Jury members
JURY OF 1ST INTERNATIONAL PIANO DUO COMPETITIO “DUETTISSIMOO”
Bartłomiej Kominek (Poland) – Chopin Piano Duo – CHAIRMAN
Gil Garburg (Israel / Germany) – Silver-Garburg Piano Duo
Fabio Bianco (Italy) – Duo Monti-Bianco
Katarzyna Sokołowska (Poland) – Ravel Piano Duo
Emilia Sitarz (Poland) – Lutosławski Piano Duo
Jan Popis (Poland)
Nicolas Bringuier (France)
Bartłomiej Kominek – studied with Janusz Olejniczak and graduated with distinction from the Academy of Music in Cracow. He participated in many master classes taught by the most outstanding piano tutors, such as Andrzej Jasiński, Oxana Jablonska, Lee Kum-Sing and Ryszard Bakst. He is currently a lecturer at the Academy of Music in Cracow, where he completed his habilitation in 2015.
The artist has won several awards and distinctions in piano competitions and festivals both in Poland and abroad – at the Festival of Polish Pianists in Słupsk and the Festival of Talents in Tarnów, as well as at the events held in Kil (Sweden), Glasgow and London. The concerts he has given in Poland (Festival of Polish Music in Cracow, Festival of Polish Pianists in Słupsk, Polish Radio Music Festival in Warsaw, “Bravo Maestro” Festival in Ignacy Jan Paderewski’s manor house in Kąśna Dolna, Festival of Talents in Tarnów, International Festival of Contemporary Music “Warsaw Autumn”, Warsaw Music Encounters, “Music on the Heights” Festival in Zakopane, International Days of Cracow Composers), in many places in Europe, Middle East and Japan, received excellent reviews. He has performed in Chopin Festivals in Ghent (Belgium), Valdemossa (Mallorca) and Nohant-Vic (France). He has also made numerous recordings for the Polish Radio and Television. He portrayed Fryderyk Chopin in a film produced by the Japanese Television.
In 2005 his recording of Chopin’s Etude in E major op. 10 no. 3 was selected to be a part of the CD with interpretations of the most renowned Polish pianists and winners of Chopin competitions. Later that year, together with Janusz Olejniczak, Gdańsk University Choir and eminent soloists, he recorded the infrequently presented Petite messe solennelle by Giacomo Rossini. The CD was produced by the Gdańsk University. In 2010 DUX released his album with Grażyna Bacewicz’s compositions (among others Piano Quintet no. 1 arranged for piano and chamber orchestra) which received a nomination to the “Fryderyk” award. In 2013 he recorded a monographic album for Polskie Nagrania covering the works of Croatian composers and president – Ivo Josipović. The artist has been active as a chamber musician and has collaborated with many well-known artists, ensembles and orchestras, including Sinfonia Varsovia, Cracow Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Baltica, Capella Cracoviensis, Polish Radio Orchestra, “DAFÔ” String Quartet, “Camerata” String Quartet, “Prima Vista” String Quartet, Polish Radio Choir in Cracow, Elżbieta Towarnicka, Olga Pasiecznik, Anna Radziejewska, Iwona Sobotka, Joanna Freszel, Bogusława Dziel-Wawrowska, Janusz Olejniczak, Tomasz Strahl, Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski, Wojciech Michniewski, Jonatan Mann, Daniel Smith, Magdalena Bojanowicz, Aleksander Gebert, Bartosz Koziak, Klaudiusz Baran, Anna Maria Staśkiewicz, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka and Janusz Wawrowski.
Since 2011 he has performed with pianist Anna Boczar as “Chopin Piano Duo”. He wrote the arrangements of Fryderyk Chopin’s all orchestral works for piano and string quartet that were published by PWM (Polish Music Publishing House). Since 2014 he performs the function of Artistic Director of International Piano Duo Festival „Duettissimo”.
Gil Garburg – one of the most outstanding Israeli pianists. He enjoys a flourishing international career as soloist with numerous orchestras, in recitals and as a chamber musician. Her concert tours have taken her to 70 countries on five continents.
