59th Competition

American-Canadian Kyrian Friedenberg is currently Assistant Conductor of the Ensemble intercontemporain (Paris). He gained international attention winning the Neeme Järvi Prize 2022 at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and received Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards in 2024 and 2025. He has recently conducted the Orchestra della Toscana and the Orchestre National de Metz, and was in residence at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with Alain Altinoglu and has participated in prestigious academies including the Gstaad Conducting Academy (2022) and the Accademia Chigiana (2023), where he worked closely with Jaap van Zweden and Daniele Gatti. Alongside his guest conducting engagements, he now studies “Maestro al cembalo”.

Tianyi Xie is currently a second-year undergraduate student in the Conducting Department at the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) oof China. He studying under the renowned conductor professor Bing Chen. Tianyi Xie started formal piano training with teacher Dongli Mao. He achieved first place nationwide in the admissions examination and was admitted to CCOM’s Comprehensive Music Theory program. At 18, he once again earned first place nationally to enter CCOM’s undergraduate Conducting program. In 2024, Tianyi Xie was selected for the "Professor Feng Yu Sino-French International Conducting Masterclass", where he performed in the final concert, receiving widespread acclaim.

Satoshi Yoneda started playing the piano as a child and joined the Okayama City Junior Orchestra, where he was responsible for percussion. In 2016, he joined the Faculty of Music at Tokyo University of the Arts, where he studied conducting with Ken Takaseki and Yoshihiro Nagase on piano. He has participated in conducting masterclasses with Paavo Jarvi and Kazuki Yamada. He was awarded the Ataka Prize in 2018. In 2021, he was finalist of the 19th Tokyo International Music Competition in conducting (Japan's highest distinction) and received Honorable Mention. He was a candidate for the 2023 Hong Kong International Conducting Competition. He has conducted many Japanese professional orchestras, including the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.

Theodoros Kameris studied violin and piano, then choral conducting at the St Petersburg State Conservatory before concentrating on conducting. He is currently studying conducting at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden. He has conducted the Athens Philharmonia Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic, Sinfonietta of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, and Filharmonia Pitești. He is the founder and conductor of the Musica Vivere International String Orchestra. He has taken masterclass with Michalis Economou, Tomáš Netopil, Anu Tali and Olari Elts. He has been assistant conductor of the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, choirmaster of the Chamber Choir Fortis, and has worked with the Quantum Satis baroque ensemble and the Children's Choir of the St Petersburg Philharmonic Society. He is also a pianist accompanist and has performed in chamber music ensembles in Germany, Great Britain, Estonia, Cyprus and Russia.

Brian Liao is a Taiwanese conductor based in Paris. He has won several prizes, including the Llíria City of Music First Prize (2023) and Second Prize in the Giancarlo Facchinetti Competition in Brescia, Italy (2025). He has also earned awards in Romania and the United Kingdom. He has conducted Orquesta Sinfónica de Radio y Televisión Española (RTVE), Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National d’Île-de-France, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Zagreb Philharmonic and South Denmark Philharmonic. Since 2024, Brian has served as Artistic Director of the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Youth Summer Festival and is the Principal Guest Conductor of Taiwan’s Counterpoint Ensemble. He earned his Master’s degree from the Mozarteum University Salzburg, studying under Ion Marin, Bruno Weil, and Alexander Drcar, and has participated in masterclasses with Bernard Haitink, Jorma Panula, Alan Gilbert, and others. In the 2020/21 season, he served as assistant conductor with the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France, and assisted Klaus Mäkelä (Orchestre de Paris), Susanna Mälkki (Helsinki Philharmonic), and Yoon Kuk Lee (St. Gellert Music Festival).

