi – along with a quatre-mains album with Fabio Bidini (True Sounds) and one with violist Yuri Bondarev.  Spring 2019 sees the release of his latest solo CD titled “Wien”. Gabriele´s passionate playing style, full of aesthetic, sensibility and depth, shows the influence of his teachers and mentors Maria Tipo, Fabio Bidini and Joaquin Achucarro. Currently on faculty at the International Music Academy Anton Rubinstein in Dusseldorf, he regularly gives masterclasses and lectures worldwide, with several of his students being prize winners at international piano competitions.  In addition, he is active as an artistic advisor at concert series and festivals and as a jury member in international competitions.