Jury

Meet the prestigious members of the jury that will be part of the contest

Salvatore Accardo

Italy

Salvatore Accardo made his debut at 13 playing Paganini’s Capricci. Two years later he won the Geneva Competition and the Paganini Competition in Genoa.

His repertoire ranges from pre-Bach to post-Berg; composers like Sciarrino, Donatoni, Piston, Piazzolla, Colasanti and Xenakis wrote for him.

In addition to playing with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, Accardo plays recitals and particularly loves chamber music. He founded the Accardo Quartet and the Walter Stauffer Academy.

He conducts also opera and for the 200th anniversary of Rossini’s birth, he conducted in Pesaro Festival and in Rome the first modern edition of the Messa di Gloria (recorded live), repeated in Vienna with the Wiener Symphoniker.

He has recorded for DGG , Philips , ASV, Dynamic, EMI, Sony Classical, Collins Classic ,Foné.

He has been awarded with Abbiati Prize by the Italian Musical Critics for the exceptional standard of his playing and interpretation and with the Italian highest honour “Cavaliere di Gran Croce”.

Beijing Conservatoire named him “Most Honourable Professor”, in Monaco he was named “Commandeur dans l’ordre du mérit culturel” and received “A Life for the Music” Award and the Gold Medal in the Arts by the Kennedy Center of New York.

Accardo created the Orchestra da Camera Italiana with the best pupils of “Stauffer Academy” and recorded with them all Paganini Concerti for violin (EMI Classics), the “Concerto per la Costituzione” and the Piazzolla works for violin in 3 SACDs for Foné.

He realized the second recording of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for violin, the third recording of Paganini’s 24 Capricci (Urtext) and the third recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with OCI (Urtext).

He plays a violin Guarneri del Gesù “Hart” 1730.

Pierre Amoyal

France

Pierre Amoyal is well known to music lovers. He has played with the greatest conductors and orchestras in the most prestigious concert halls of the world. This virtuoso is also the lucky owner of the one of the most beautiful violins ever made : the famous “Kochanski“, a Stradivarius that was stolen from him in 1987, and which was miraculously recovered four years later by the Italian “Carabinieri”.

When Pierre Amoyal was only twelve years old, he completed his studies at the Paris Conservatory with a First Prize. The prodigy then left for Los Angeles to study with the legendary Jascha Heifetz. The two spent five intense years together, culminated by chamber music concerts and recordings with the cellist, Gregor Piatigorski.

At the age of 22, he made his European debut with the late Sir Georg Solti and the Orchestre de Paris, followed by appearances in all of the major European capitals, as well as in the USA, Canada, Mexico, South America and in the Far East. Amoyal has played under the most important conductors of the last three decades: von Karajan, Ozawa, Boulez, Maazel, Solti, Pretre, Sanderling, Roshdestvensky, Rattle, and Mung Whun Chung, to name only a few.

He was the youngest musician ever to be nominated as a professor at the Paris Conservatory.

Following his move to Switzerland, he was Professor at the Lausanne Conservatory, Haute Ecole de Musique. He was appointed as University Professor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Pierre Amoyal is a very touching example of a virtuoso whose exceptional talents never hindered his love of hard work.

Pavel Vernikov ( President of the Jury )

Israel / Switzerland

Pavel Vernikov is an Ukrainian violinist, a member of Vienna University and a winner of Munich International Competition.
As a student of David Oistrach and Semyon Snitkowsky, established his reputation as virtuoso violinist more than twenty years ago. Among other prizes he won the ARD International Violin Competition in Munich and the Grand Prix at the “Vittorio Gui” International Violin Competition in Florence. He has appeared at such prestigious venues as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Wigmore Hall in London, La Salle Gaveau in Paris, La Scala in Milan and Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Pavel Vernikov continues to teach and give master classes around the world, including Spain (Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia Madrid), Israel (Rubin Academy and Keshet Eilon Summer Academy), Germany (Kronberg Academy), Austria (Salzburg Summer Academy, Wiener Meisterkurse), Japan (Gedai University and Miyazaki Mastercourse), Sweden (Aurora Mastercourse) along with many others around the world. He has also been invited to be a member of the jury at numerous international violin competitions, including Hannover Competition, the J. Szigeti, F. Kreisler Competition, F. Gui, ARD- Competition Munich, Sendai, Budapest, Sarasate and Wieniawski competition.

Following a professorship position at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Lyon, Pavel Vernikov now teaches both at the famous Konservatorium Wien University (Austria) and at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne (Switzerland).

Miguel Negri

Argentina / Switzerland

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Miguel Negri comes from a multicultural family with Italian, French and Irish roots. Following the love for the violin infused by his father, Miguel studied with Symsia Bajour and soon stands out in Argentina as one of the most remarkable violinists of his generation. After winning the Banco Mayo International Music Competition, he goes to Canada to continue his studies with Vladimir Landsman.