Min Gyu Song won the prestigious 2024 Premio Cantelli. Maestro Manfred Honeck praised him as “highly musical, clearly knows what he wants, and can convey his ideas on the podium.” He has conducted orchestras including DSO Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and worked with renowned conductors such as Jaap van Zweden, Sir Roger Norrington, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and Manfred Honeck. He studied under Steven Sloane at Berlin University of the Arts and Florian Ludwig at Detmold University of Music. Upcoming highlights include engagements with the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra della Toscana, and the Korean National Symphony Orchestra. He has also served as a conducting fellow with the Korea National Opera and was a finalist for the Seoul Philharmonic Fellowship.

Drummado Wijnhamer is currently studying Orchestral Conducting at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar with Prof. Ekhart Wycik and Prof. Gregor Bühl. He previously studied in Amsterdam with Ed Spanjaard, Antony Hermus, Karel Deseure, and Bas Wiegers. He has worked as assistant conductor with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, and Belgian National Orchestra, alongside conductors like Lahav Shani, Karina Canellakis, and Vladimir Jurowski.
In January 2025, he won first prize at the Central German Conducting Competition, leading to his debut with the MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig. In 2025/2026, he will debut with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. He regularly conducts orchestras including the Staatskapelle Weimar, Jenaer Philharmonie, and Hofer Symphoniker.

Yingzhi Zhang completed his undergraduate studies at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing under Professor Lin Tao. He is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich, under Professors Marcus Bosch and Georg Fritzsch. Yingzhi Zhang has received awards, including First Prize at the International Conducting Competition of the City of Milan, the Platinum Award for Romantic Repertoire at the UKELZ International Music Competition, the Gold Award in the Professional Conducting Category, the Gold Award at the World Classical Music Awards, and the Silver Award at the Best Classical Musicians Awards. He is also a Music Assistant at the Opernfestspiele Heidenheim 2025. He has collaborated with several professional orchestras, including the Philharmonie Südwestfalen, the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, and the Augsburger Philharmoniker.

Colombian-born conductor Sebastián Almánzar began his career as a chorister and choirmaster. In 2024, he was selected for the Ammodo Masterclass with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Paavo Järvi. That same year, he debuted with the Royal Danish Opera and the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, conducting Tchaikovsky´s Nutcracker. He also assisted Marie Jacquot with the Vienna Symphony and Euskadiko Orchestra, and Marta Gardolińska at the Lorraine National Opera during the 24/25 season. In 2025, he was a semifinalist in the Herbert von Karajan Young Conductors Award at the Salzburg Festival. He previously won 2nd Prize at the 2020 European Union Conducting Competition. He has collaborated with orchestras including the Royal Danish Opera, Aarhus Symphony, Spanish National Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, RSO Wien. He studied conducting at the MDW University in Vienna.

Lunei Araki graduated from the Composition and Conducting Department at Tokyo College of Music. She began playing the violin and piano at the age of two. She studied conducting with Junichi Hirokami, Toshifumi Tashiro, Nobutaka Masui and Masanori Mikawa, violin with Hanako Uesato and piano with Kazumasa Matsumoto and Soichiro Tobase. She has attended conducting classes with Boris Belkin and John Axelrod. In 2023, she was associate conductor for Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera at the Miyazaki International Music Festival, and for Leoncavallo's Pagliacci with the Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, she is a semifinalist in the 2nd Hiroshima International Conducting Competition. In 2025, she conducted a Junior Orchestra concert at the Miyazaki International Music Festival and she will perform with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Komatsu. She has also been actively involved in chamber music, participating as a pianist in the 9th Kammermusik Academy in Kure and the Aichi Kammermusik Academy (2021-2023).

Nefeli Chadouli is Associate Fellow of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship (2024–26) and was appointed as Conductor Fellow of London Philharmonic Orchestra for 2025–26. Since 2023 she is Conductor of the Babylon Orchester Berlin and in 2024 debuted with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conducting Mahler’s Symphony # 2. Her recent collaborations include the Chicago Philharmonic, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Staatsorchester Braunschweig, and Brandenburger Symphoniker among others. As assistant to Marin Alsop, she worked with the Berliner Philharmoniker, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Chadouli holds a Bachelor’s in Conducting from Leipzig and completed her Master’s at the Universität der Künste Berlin in 2024.

