The international jury of the competition is composed of 9 members who change every year, with the exception of the President of the Jury, who is the artistic director. In addition to their artistic and professional excellence, the members of the jury are selected with a view to representing different countries and piano schools, gender parity and generational diversity. Priority consideration will also be given to previous winners of the competition. Jury members may not present family members or students with whom they have worked in the last three academic years.
Pianist Yukiko Akagi studied at the Toho College of Music in Tokyo, Mannes College of Music and Manhattan School of Music in New York, being a student of Nobuko Amada, Jerome Rose and Solomon Mikowsky. She has also been mentored by such distinguish pianists as Earl Wild, György Sándor and Ruth Slencyznska, a student of the legendary Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Highlights among her awards include the Second Prize at the Maria Canals International Music Competition (2005), Fundación Guerrero International Piano Competition (2006) and First Prize at the José Roca International Piano Competition (2006), among others.
She made her American debut at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2004, highly praised by both public and the critics. Since then her career has blossomed throughout the United States, performing in some of its most important venues. Herperformances have been recorded and broadcasted by New York’s WQXR in New York, CVTV or Chicago’s WFMT.
In Spain, she has been invited by some of the main Spanish orchestras such as the Spanish National Orchestra, the RTVE Symphony Orchestra, the Castilla y León Symphony Orchestra, the Vallès Symphony Orchestra and the Balearic Symphony Orchestra, among others. Yukiko Akagi is Artistic Director and President of the Jury at the Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona.
Salvador Brotons was born in Barcelona into a family of musicians and began his musical training with his father. He later pursued advanced studies in flute, composition and orchestral conducting at the Barcelona Conservatory of Music, studying with Antoni Ros-Marbà, Xavier Montsalvatge and Manuel Oltra. In 1985, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and moved to the United States, where he earned a Doctorate in Music from Florida State University.
Between 1977 and 1985, he was principal flutist of the Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and a member of the Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona. As a composer, he has written an extensive catalogue of symphonic, chamber and concerto works, awarded with prizes such as the Spanish National Orchestra Prize, the City of Barcelona Prize and the Queen Sofía Composition Prize.
He has also built a distinguished career as a conductor, leading ensembles such as the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, the Balearic Symphony Orchestra, the Barcelona Municipal Band and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Since 2001, he has been Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC).
His artistic activity combines conducting, composition and teaching, and he is widely regarded as one of the leading figures in contemporary Catalan music.
Florian Hölscher is one of the leading figures in the international contemporary piano scene. He studied in Freiburg, Paris and Cologne with Robert Levin, Michel Béroff and Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and was profoundly influenced by his collaboration with Peter Eötvös.
He has developed an international career as a soloist and chamber musician, performing a repertoire spanning from the 17th century to the present day, with a particular focus on contemporary music and the premiere of new works. He has collaborated with composers such as Marco Stroppa, Alberto Posadas and Jonathan Harvey, and is a founding member of the Ascolta Ensemble.
Among his most notable projects is Erinnerungsspuren, a cycle by Alberto Posadas written especially for him and performed at the Philharmonie Luxembourg and WDR Cologne. He has appeared as a soloist under the baton of Peter Eötvös, Christopher Hogwood, David Zinman, François-Xavier Roth, Kent Nagano, Sylvain Cambreling and Johannes Kalitzke.
He is a regular guest at festivals including Présences, Agora, ECLAT Stuttgart and the Salzburg Festival, and his recordings have received the Diapason d’Or award.
He taught at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and has been a professor in Frankfurt since 2018. Since 2025, he has been a member of the PIANALE Professor Team.
Juan Lago is a Spanish pianist with a solid international career as a soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue. He has been awarded prizes in several international competitions, including the Valsesia-Musica (Italy), Cidade de Ferrol and the “A. Scriabin” Prize in Grosseto.
He has performed widely across Europe, America, Asia and the Middle East, appearing with orchestras such as the Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, Orquesta de Valencia, Orquesta de Córdoba and Sinfónica de Málaga, under the baton of José Ramón Encinar and Ernest Martínez Izquierdo.
Chamber music plays an important role in his career, with collaborations alongside Vasco Vassilev, Alissa Margulis and Alexander Buzlov. He has been invited to festivals and institutions such as the Washington International Piano Festival and the Palau de les Arts in Valencia.
He is the founder and artistic director of the Campillos International Piano Competition, as well as projects such as VIPA and the Málaga International Piano Festival (FIPMA). He is also a frequent jury member at international piano competitions.
He has taught at institutions including the “José Iturbi” Conservatory in Valencia, Talent Music Master Courses in Brescia and the Qatar Music Academy, and currently teaches in Valencia and at Musical Arts Madrid. He trained in Amsterdam, Madrid and Málaga with Jan Wijn, Ana Guijarro and Juan J. Peralta.
Pascal Nemirovski is regarded as one of the most sought-after piano pedagogues in the world, with an international career focused on training highly advanced young pianists.
He studied at the Juilliard School in New York with Nadia Reisenberg and Adele Marcus, and later in Paris with France Clidat and Alexis Weissenberg. From an early stage, he has built an extensive international career as a teacher and lecturer across Europe, America and Asia.
