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.
List of jury members by competition round (pdf)
Chairman of the jury
Gilles Ledure
Gilles Ledure (° 1970, Leuven - Belgium) 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. He is on the Board of Directors of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, the Atomium 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. Since 2019, he is President of the Jury of the Queen Elisabeth Competition's instrumental sessions : Violin 2019, Piano 2021, and Cello 2022.
Jean-Philippe Collard
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.
Nelson Goerner
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.
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.
François-Frédéric Guy
François-Frédéric Guy's international career has seen him work with outstanding conductors such as Philippe Jordan, Kent Nagano, Daniel Harding, and Esa-Pekka Salonen and with many orchestras, including the Wiener Symphoniker, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the NHK Symphony Orchestra (Tokyo), and the Philharmonia (London). From 2014 to 2017, he was Artist in Residence at the Arsenal in Metz. From 2017 to 2020, he was 'Artiste associé' as both pianist and conductor with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. Since 2012, he has regularly conducted a number of ensembles from the piano, including the Liège Royal Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Orchestre National des Pays de Loire, the Orchestre National de Lorraine, and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, with which he made an acclaimed appearance at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in 2020 during the opening concert of its Beethoven year. He is due to give recitals at La Seine Musicale in Boulogne, at Wigmore Hall in London, at Kumho Art Hall in Seoul, and at the Vilnius Festival. Upcoming orchestral projects under Sakari Oramo, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Benjamin Lévy, and Jurien Hempel will take him to London, Lille, Cannes, Tokyo, Hamburg, and Paris ; he will appear as pianist and conductor with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Limoges, the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and Sinfonia Varsovia.
Daejin Kim
In 1985 Daejin Kim won the Robert Casadesus International Competition (Cleveland) ; he made his debut in New York the following year. Since then, he has performed in recital and with orchestras in the major cities of the United States, Europe, and Asia. In 2006 he was named Professor of the Year by the Music Association of Korea and he was recently decorated as Artist of the Year by the Korean Ministry of Culture. Daejin Kim has been a member of the jury of competitions such as the Ferruccio Busoni, Beethoven (Bonn), Rubinstein and Leeds. After working closely with the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra as both soloist and conductor, he became its Music Director in 2008. Under his baton, the orchestra made a European tour in Munich, Vienna, Prague and the Merano Festival in 2012. His recordings on the Sony label include two Mozart piano concertos with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, which he conducted from the keyboard (Sony), and a live recording of the complete cycle of Sibelius Symphonies. Daejin Kim is currently Professor of Piano and Dean of the School of Music at the Korea National University of Arts.
Momo Kodama
Born in Osaka in Japan, Momo Kodama studied at the Conservatoire de Paris. She went on to further studies under Murray Perahia, András Schiff, Vera Gornostaeva, and Tatiana Nikolayeva. In 1991, she became the youngest laureate of the ARD International Music Competition in Munich. Momo Kodama has been invited to play with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra (Hamburg), and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, under Seiji Ozawa, Eliahu Inbal, Charles Dutoit, Kent Nagano, Roger Norrington, Lawrence Foster, and André Previn. This season sees her make her debuts with the Orchestre National de France and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (Katowice), at the Festival de Paques in Aix-en-Provence, and at the Resitalleri in Istanbul. Her repertoire ranges from the Classical period to contemporary works by Toshio Hosokawa and Jorg Widmann that have been dedicated to her. She regularly gives masterclasses, for example with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris in the context of the Paris PlayDirect Academy. Her latest recording for ECM, released in spring 2021, is of concertos by Mozart and Toshio Hosokawa, with the Mito Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Seiji Ozawa.
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.
Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden
Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden was only 16 years of age when he was proclaimed a laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1964. That sought-after distinction launched a brilliant career that has taken him to the world's leading concert halls and the most prestigious festivals, including the Korsholm (Finland), Umea (Sweden), Prades, la Chaise-Dieu, and Giverny (France), Delft (the Netherlands), Seoul (Korea), and Stavelot and Seneffe (Belgium) festivals. In chamber music, he has played with outstanding Belgian and international partners such as Véronique Bogaerts, Marie Hallynck, Augustin Dumay, Silvia Marcovici, Mihaela Martin, Miriam Fried, Gérard Caussé, Frans Helmerson, José Van Dam, Walter Boeykens, the Enesco Quartet, the Melos Quartet, the Quatuor Ysaÿe, and the Ensemble César Franck. His formidably extensive repertoire includes almost all the great concertos, a wide array of chamber music pieces, and the complete works for solo piano of Maurice Ravel. Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden was knighted by King Philippe in 2018.
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.
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.
Shai Wosner
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.