Semi-finalist of the 57th Besançon International Competition for Young Conductors, Simon Clausse has conducted leading orchestras such as the Orchestre National de Bretagne, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre Victor-Hugo Franche-Comté, Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre des Lauréats du Conservatoire de Paris, Orchestre de Picardie, Ensemble Intercontemporain, and Orchestre de Normandie. He has trained under esteemed conductors including Mikko Franck, Johannes Schlaefli, David Reiland, Domingo Hindoyan, Benjamin Levy, Jacques Mercier, Jean Deroyer, Julien Leroy, and Aurélien Azan Zielinski. He is currently pursuing advanced conducting studies at the Paris National Conservatory of Music and Dance (CNSMDP) under the mentorship of Alain Altinoglu. This season marks a significant step in his career, with debuts at the Orchestre National de Metz, Orchestre National de Cannes, and the Orquestra do Algarve.

American conductor Kevin Fitzgerald won the Special Prize for the Best Performance of the Contemporary Piece at the 2023 The Mahler Competition. Kevin is the first conductor to win this award, sponsored by the Mahler Foundation, which led to him conducting the world premiere of Bernd Richard Deutsch's Con Moto with the Bamberger Symphoniker. He was a 2021 Tanglewood Music Center Conducting Fellow, and was awarded four Career Assistance Grants by the Solti Foundation U.S. He has been the Associate Conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony since the 2022, where he’s conducted over one hundred performances, including a fully-staged production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. For his second subscription appearance in Jacksonville, he conducted a Ravel-focused program which also featured Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. Kevin Fitzgerald has worked frequently with the New York Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony and Minnesota Orchestra as an assistant conductor.

Xiaobo Hu is a Chinese conductor based in Germany. He has been assistant to composer and conductor Tan Dun since 2023, after winning the special prize at the Rachmaninov International Conducting Competition in 2022. He has conducted numerous orchestras in Europe and Asia, including the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo-Harusai Festival Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra and the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra. Xiaobo Hu has studied and worked with renowned conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Paavo Järvi, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Neeme Järvi, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Michael Sanderling, Sakari Oramo, Cristian Măcelaru, Eivind Gullberg Jensen and Sascha Goetzel. He holds a master's degree from the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg and completed his postgraduate studies (Konzertexamen) at the Hochschule für Musik Saarbrücken. He has been awarded several scholarships, including the Wagner Scholarship in Bayreuth, the German National Scholarship and the Chinese National Scholarship.

Josephine Korda is conductor in residence at the Académie de l’Opéra de Paris (2024-2026). This summer, she will make her debut at Opera Holland Park as their “Young Artist” on Jonathan Dove’s Itch, and was a participant in the Gstaad Conducting Academy. In 2024, she was conducting fellow at the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Academy, and Cover Conductor to Northern Ballet, making her debut on Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. Previously she held posts at Opera North (Female Conductor Trainee 2022-2023) and Opéra de Massy (Assistant Conductor 2020-2021). Josephine Korda studied conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music, conducting and composition at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, and contemporary repertoire at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana. She holds a degree in musicology from Oxford University, where she was an instrumental fellow (trumpet) and choral scholar.

Laura Mathias Gentile is assistant conductor of the Orquestra Sinfônica do Theatro da Paz (Brazil). She has performed with Buffalo Philharmonic, Minas Gerais Philharmonic, Mannes Orchestra, OJESP and Ribeirão Preto Symphony. From 2023 to 2024, she was a Julius Rudel Conducting Fellow with the Buffalo Philharmonic under JoAnn Falletta. She was assistant conductor for Mozart's "La flute enchantée" (2023) and Mark Adamo's "Lysistrata" (2024) at Mannes Opera. In Brazil, she was mentored by Cláudio Cruz in masterclass with the São Paulo State Youth Orchestra. She has taken part in masterclass with Marin Alsop, Fábio Mechetti, Henrik Schaefer, Rebecca Tong and Ligia Amadio. She holds degrees in conducting from the University of São Paulo and the Mannes School of Music (USA), where she studied with David Hayes and Mark Shapiro.