A first prize winner of numerous national and international competitions, Mr. Garburg performs in prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Musikverein, Salzburg Festspielhaus, Rome’s New Auditorium, Finlandia Hall, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Slovak Philharmonie, Beijing Forbidden City Concert Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, Vienna Konzerthaus, Teatro Colon, Palacio Nacional de Bellas Artes and Sydney Opera House.
Mr. Garburg collaborates with orchestras as the Israel Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, German Chamber Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony, Berlin Symphony, Jerusalem Symphony, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Bucharest Philharmonic, Beijing Symphony, Brno Philharmonic, Nürnberg Symphony, Israel Chamber, Vienna Concert-Verein, Taipei Philharmonic, Mexico State Symphony, Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic and many more.
Born in Israel, Gil Garburg began studying the piano at the age of seven and was a student at the “Thelma-Yellin” high school for the arts, the Rubin Music Academy of the Tel-Aviv University and the “Hochschule für Musik und Theater”- Hanover, Germany, where He studied with Prof. Arie Vardi. Previously he studied with Ms. Hava Armonn.
Together with pianist Sivan Silver, his partner in music and life, Mr. Garburg is a member of the Silver-Garburg Piano Duo. The duo wins enthusiastic acclaim by music audiences and critics and is recognised as one of the leading piano duos worldwide. They recorded ten albums which include works for one and two pianos, as well as concerti by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Brahms. Their recordings won awards and have been described as “grandiose” (Pizzicato, Supersonic Award), “thrilling” (Fono Forum), “breathtaking” (Bayerische Rundfunk), “brilliant” (Rondo), “extremely exciting” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).
Their most recent album, “Illumination”, was presented in a recital at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and released in April 2019 under the Berlin Classics label. “Let there be light!” titles the music magazine Concerti its choice as “CD of the week” and praises the “superb tonal sensibility, outstanding ensemble playing and imaginative rubati and agogic”. “The Schumann is played beautifully and is actually better than the very good Argerich and Barenboim recording” commends the American Record Guide and concludes “The whole package is truly, as titled, an ‘Illumination’ of works”. “The publication comes close to an enlightening revelation” raves the Aachener Zeitung. “A veritable aha effect” enthuses the Piano News reviewer, who describes the recording as “illuminating the complexity of this masterpiece in a way that has never been heard before”. Radio Bremen describes “The greatest art of two pianos playing. Stunning virtuosity… fantastic interplay… How Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg master this extremely delicate task borders on a miracle” and concludes “With this record, the two have ultimately established themselves at the top of the international piano duo scene”.
The Silver-Garburg Piano Duo joined forces with the Vienna Symphony and Maestro Florian Krumpöck to record the world premiere of a new concerto, which was written for and dedicated to them: Richard Dünser’s adaptation of Brahms Quartet Op. 25 for piano, four hands and string orchestra, which is based on the two original versions by Brahms (for piano quartet and for piano, four hands). The recording took place at the Wiener Konzerthaus and will be released in 2020.
Mr. Garburg looks forward to exciting concerts in the upcoming seasons – in North and Latin America, East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and in numerous European countries. Highlights include performances with the Lucerne Symphony at the Musikverein in Vienna and at the KKL Lucerne, with the Belgian National Orchestra at the Großes Festspielhaus in Salzburg and at the Bozar in Brussels. The duo appears as soloists with the Orchestra of the Americas, alongside Yo-Yo Ma and Claudio Bohorquez, at their 2021 European tour. They will continue their musical collaborations with orchestras such as the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Jerusalem Symphony, Bruno Walter Symphony, Wiener Concert-Verein, Mantua Chamber, Irish Chamber, Israel Chamber, Berlin Symphony, Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, Brno Philharmonic and many more.
Since 2014, Mr. Garburg is a professor at the Graz University for the Arts. She presents master-classes at leading academic institutes such as in Moscow, Beijing, Melbourne, Vienna, Jerusalem, Wellington, Tallinn, Washington, Bratislava and Helsinki.
