Cello Competition

Born in Chieti, he studied under the guidance of Lucia Passaglia at the Conservatory "L. Cherubini" in Florence graduating with highest honours. He participated as a student performer on a three-year piano perfection course at the “Accademia Musicale Umbra” where he achieved a "Diploma of Excellence”.

Later, he participated in the "International Master Classes" in Klaipeda (Lithuania), held by Lazar Berman. With him, his concert repertoire deepened and improved with particular attention to the music of F. Liszt, at the European Academy of Music, Erba (CO). He perfected Chamber Music at the International School of Chamber Music in Duino under the guidance of "Trio of Trieste" achieving a "Diploma with Merit". He has won national and international competitions, including "M. Clementi" in Florence, “Agorà 80" in Rome, "F. Liszt" in Lucca, and "Città di Stresa". In 1997 he won second prize at the 'T. I. M. " - International Music Tournament; in 1998, he was awarded the prestigious "Prix Venice"; in 1999 he won second prize at the international competition "Ecomusic" of Monopoli (BA); in 2002 was the winner of the 40th International Piano Competition "Arcangelo Speranza" in Taranto. In 2009 he was awarded in the “4th International Tbilisi Piano Competition" in Georgia (WFIMC).

Born in 1989 in south of France, Dorran Alibaud played as principal cellist with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Les Siècles, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and has toured around the world with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Kammerorchester Basel, Staatskapelle Dresden, SWR Symphonieorchester, Orchestre Romantique et Revolutionnaire, Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker and Orchestre National du Capitole Toulouse.

Invited by Claudio Abbado in 2012, Dorran plays in his beloved Orchestra Mozart in Europa and also recorded for Deutsche Gramophone amongst others.

Dorran has aslo collaborated with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly, François-Xavier Roth, Philippe Jordan, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniele Gatti, Antonio Pappano.

His love for the orchestra repertoire came when he was, for many years, solo-cellist of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester.

Now regarded as one of the finest cellists of the younger generation, Alexander Chaushian has performed extensively throughout the world as a soloist with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Academy of St Martin-in- the-Fields, The London Mozart Players, The Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, The Boston Pops and The Armenian Philharmonic, and has given highly acclaimed performances in such venues as London’s Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall, Sala Verdi Milan, Konzerthaus Vienna, Suntory Hall Japan, the main Carnegie Hall New York, and Symphony Hall Boston.

He performs regularly in festivals throughout the world and is the Artistic Director of the International Pharos Chamber Music Festival in Cyprus and the Yerevan Music Festival in Armenia.

After initial studies in Armenia, Alexander Chaushian studied in the UK at the Menuhin School and the Guildhall School, London. He then pursued advanced studies at the Hochschule Berlin, graduating with distinction in 2005. He is a laureate prize winner of many international competitions including the 12th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and the ARD Competition in Germany. As an alumnus of Young Concert Artists, New York, he toured extensively in the USA.

Florian Leonhard has dedicated his life to studying, restoring and making violins. After Mittenwald Violin Making School he worked for W.E. Hill and Sons becoming Head Restorer. Today Florian Leonhard Fine Violins has ateliers in Europe, America and Asia. As a leading authority on the assessment of Italian masterpieces, he advises orchestras, institutions and world-renowned violin soloists including Alina Ibragimova, Leonidas Kavakos, Anne Sophie Mutter, Maxim Vengerov, and cellists such as Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Julian Lloyd-Webber and Steven Isserlis. Informed by 40 years of research, the Florian Leonhard ‘True Copy’ instruments are sought after for acoustic and visual likeness to the originals. He has contributed to numerous articles and publications such as volumes on Vuillaume and Stradivari, and The Strad and Archi periodicals, as well as publishing two comprehensive books on Italian instrument-making: The Makers of Central Italy and The Makers of Tuscany. Florian often appears on jury panels for international competitions for both violinmaking and playing, including the Violinwettbewerb Kloster Schöntal and Nemessányi in 2022.

Julian Lloyd Webber enjoys one of the most creative careers in music today. As a solo cellist he has performed with many of the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and every leading symphony and chamber orchestra in the UK in partnership with such conductors as Sir Georg Solti, Lorin Maazel, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Sir Neville Marriner, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir Mark Elder and Sir Andrew Davis. He has also collaborated with a wide range of legendary musicians from pianists Sir Clifford Curzon and Murray Perahia to jazz artists Stephane Grappelli and Dame Cleo Laine and rock musician Sir Elton John.