Having started playing the piano as a child, Yunosuke Okamura later turned to conducting and composition. He studied conducting for three years at the Tokyo College of Music High School, then founded a symphony orchestra and a wind ensemble, active until 2021. Based in France since 2020, he currently studies composition at the Conservatoire régional de Cergy-Pontoise, the ondes Martenot at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse (CNSMD) in Paris and conducting in the CNSMD introductory class in Paris. He is regularly sought after for concerts, rehearsals, and workshops, both as a conductor and composer. In 2024, he participated in the Divertimento Ensemble's masterclasses under the tutelage of Sandro Gorli. He studied conducting with Rut Schereiner, Koji Kawamoto, Akihito Mihara, Jean-Michel Ferran, and Douglas Bostock. In composition, he worked with Yves Chauris, Yann Robin and Naoki Sakata.

Leif Tse was a semifinalist of the 2nd edition International Conducting Competition Rotterdam. He has conducted the Oradea Philharmonic, Lithuanian State and Hungarian National Szeged Symphony Orchestras, whilst upcoming engagements include his debut with Orquestra do Algarve and New Sussex Opera for UK’s premiere of Saint-Saëns’ "Le timbre d’argent". Leif has a special affinity with opera having premiered Gonçalves’ "The Acts of Brízida Vaz" at the Tête-à-Tête Festival 2024, conducted Hand Made Opera’s 2023 Double Bill: Chabrier’s "Une éducation manquée" and Sullivan’s "Cox and Box", and assisted on Mozart’s Così fan tutte at the Vienna Opera Festival 2022. Leif was mentored by Jukka-Pekka Saraste at the LEAD! Foundation Academy 2024 and looks forward to masterclasses with Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the Domaine Forget Academy 2025. He was a Christopher Hogwood Fellow at the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied with Sir Antonio Pappano, Martyn Brabbins and Vasily Petrenko.

Robin Wallington is a young English conductor and composer. He has worked with ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Psappha, Old Street Band, and the Northern Ballet Sinfonia. He has also assisted conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Mark Elder, Vasily Petrenko, Vassily Sinaisky, John Storgårds, and Dalia Stasevska. He held the position of Mills Williams Junior Fellow at the Royal Northern College of Music until 2022. Since 2023, Robin Wallington is principal conductor of the Liverpool Mozart Orchestra. He regularly works as an arranger for ensembles such as the BBC Philharmonic and OperaUpClose. His arrangements have been broadcast on national radio and television.

Born into a musical family, with both his parents being professors at the Central Conservatory of Music of China, Haozheng Zhu began studying music and piano at the age of 3. In 2012, he entered the College of the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) to study composition and then conducting. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in conducting. Haozheng Zhu won several awards, including First Prize in the Golden Key International Composition Competition in 2014, First Prize in Piano at the Grand Prize Virtuoso in 2020, and Second Prize in Chamber Music at the Hummingbird Award in 2022. In 2022, he was awarded a scholarship. He has conducted the CCOM Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Tsinghua University Symphony Orchestra.

Born in Copenhagen, Michael Schønwandt studied piano, theory and composition before turning to conducting. He then continued his studies in London at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1979, he was appointed permanent conductor of the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen.

From 2015 to 2023, Michael Schønwandt was Principal Conductor of the Orchestre national de Montpellier. In 2021, he was appointed Music Director of the Orchestre Français des Jeunes. In 2022, he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre National de Belgique.