Fabio Bianco – pupil of Yaara Tal and Andreas Groethuysen at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater in Munich. Fabio Bianco obtained his Master’s Diploma with top marks at the “San Pietro a Majella” Conservatory in Naples where he studied in the class of Maestro Massimo Bertucci, attending Masterclasses with Masters Aldo Tramma, Riccardo Risaliti, Pier Narciso Masi. He specialized in chamber music at the Bojano Academy with Maestro Dario De Rosa (illustrious member of the Trieste Trio).
In June 2009 he graduated from the Academy of Music in Florence attending the two-year course of High Specialization in Piano with Maestro Pier Narciso Masi. In the same years with Maestro Pier Narciso Masi he also simultaneously attended the High Specialization Course in Chamber Music at the Academy of Florence, deepening the repertoire of piano duo with the pianist Federica Monti (in formation of 4 hands and 2 pianos). Many are the awards obtained in National and International Competitions including the National Competition of Young Musicians “City of Camerino”, the 13th National Competition “City of Bacoli”, the 15th edition of the “Giulio Rospigliosi” Music Performance Competition (Lamporecchio), the 10th edition of the “Riviera Etrusca” Competition (Piombino). In the formation of a piano Duo he is constantly invited to participate in Music Reviews and Festivals throughout Italy, Europe and Asia. In October 2009 he won the 2nd Prize at the 19th International Piano Competition “Rome 2009” in the 4 hands section. In July 2011 the Duo obtained the prestigious Meisterklassendiplom at the Hochschule für Musik und Teather in Munich in the Duo Tal – Groethuysen class. In October 2011 he won the 1st Prize at the “21st International Piano Competition Rome 2011 ”, Two Pianos Section. In 2011 Fabio debuted in the Scarlatti Hall of the “S. Pietro a Majella” Conservatory in Naples, performing the seldom-heard Concerto for four-hand piano duet and orchestra op. 153 by Carl Czerny.
In 2017 he debuted in China with a long concert tour where they performed in important concert halls in the cities of Shanghai, Changsha, Yueyang, Nanjing and Dongguan. Fabio is actively engaged as Artistic Directors of the important International Piano Competition “Ischia”. In 2021 February their new CD “ J.S.BACH GOLDBERG VARIATIONS BWV 988“ VERSION FOR TWO PIANOS BY RHEINBERGER/REGER produced by “Da Vinci Publishing” Label is released. Actually he teaches Piano at the Conservatory of Music “Cesare Pollini” in Padova.
Katarzyna Ewa Sokołowska – a pianist, chamber musician, teacher and a coordinator of artistic, didactic and scholarly events.
She has graduated from the FCUM in Warsaw from the piano class of J Ekier and A. Paleta-Bugaj and the chamber music class of M. Nosowska. In the field of chamber music, she graduated with honours from the postgraduate and concert studies (Konzertexam) in the piano duo class of H.P. Stenzl and V. Stenzl at the Rostock University of Music and Drama (Germany). In addition, she was awarded a master’s degree at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Opole.
For over 20 years, together with Agnieszka Kozło, she has been forming one of the leading Polish piano duos – Ravel Piano Duo, which has been awarded many prizes while performing in Poland, Europe and Asia. The pair’s extensive repertoire includes compositions for four hands and two pianos from the baroque period to the present day. The duo has had many world premieres and several CD releases.
For several years, the pianists’ activity has been focused on Polish duo repertoire, its research, editing, performance and recording. As part of this activity, an original CD anthology is being created entitled “Polish Kaleidoscope.” In 2020, the artists made the first complete recording of the works for four hands by Zygmunt Noskowski.
The pianist combines her concert performing activity with didactic work, teaching piano and chamber music at the F. Chopin Music Schools in Warsaw. She is invited to sit on the juries of Polish and foreign competitions and lectures at numerous courses in musical interpretation. Her students are laureates of prizes and distinctions. In 2008–2010 she cooperated with the Piano Department of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Currently, she is employed as an assistant professor at the Department of Piano and String Chamber Music and at the Vocal and Acting Department of her Alma Mater.
For many years she has been associated with the Jerzy Heller Society of International Music Courses, acting as the Vice President of the Management Board and dealing with the organisational and substantive coordination of the International Music Course in Opole.
