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.
Born in St. Cruz de Tenerife, Gustavo Díaz-Jerez studied with Jesús Ángel Rodríguez Martín at the Conservatory in his hometown and later with Solomon Mikowsky at the Manhattan School of Music, where he also studied composition. Since 2002, he has been a professor of piano at Musikene (Higher Music Center of the Basque Country) and regularly gives masterclasses at international festivals and academies.
He has received awards in major competitions such as the Santander Paloma O’Shea, Maria Canals, Palm Beach, Pilar Bayona, Premio Jaén, and Viña del Mar. He has also been honored with the Mont Blanc Prize for Culture in the Canary Islands (1991) and the Harold Bauer Award from the Manhattan School of Music.
As a soloist, he has performed with leading Spanish orchestras such as Gran Canaria Philharmonic, Tenerife Symphony, RTVE, OBC, Galicia Symphony and international ensembles including the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Turin Symphony, and Berliner Symphoniker, under conductors such as Iván Fischer and Víctor Pablo Pérez. He has appeared in major halls such as the Carnegie Hall, the Vienna Musikverein, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Royal Festival Hall in London.
As a composer, he has developed a distinctive musical language he describes as “algorithmic spectralism”, integrating scientific and technological elements into musical creation. His solo piano cycle Metaludios and orchestral work Spectra fractalis (Martín Chirino Prize, 2018) have received wide recognition.
Pianist Billy Eidi studied in Paris under Magda Tagliaferro, with Jacques Coulaud at the Versailles Conservatoire and with Jean Micault at l’École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot. In 1981, he won the second prize at the Viotti-Valsesia International Piano Competition. He has also taught at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional (CRR) in Paris and at the Schola Cantorum, after having spent 15 years teaching at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (CNSM) in Lyon and at the École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot.
He teaches master classes at the International Summer Academies in Nice and Nancy, as well as in Spain, China, Japan, and South Korea. In his concerts throughout the world, he has particularly championed the romantic repertoire as well as 20th century French music. He has been awarded high distinctions: the Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros, the Nouvelle Académie du Disque Français and the BBC Music Choice, among others.
In 2009 he was awarded the Grand Prix Gerald Moore by the Académie du disque lyrique after a new release of Guy Sacre’s songs. His very recent recording of Fauré’s 13 Barcarolles was awarded Classica magazine’s supreme distinction: the Choc de l’année.
Born in Barcelona, composer and pianist, Sira Hernández made her debut at the age of 16 at the G. Verdi Conservatory in Turin, where she completed her studies under Remo Remoli and Felice Quaranta. She later refined her pianistic training at the Marshall Academy with Alicia de Larrocha and studied composition with Manuel Oltra and improvisation with Emilio Molina.
Her artistic activity bridges performance, creation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. She has performed at renowned festivals and venues such as the Festival de Peralada, Palau de la Música Catalana, Real Alcázar de Sevilla, and the Biblioteca Nacional de España. Her projects blend music with poetry, dance, and visual arts, working with artists like Pablo Arán (Pina Bausch company), Stella Rahola, and Manuel Galiana.
As a composer, she has developed a personal musical language rooted in literature and history. Her works Initiation to the Shadow (Naxos) and Tre Impressioni sulla Divina Commedia (Sony Classical) have received wide international acclaim. The latter earned her three Gold Medals at the 2022 Global Music Awards. She has also composed in homage to Primo Levi and collaborated with institutions such as the Centro Studi Primo Levi in Turin.
Her discography, including recordings of Scarlatti, Bach, Chopin, Albéniz, Mompou, and Antonio Soler, has been highly praised by critics. Her performances are regularly broadcast on major national and international radio stations.
Pianist, teacher, coach, and author of pedagogical works. He made his debut as a pianist with Pierre Audon and continued his music studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse in Paris with Aldo Ciccolini, Jean Hubeau and others.
In 1984 he won the second prize at the Maria Canals International Music Competition in Barcelona and began a career as a concert performer and piano accompanist in France and abroad, recording works by Florent Schmitt, Szymanowski, and Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande. He was Jean-Claude Pennetier’s assistant at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse in Paris, where he was appointed chamber music professor in 2010.
He teaches at the Paris Conservatory (CRR) and serves as academic advisor at the Pôle Supérieur d’Enseignement Artistique de Paris-Boulogne-Billancourt (PSPBB). In 2015, he co-founded Lude et Interlude, a coaching and consulting agency dedicated to supporting musicians in their careers.
Passionate about psychology, he began to study neuro-linguistic programming in 1991. His research led him to write several books, including La magie du déchiffrage, L’art du trac, and most recently Musicien jour après jour. He has also written more than 150 articles for the music magazine La lettre du musicien, collected in the volume Le musicien et la connaissance de soi.