Michael Schønwandt has also held the posts of Music Director of the Royal Copenhagen Opera, the Royal Danish Orchestra and the Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester (1992-1998); Principal Guest Conductor of La Monnaie in Brussels (1984-1987), the Danish National Radio Orchestra and the Beethovenhalle Orchestra in Bonn; Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Orchestra of Flanders and the Staatstheater Stuttgart.

In addition to his close collaboration with the Royal Copenhagen Opera, he has conducted numerous productions at Covent Garden in London, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Vienna Opera, the Paris Opera, as well as in Nice, Stuttgart, Cologne, Madrid and Tel Aviv.
Michael Schønwandt has devoted much of his career to the symphonic repertoire. He conducts a large number of orchestras: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse romande, Orchestre National de France, Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestras of Bordeaux, Lyon, Nice, Toulouse, Monte-Carlo as well as the Orchestras of Bamberg, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Munich Bavarian Radio, the Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi di Milano, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, La Monnaie de Bruxelles, Budapest, Stockholm, Oslo, Rome, Graz and Zurich.

He records regularly with the Royal Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Recent recordings include Richard Strauss's Salome, the complete symphonies of Niels Gade and Weyse, the complete symphonies and concertos of Carl Nielsen, as well as the world premiere of Henze's Violin Concerto No. 3 and Poul Ruder's opera The Handmaid's Tale. He has also recorded Pelléas et Mélisande by Schoenberg and Sibelius with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, as well as Le Ring and Maskarade with the Royal Copenhagen Opera.

© Marc Ginot

Cécile Agator is solo violin of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France since 2023, having been principal second violin since 2007. She has performed with such great conductors as Myung-Whun Chung, Mikko Franck, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Philippe Jordan, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Harding, Pablo Heras Casado, Pierre Boulez, Marek Janowski, John Eliot Gardiner, Barbara Hannigan, Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, etc.
Cécile Agator won first prize at the 2003 Ginette Neveu International Violin Competition in Avignon, and was named ‘Révélation classique’ by Adami in 2005. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at numerous festivals, including Les Folles journées de Nantes, Besançon Franche-Comté, Flâneries de Reims, Radio France, Pablo Casals, Musicora, Musique dans les Vignes, and others. alongside Gérard Caussé, Nicolas Dautricourt, Truls Mork, Klaus Mäkelä, Nikolai Lubansky, Alain Planès...
She was invited by Pierre Barois in 2021, and then by Charlotte Ginot-Slacik in 2023, to coach the second violin section of the Orchestre Français des Jeunes. Her interest in music on historical instruments will lead her to play with the Concert de la Loge conducted by Julien Chauvin, as concertmaster in June 2025.
A graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon, Cécile Agator founded the Quartet Capriccio in 2012 (until 2022) which, a year after its creation, won 1st prize at the Illzach International Chamber Music Competition and was a prizewinner at the prestigious Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition. The quartet has been invited to perform at Radio France, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Cité de la Musique and the festivals of Luberon, Flâneries de Reims, Heures musicales du Haut-Anjou, Festival BWD12, Fêtes musicales de Corbigny, Concerts de midi à Rennes.

© Gérard Nataf

Régis Campo is a composer who divides his musical creation between vocal, concert, opera and film music. He studied at the Conservatoire de Marseille, then at the Conservatoire National de Région de Paris, before joining the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where he studied with Gérard Grisey. In 1995, he was awarded First Prize in composition at the CNSMD de Paris.

From 1992 onwards, he met a number of personalities whom he regarded as mentors, including Henri Dutilleux, Vladimir Cosma and Edison Denisov, who considered him “one of the most talented of his generation”. From 1999 to 2001, he was a resident at the Villa Médicis in Rome. His repertoire – comprising over three hundred works – covers a wide range of instrumental and vocal formations.