Emilia Karolina Sitarz – pianist, artistic director of the Kwadrofonik Festival and the series LISTENINGS -Concerts to be toured, promoter of knowledge about music, educator, laureate of the most important Polish cultural awards, such as: the Koryfeusz, the Polityka’s Passport, the Fryderyk, the Gold Record, the Folk Phonogram of the Year.
Emilia Karolina Sitarz graduated from the F. Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and the postgraduate master studies at the University for Music and Theatre in Rostock – under the supervision of the Hans-Peter and Volker Stenzl duo, which she finished with distinction. For many years she was studying under the tutelage of the duo Brach Eden-Alexander Tamir (Israel). In 1999 she co-founded the Lutosławski Piano Duo, and in 2005 the Kwadrofonik quartet.
Original musical projects which Sitarz creates with her ensembles frequently host pop, jazz and folk music personalities (including D. Miśkiewicz, A. Rojek, M. Koteluk, A Strug) She also collaborates with distinguished flutist Ewa Liebchen. Since 2011 she has been running the Kwadrofonik Association, which has launched, among others, the Kwadrofonik Festival, Listenings – concerts to be toured, Pianokrąg, Wolny Koncert, Kwadrofonik – Beyond the Limits of Sound. She has been touring in most European countries, both Americas, the Middle East and Japan, performing at such venues as: the Carnegie Hall, the Berlin and Warsaw Philharmonics, the Izumi Hall, the Gulbenkian Auditorio, the W. Lutosławski Concert Studio, the Chicago Symphony Center, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Beijing Music Hall, the J.F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
She has participated in numerous festivals, including: the Festival of Polish Radio, the Kwartesencja, the Warsaw Autumn, the Chain, the UNSOUND, the Festival of First Performances, the MusicaPolonica Nova, the Polish Piano Festival, the Piano Festival in Cracow, the Vratislavia Cantans, the Music on the Heights, the Two Moors Festival (Great Britain), the Londrina Festival (Brazil), the Scelsi Festival (Italy), the Music Festival in Łańcut, the Klang, the Malta, the SpringFestival (Israel), the Ein Kerem Music Center Season (Israel). She is a regular guests at piano duo festivals, e.g. in Moldova, Lithuania and Belarus, and performs at Polish Institutes abroad.
She attaches great importance to new music and cooperation with composers, hence her performances of several dozen world premieres, including concertos for two pianos composed especially for her ensembles, as well as Différance and Symphony No3 by W. Zych – for flageolet piano and orchestra, Concerto for Two Pianos by M. Małecki, DFRGMNTD and September by W. Blecharz, Fuori – Concerto for Two Pianos and Möbius Strip by M. Jabłoński, and chamber works by M. Laskowski, K. Szwed, J. Stanley, WZ Zych, W. Blecharz and A. Zagajewski. At present she is working on compositions by foreign composers such as: Malte Giesen, Sasha Blondeau, Peter ABlinger, Niels Ronsholdt, Lore M. Hiendl, Nigel Osbourne.
Her creative explorations embrace traditions of classical music, performance of most contemporary music and multi-source inspirations, including Polish traditional and electronic music. Together with Kwadrofonik she is originator of first Polish performances of such works as Music for Eighteen Musicians and Daniel Variations by Steve Reich and Industrial Symphony by Angelo Badalamenti. She is co-composer of the following projects: Folk Requiem, Folklove, I was here. Fryderyk and Urlicht.
The most important recordings Sitarz has participated in are: Lutosławski Piano Duo, Folklove, Folk Requiem, Piano.pl, Lutosławski –Tuwim. Songs Not Only for Children, Winterreise, Unchained, Incorporate, Liminal Studies, Lady Monsieur Poldowski, The Poet’s Astronomy. Baczyński, Good Night Mr. Górecki.
She is lecturer on piano duo and new music performance, and author of a series of educational concerts for children and youth on contemporary music. She is originator of a series of online programmes Play the Duo, launched in 2020 and presenting works for the piano duo.
Jan Popis – musicologist, music critic, producer and publisher of CDs with classical music, music popularizer. One of the most prominent experts in the music of Fryderyk Chopin. He studied musicology at the Warsaw University. Specializes in the field of piano music.