He has given masterclasses and lectures at leading institutions including the Paris Conservatoire, the Sibelius Academy, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, the Moscow Conservatory and the Royal Academy of Music in London. He is a regular jury member at major international piano competitions.
He taught for ten years at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at the Purcell School, and was awarded the distinction of Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (Hon ARAM). Since 2016, he has held the position of International Chair in Piano at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
He has also served as Artistic Director of the Madrid International Piano Competition and in 2023 founded IPM – International Piano Masters, a platform dedicated to the advanced training of young pianists.
Stanislav Pochekin completed his studies at the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music in Moscow with Edvard Mirzoyan and Theodor Gutman, earning his doctorate in 1972. Upon completing his studies, he began his teaching career at the Ekaterinburg Conservatory and later at the Instituto Superior del Arte in Havana.
He has developed an international career as a pianist and pedagogue, with a repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music. He has performed as a soloist and with orchestras conducted by M. Paverman, F. Glushenko, I. Lapinsh, R. Sánchez Ferrer and A. Tiomkin, among others.
His pedagogical work has been recognised with the Medal of Honour awarded by the Russian Ministry of Culture. He has given masterclasses throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas, published several books on piano technique, and regularly serves on the juries of international piano competitions.
Since 1994, he has been a professor at the Conservatori del Liceu in Barcelona and, since 1995, Head of its Piano Department. He is also a professor at the Klavierakademie in Murrhardt (Germany) and Artistic Director of the Andorra International Piano Competition.
Born in Ukraine, Inesa Sinkevych began her piano studies with Victor Makarov at the Kharkov Special Music School and later studied with Alexander Volkov at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. A laureate of the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition, she also won First Prize at the Maria Canals International Music Competition in Barcelona and at the Premio Jaén International Piano Competition, among others.
A scholarship from the America–Israel Cultural Foundation enabled her to continue her studies with Solomon Mikowsky in the United States, where she earned a Master of Music degree from the Chicago College of Performing Arts and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music.
She has appeared as a soloist with ensembles including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Gulbenkian Orchestra of Lisbon, the National Orchestra of Cuba and the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra, and has performed in major venues and festivals throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia.
Since 2008, she has been a member of the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music in New York and currently serves as Co-Head of its Piano Department. She is Chair of the Jury of the Shostakovich International Piano Competition in Ukraine, visiting professor at the FaceArt Music School in Shanghai and honorary advisor to the Leaves Music School in Nanjing, China.
French pianist Marie Vermeulin began her piano studies at the Regional Conservatory of Boulogne-Billancourt. From 2001 to 2004, she studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon, where she was a student of Hortense Cartier-Bresson and Edson Elias. She also received advanced training from Lazar Berman and Roger Muraro.
She has won several prizes in international competitions, including First Prize at the Tournoi International de Musique (Italy, 2004), Second Prize at the Maria Canals International Music Competition in Barcelona (2006), Second Prize at the Olivier Messiaen International Competition in Paris (2007), and the International Pro Musicis Award (2009).
Marie Vermeulin has been invited to perform at major festivals and concert halls in France, including the Philharmonie de Paris, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Paris Opera, the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, the Centre Pompidou-Metz and the Messiaen au Pays de la Meije Festival, as well as internationally in Spain, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, the United States and China.
She regularly performs with orchestras and has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Darrell Ang, Paul Goodwin, Debora Waldman, Pavel Berman, Walid Moussallem and Salvador Brotons, among others.
Marie Vermeulin receives support from the Fondation Safran pour la Musique, the Mécénat Musical Société Générale and the Institut Français for her international tours. In 2014, the Académie des Beaux-Arts awarded her the Performance Prize of the Simone and Cino Del Duca Foundation, affiliated with the Institut de France.
German pianist Uta Weyand studied with Elza Kolodin, Leon Fleisher, Vitaly Margulis and Joaquín Soriano in Germany, United States and Spain. In addition to being awarded a scholarship by the German government for her postgraduate studies, she won the first prize at the Iturbe International Piano Competition in Valencia, and the Steinway Piano Competition in Berlin. She was
also awarded with a special prize: best music performer of contemporary Spanish music.
Since 1989, Uta Weyand offers recitals and concerts with orchestras in most European Union countries, as well as in Russia, Brazil, United States and Cuba. She performs with great orchestras and has collaborated with directors such as Jesús López Cobos, José Ramón Encinar, Enrique García Asensio, Manuel Galduf, Jac van Steen and Gabriel Chmura, among others.
She combines her regular concert activity with pedagogy, conducting master classes in conservatories and universities in Europe, United States, China, Japan, Singapore and South America. Many renowned international piano competitions feature Uta Weyand as a juror, such as Franz Liszt in Weimar and Hamamatsu in Japan, among others.
She received worldwide acclaim for her recordings of the complete works by Manuel de Falla.
Uta Weyand is a founder of the PIANALE International Academy & Competition and promoter of the concert series Schlosskonzerte Osthessen in Germany.