His style, often described as playful and colorful, emphasizes melodic invention, humor, joy and vitality of tempo. Many artists have performed his music, including Felicity Lott, Kent Nagano, Romain Leleu, Fazıl Say, Jay Gottlieb, Zoltán Kocsis, Carolina Eyck, Bertrand Chamayou, Pieter Wispelwey, Laurent Korcia, Théo Ould and numerous orchestras and ensembles such as the Ensemble intercontemporain, the London Sinfonietta, Nieuw Ensemble Amsterdam, Ensemble Modern Frankfurt, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre symphonique de Berkeley, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio-France, Orchestre national d’Île-de-France, Orchestre National de France, RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Quatuors Diotima, Tana, Parisii...

His work has won numerous awards: three prizes in the Dutilleux competition (1996), the Hervé Dujardin Prize from Sacem and the Pierre Cardin Prize from the Institut de France (1999), the Georges Bizet Prize from the Institut de France and the Sacem Prize for young composers (2005), the Simone and Cino del Duca Foundation Prize (2014), the Swiss Life 4-hands Prize (2010), and the Grand Prix de la musique classique contemporaine (career) – Grand prix Sacem 2020. He was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 2017, in the Musical Composition section, to the seventh chair created in 1967 and occupied by Olivier Messiaen.

Régis Campo is composer in residence at the Besançon International Music Festival for two years, 2024/2026.

© Yves petit

Also jury member for the selection rounds
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South Korean violinist Jaewon Kim is concertmaster of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. She worked with the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich as second solo violin from the age of 24 under conductor Paavo Järvi until 2021. She won the competition for second concertmaster of the Orchestre de Paris in 2022, where she worked as second concertmaster and guest supersoloist. She has also been a regular guest super-soloist with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.

She studied with NamYun Kim at the Seoul National University of the Arts and then at the Conservatoire National Supérieure de Musique de Paris with Svetlin Roussev and Roland Daugareil.

She has won numerous prizes and special awards, including Lipizer in Italy, Brahms in Austria, Schoenfeld in Hong Kong, Sofia Young Virtuoso in Bulgaria and Kloster Schöntal in Germany.

She was a laureate of the Fondation de la Banque Populaire in France from 2017 to 2019 and joined the orchestral academy of the Paris Opera and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France during her studies in Paris.

She has given numerous recitals, notably in Italy, France, Switzerland and Korea. She has been invited as a guest artist and has performed at Radio France and several festivals. As a soloist, Jaewon Kim has performed with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Busan Sinfonietta, the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chuncheon Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ulsan Philharmonic Orchestra, the KNUA Orchestra, the China Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Bomberg Philharmonic Orchestra in Spain.

She is supersoloist with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse since 2023.

© Shin-joong Kim

Catherine Larsen-Maguire has become a sought-after conductor, supremely versatile, equally at home in the traditional orchestral repertoire and with the music of today.

Catherine Larsen-Maguire has in recent years conducted orchestras including the London Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Orquesta de Extremadura, Slovenian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mecklenburgisches Staatskapelle and Göttinger Symphonieorchester. A musician’s musician, she has successfully worked with a diverse array of soloists in recent seasons, including Carolin Widmann, Edgar Moreau, Adam Walker, Sean Shibe, Jean Rondeau, Lucas and Arthur Jussen, Guy Johnston and Sarah Wegener.

Catherine Larsen-Maguire also works closely with living composers and has given several world and national premieres of works of composers including Alexander Goehr, Cathy Milliken, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Gordon Kampe, James MacMillan and Joey Roukens.

With a passion for mentoring the next generation of musicians, Catherine Larsen-Maguire places great emphasis on working with young people, both as conductor and educator; she is currently Music Director of the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland.

Born in Manchester and now based in Berlin, Catherine Larsen-Maguire read music at Cambridge University, followed by studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Karajan Academy in Berlin. She turned her focus exclusively to conducting in 2012 following a successful career as a bassoonist, which included 10 years as principal at the Komische Oper Berlin.