Shortly thereafter, Alberto Lysy invites him to travel to Gstaad, Switzerland, where Miguel is privileged to meet his mentor, Lord Menuhin, and becomes part of the Camerata Lysy for 4 years.

After many years of studying and collaborating with Prof. Zakhar Bron, he created his first educational project with Lord Yehudi Menuhin as Honorary President and Zakhar Bron as Artistic Director. Negri has developed his own teaching method and his first book recently published “Miguel Negri – The Ultimate Violin Method, Volume 1. Building from Scratch”.

He is now the General Director and Founder of Piccoli Virtuosi in Switzerland.

Miguel Negri plays a violin Nicolò Amati 1658.

Hyung-Ki Joo

Korea / Great Britain

Hyung-ki Joo was born. He is British, but looks Korean, or the other way around, or both. On the Internet, related searches for #Hyung-ki_Joo include: #Composer, #Pianist, #Conductor, #InspiringStudents, #YouTubeSensation, #KaratePiano, #FastestToothbrusherInTheWorld, #WatchedMissionImpossibleEightTimesInARow, #TaylorSwift’sSecretAsianFantasy, #Pomegranate, and #Aadvark. Hyung-ki, pronounced forever, YOUNG-KEY with an “H” in front, is also the only Korean Jew, (spelt J-O-O), in the world.

He started piano lessons at the age of eight and a quarter, and two years later won a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School. There, he discovered that he was among geniuses and child prodigies and was convinced he would be kicked out of the school. In the end, he was never kicked out but teachers and fellow students, such as Aleksey Igudesman, did kick him around in various parts of his anatomy, making the future of any offspring rather bleak. No matter how difficult those seven years at the school may have been, it only strengthened his love of music, and a while after graduation, he was chosen by Yehudi Menuhin himself to perform as soloist for his eightieth birthday concert at the Barbican Hall, London.

Hyung-ki’s teachers have included Nina Svetlanova, Beryl Kington, Peter Norris, Seta Tanyel, Irina Zaritskaya, Vlado Perlemuter, Oleg Maisenberg, Richard Goode, and Ferenc Rados. He is eternally thankful to them for all their time, generousity, and sharing the gift of their knowledge.

Raimund Trenkler

Germany

Raimund Trenkler was born in 1962 and grew up in Berlin. After completing his cello studies in London, he took up the position of first solo cellist with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra in 1990. In 1991, he founded the “Cellissimo” ensemble of five cellists, with which he performed at international festivals worldwide.

A year later, together with Marta Casals Istomin – the widow of Pablo Casals – and Mstislav Rostropovich, he developed the idea of celebrating Pablo Casals and his message of universal humanity by bringing together musicians of all generations from across the globe in Kronberg to make music together and learn from one another. To this end, Trenkler and a group of private sponsors founded Kronberg Academy in February 1993.

Today at Kronberg Academy, the most renowned teachers in their fields train gifted young artists to become soloists in the disciplines of violin, viola and cello. In so doing, the Academy sees its role as helping these young musicians to become the world’s best, whilst also assisting them to develop an awareness of their responsibility to society. Since autumn 2017, on Trenkler’s initiative and under his leadership, Kronberg Academy has been constructing the Casals Forum, a unique chamber music venue for some 600 audience members that will also house a new study and administration centre. The planned opening of the two buildings is scheduled for 2022.

Raimund Trenkler is Chairman of the Board of the Kronberg Academy Foundation, as well as Chair of the Rostropovich Cello Foundation and the Gidon Kremer Stiftung. He is frequently in demand as a jury member at international violin, viola and cello competitions.

Mihaela Martin

Romania

Mihaela Martin, who was born in Romania, is one of the most outstanding violin virtuosos of her generation. Her father gave her her first violin lessons when she was five years old. She later studied with Stefan Gheorghiu, a pupil of George Enescu and David Oistrakh.

At the age of 19, Mihaela Martin won second prize in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, which was followed by further main prizes in Montreal, Sion and Brussels. Being awarded first prize in the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis launched her international career. She has performed with leading orchestras such as the BBC Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. She has worked with conductors such as Kurt Masur, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Charles Dutoit and Neeme Järvi. In the past season Mihaela Martin not only performed as a soloist but also appeared at chamber music festivals in Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, France, Israel, Germany, Greece, Romania and Switzerland. Together with Daniel Austrich, Nobuko Imai and Frans Helmserson, she is a permanent member of the Michelangelo String Quartet, which she helped to found in 2003.

Mihaela Martin is a professor at the University of Music in Cologne and at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva and gives masterclasses throughout the world. She is a regular jury member at major international competitions such as the Queen Elisabeth (Belgium), Indianapolis (USA), Enescu (Romania) and Tchaikovsky (Russia). Mihaela Martin has been a member of the Kronberg Academy faculty since 2013. She plays a violin by J G Guadagnini that dates from 1748.