Julian’s many recordings include his BRIT Award-winning Elgar Cello Concerto conducted by Yehudi Menuhin – chosen as the ‘finest ever version’ by BBC Music Magazine, the Dvorak Cello Concerto with Vaclav Neumann and the Czech Philharmonic, Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the London Symphony Orchestra under Maxim Shostakovich, a coupling of Britten’s Cello Symphony and Walton’s Cello Concerto with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields which was described as ‘beyond any rival’ in Gramophone magazine and ‘Variations’, famous as the theme to ITV’s long running ‘South Bank Show’. Julian has also inspired more than fifty new works for cello from composers as varied as Malcolm Arnold, Joaquín Rodrigo, Andrew Lloyd Webber, James MacMillan, Philip Glass and Eric Whitacre.

Cellist Tim Park has been praised for his energetic and exhilarating performances as well as for his expressive and beautiful sound. Enjoying a multifaceted career, performances as concert soloist, orchestral and chamber musician has brought Tim to concert halls and stages in over 20 countries.

Tim has performed with the New York Chamber Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, Berliner Symphoniker, Philharmomie Sudwestfalen, Tel-Aviv Camerata, Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Lithuanian National Chamber Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, as well as orchestras in Korea including the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra, Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra and the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra under conductors such as Myung Whun Chung, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Dmitri Jurowski, Leonard Slatkin, Gerard Schwarz, Theodore Kuchar, Nabil Shehata and Eduard Topchjan.

In 2013, Tim was awarded the Grand Prize of the Washington Award S&R Foundation which led to performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and the Strathmore Hall in Baltimore, as well as a performance of the Dvorak Concerto with the New Orchestra of Washington.

An avid recitalist and chamber musician, Tim has collaborated with some of today’s leading artists at music festivals worldwide. He has been a performer at the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, Intonations Festival in Berlin, Salzburg Festival, Schleswig- Holstein Musik Festival, Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele, Lucerne Festival, Bürgenstock Festival, International Pharos Chamber Music Festival in Cyprus, Santander Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, International Chamber Music Festival a l‘Emperi in Salon, France and the Le Pont Music Festival in Ako and Himeji Japan.

Gustav Rivinius is the first and only German musician to be awarded a first prize Gold Medal at the 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. In addition, he received a special prize for the best interpretation of a Tchaikovsky composition, outperforming all other competitors. Since then he has appeared with leading musicians, orchestras and conductors around the world. 

Among the many high points of an illustrious career, Gustav Rivinius has performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Lorin Maazel (Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme), Ingo Metzmacher (B.A. Zimmermann’s Cello Concerto, “pas de trois”) and was conducted by Hans Zender in a performance of Zender’s Cello Concerto “Bardo”, which he also premiered. In celebrations marking the re-opening of the Spanish Hall at Prague Castle, Gustav Rivinius joined the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vaclav Neumann, performing Dvorak’s Cello Concerto. In a gala marking the 50th anniversary of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra the cellist performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, accompanied by Antje Weithaas and Lars Vogt and conducted by Horst Stein. Gustav Rivinius has often appeared as a soloist with the orchestra and toured with it throughout Germany, performing Martinu’s second Cello Concerto, conducted by Manfred Honeck. 

Deutsche Gramophone Recording Artist Ms. Meehae Ryo’s breathtaking technical virtuosity and captivating melody puts her as the most recognized cellist in the Republic of Korea She endeavors to play music which makes both herself and her audiences happy Not only is she a beloved cellist, but she is also determined to train pupils by sharing her experiences and skills Meehae had her first cello lesson at age of six After she won many of national competitions, her ambition was to study abroad at early age She accepted a place at Juilliard School when she was sixteen and then finished her studies with DMA degree at the University of Michigan Meehae’s passion for music is enough to make her as one of the most preferred cellist by numerous orchestras In July 2013, Meehae and Albena Danailova were invited to play Brahms Double Concerto at Cesky Krumlov Music Festival, and their stage was broadcasted live on the Czech National Broadcast Meehae has performed in the most well-known concert halls, including Musikverein Golden Hall, Verdi Hall, Hercules Hall, Smetana Hall, Dvorak Hall, Liszt Hall, Carnegie Hall, Auditorium dellaconciliazione and Berliner Philharmonie Hall.