© David Beecroft

Jury for the Montreal preselections only
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Canadian conductor Jean-Claude Picard worked closely with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Scottish Ballet, where he served as Associate Conductor and Chief Conductor respectively.
In the Americas, Jean-Claude Picard worked as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières and guest conducts orchestras such as the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Center Orchestra, Victoria Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Calgary Opera, I Musici, Montreal Bach Festival Orchestra and the Orquesta Solistas de América (Mexique).
In Europe, Jean-Claude Picard has conducted orchestras such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, Leipzig Symphony Orchestra, Geneva Chamber Orchestra, and enjoyed two highly successful visits to the Edinburgh International Festival with the Scottish Ballet.
Before devoting himself entirely to conducting, Jean-Claude Picard was a sought-after flutist, performing with orchestras such as the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (Norway), the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, and Les Violons du Roy.

Also jury member for the selection rounds
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Super soloist at the Paris Opera, Professor at the Paris Conservatoire, considered to be one of Europe's finest clarinettists, he has won several international competitions in various disciplines (Tokyo, Vienna, Antwerp, Colmar and Lugano). He has performed under the baton of Bernstein, Ozawa, Muti, Gergiev, Salonen, Boulez, Jordan, Dohnanyi, Barenboim, Dudamel and Nelsons, among others, and has been invited by the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.

Winner of the Bruno Walter Prize at the Lugano International Conducting Competition in 2001, he is assistant to Philippe Jordan in Vienna and to Kent Nagano, and resident conductor of the Orchestre National de Lyon (2008/2010).

He has been artistic director of the Orchestre Victor Hugo since 2010, an orchestra that is now recognised and, on the rise, with whom he has recorded several award-winning albums (two Chocs Classica, Choc Jazz, Diamant d'Opéra Magazine, etc.), a film with soprano Renée Fleming, and several CD books for children.

He is in demand on the major international stages: Opéra national de Paris (for which he has conducted over 70 shows and made two musical films for the cinema), Munich, Tokyo, Vienna, Madrid, Montreal, Lausanne, Luxembourg, Berne, Brussels, Mexico City, Salerno, Nagoya, Bolshoi Moscow... He is also a guest of the main French orchestras, national operas and festivals.

He has collaborated with Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Ludovic Tézier, Sandrine Piau, Piotr Beczala, Isabelle Faust, Sergei Nakariakov, Anne Queffélec, Nemanja Radulovic, François Leleux... He is a member of the jury of international competitions alongside Leonard Slatkin, Jorma Panula, Marin Alsop, and Dennis Russel-Davies.

He has composed musical tales and two mini-operas for children: his works have been performed by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Bavarian Radio in Munich, Dessau Opera, Capitole de Toulouse, Opéra de Rouen, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre National de Metz, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, etc.

Jean-François Verdier is an Officier des Arts et Lettres.

© Inyna Nesterenko

Wright began his career by running the European office of the Shawconcerts agency, where he worked for – amongst others – Vladimir Horowitz, Jacqueline du Pré, Garrick Ohlsson, Maureen Forrester, and Frederica von Stade. He later joined Harold Holt, where he also managed a group of artists, such as Mariss Jansons, Semyon Bychkov, Sir Neville Marriner, Yuri Temirkanov, and Seiji Ozawa.

In 1991 he creates and set up IMG Artists Europe. As well as managing artists and touring orchestras, Stephen Wright was also responsible for the opening of further IMG Artists offices in Paris and Asia. IMG Artists subsequently became a leading classical concert agency in Europe. Stephen Wright also established a new international audiovisual arm, he designs and produces television documentaries on the great conductors and singers of the 20th century. These productions were shown worldwide on television and released on DVD. He has also set up a range of audio projects, particularly with the BBC.

Since 2005, Stephen Wright has pursued a new career as a freelance Art consultant, working for UBS, the Peter Moores Foundation, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Medici Arts, and BBC Music & Arts Television. He also founded and launched the ICA Classics label, which continues to produce a wide range of historic audio and audiovisual archive material.

Stephen Wright is currently Artistic Consultant to the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and to the Strasbourg Philharmonic.

© DR