He worked in the Polish Radio, in editorial offices or departments of classical music, where he ran his own programs, including the famous “Chopin Wednesdays”. Since 1975, he has been commenting on the Polish Radio and TVP International Chopin Piano Competitions.
He created a record company.
Several dozen CDs of which were nominated, and several dozen received the FRYDERYK statuette and the Totus Tuus award.
In 1998 he started working with Krystian Zimerman and the Polish Festival Orchestra, which he founded. For over 10 years, he has been working as an advisor with Rafał Blechacz. He is the artistic and program director of the MUZA Polish Recordings label.
For his activities, he received, among others award – medal of the Association of Polish Musicians for the Music Critic of the Year, Gloria Artis medal, Pro Sinfonika medal and Pro Arte medal Ignacy Jan Paderewski.
Nicolas Bringuier – the acclaim accorded to the pianist Nicolas Bringuier by audiences and critic alike confirms his status as one of France’s most exciting young artists. In the last few seasons, he has played in such major concert halls across Europe and Asia, like the Wiener Musikverein, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Auditorio of Madrid and the Seoul Arts Center. Together with his piano duo partner Olga Monakh, they made in 2017 a highly succesfull tour in China and were immediately reinvited for 2019.
Born in Nice in 1980, Nicolas Bringuier entered at the age of 13 the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Paris in the class of Bruno Rigutto and already at the age of 16, he was awarded the First Price of Piano. After 2 years of post-graduate studies in Paris, he joined the class of Klaus Hellwig at the University of the Arts in Berlin, where he graduated in 2009 with the highest distinctions. He has also completed his musical formation by attending master-classes with D. Bashkirov, O. Maisenberg, D. Merlet, J-C. Pennetier, J.Perry,V. Viardo…
After his successes in renowned international music contests, most notably the 2nd Prize of the Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau , Nicolas Bringuier has performed numerous concerts across Europe and has played as a soloist in major concert halls such as the Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Palais Garnier in Monte-Carlo, the Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, the Halle aux Grains in Toulouse…
He has been invited in prestigious festivals such as the Festival Radio-France in Montpellier, the Printemps des Arts in Monte-Carlo, the Colmar festival, the European Classic Festival Ruhr, the Chopin Nights in Nohant, the Schwetzingen and the Mosel Festwochen, the Szeged Chamber Mucic Festival, the Piano Nights in Chisinau…
Nicolas Bringuier has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Orchestre Philharmonique du Capitole de Toulouse, the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berliner Symphoniker, the Zwickau-Plauen Philharmonic, the Nice Philharmonic, the Orchestre Lyrique d’Avignon, the Orchestre Régional de Cannes, the Wuhan Philharmonic, the International Players of Busan, with conductors such as Philippe Bender, Yoav Talmi, Philippe Bernold, Fréderic Lodéon, James Liu, Yoel Gamzou, Nanse Gum and on a regular basis under the baton of his brother Lionel Bringuier.
Passionated of chamber music, he has formed since 2003 a piano duo with the ukrainian pianist Olga Monakh, the Duo Siloti. Together they are artistic directors of Les Rencontres Musicales du Negresco, a chamber music festival held each year in Nice, as well as of the Samson Francois International Competition in Cagnes-sur-Mer.
Furthermore he’ve been playing with such artists as Andrej Bielow, Nicolas Dautricourt, Gary Hoffman, Esther Hoppe, Raphael Oleg, Regis Pasquier, Francois Salque, Diana Tishchenko, István Várdai, Alexander Zemtsov and the Prazak Quartet.
Nicolas Bringuier is a laureate of many foundations such as the Yvonne Lefebure, the Banques Populaires, the Cziffra foundations and the Declic promotional programm of Cultures France, which is sponsoring outstanding young french artists.
His recordings for Audite has obtained a great international press acclaim, the Schumann SACD published in 2007 was named one of the Recording of the year by the Fanfare magazine in America, and by the Bavarian Radio in Germany. His last Bartók recording has been also unanimously praised by the critics.