As an artistic coach he has been working on stage fright, creativity, pedagogy, improvisation, memorization, learning, and stage charisma for more than twenty years.
The winner of many renowned competition awards, russian-american pianist Alexandre Moutouzkine claimed top prizes at the international competitions in Walter W. Naumburg, Cleveland, Montreal, New Orleans, Panama, Iturbe inValencia, Maria Canals in Barcelona and Arthur Rubinstein in Tel Aviv. In 2009, he won the Astral Artists National Auditions. He has appeared as a soloist with more than 60 orchestras, including the Berliner Symfoniker Orquestra, the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra of the Czech Republic, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and Radiotelevision Orchestra of Spain, among others.
Alexandre Moutouzkine holds master and postgraduate degrees from Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Solomon Mikowsky. A. Moutouzkine received the ‘Distinguished Alumni Award’ from the Manhattan School of Music, where he was appointed co-chair of the Piano Department in September 2022.
He serves as a jury in numerous competitions, including the Bartok Piano Competition (Budapest), New Orleans International Piano Competition, Panama International Piano Competition and Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona.
He received an Artist of the Season Award from Chamber Music International in Dallas. In 2017 the WRTI network listed his “Piano Music of Cuba” (Steinway & Sons) as one of the top 10 classical music recordings of that year.
He is a frequent guest professor at international festivals such as MusicAlp (2024 and 2025), Beijing, Perugia, Geneva, and the Paris International Music Academy.
Winner of the First Prize at the GPA Dublin International Piano Competition in 1991, and prizewinner at the Beethoven Competition in Wien and the Paloma O’Shea Competition in Santander, Pavel Nersessian is one of the most remarkable pianists of his generation in Russia. He was a pupil of the famous Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. Upon graduating from the Conservatoire, he was invited to join the faculty with Professor S. Dorensky. In 2013 he started to work as a professor of piano at Boston University, and in 2022 as a professor of piano at the New England Conservatory.
From the age of 8, he has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, USA, China, and Japan. He is known for his collaboration with chamber music groups such as Borodin and Glinka Quartets, among others.
He has recorded works by Chopin, Schumann, Schubert, Brahms and Tchaikovsky. He has taught master classes in the USA, Japan, Europe and South America, and has served as a jury member in many international piano competitions such as those in Dublin, Hamamatsu, Sendai, Barcelona and Valencia, among others.
By special invitation from the Kirov Ballet and the Perm Ballet, he performed solo part in Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial, based on Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 2, in the Kirov, Bolshoi, Chatelet and Covent Garden. He also played a solo part in J. Robbins’ ballet “The concert, or The Perils of Everybody” on the music of F. Chopin.
In 2005, he became a Merited Artist of the Russian Federation.
Versatile pianist and dedicated educator, J.Y. Song combines musical excellence, innovation, and a rich intercultural background.
Born into a family of pianists, she studied at the Conservatories of Geneva and Lausanne, and later at The Juilliard School in New York with Jerome Lowenthal. She also holds a degree in microbiology and immunology from Stanford University and an MBA in leadership and entrepreneurship from the NYU Stern School of Business.
Winner of awards such as the Pro Musicis International Award, Christel Award, Sudler Prize, and Petschek Award, she has performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Théâtre de l’Athénée (Paris), Kennedy Center, and the Beijing Center for the Performing Arts. Her recording of Debussy’s Études received a Diapason d’Or and was named a “Desert Island Selection” by Gramophone.
A Steinway Artist, she founded the Classics Abroad Piano Programs and served as artistic director of the EAMA piano program at the École Normale de Musique de Paris. Based in New York, she has taught for over twenty years at the Mannes School of Music and currently teaches Leadership & Innovation at The Juilliard School.
She gives masterclasses across Europe, Asia, and the U.S., and her students have won prizes at major international competitions.
Catherine Vickers was born in Regina (Saskatchewan) and studied in Edmonton (Alberta) before going to Germany to further her studies with professors Bernhard Ebert and Hans Leygraf at Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover.
In 1979, she was awarded the Gold Medal and Busoni Prize at the Concorso Pianistico Internazionale F. Busoni by unanimous jury decision. She also won a prize at the Sydney International Piano Competition in 1981.
Vickers performs internationally across Europe, Asia, North and South America, with a repertoire spanning standard and avant-garde piano works. Her discography includes Waltzes throughout the 20th Century and Nicolaus A. Huber – Complete Works for Piano. She authored The Listening Hand, piano exercises for contemporary music, published by Schott.
After teaching at Folkwang University in Essen for several years, she was appointed professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt am Main in 1998. Many of her students have achieved international competition success.
She is a regular guest at international festivals, including those in Montréal, Munich, Darmstadt, and Ghent, and has given master classes worldwide. For ten years, she was artistic director of the Piano+ Festival in Karlsruhe. She also serves frequently as jury member at piano and chamber music competitions.
