Jury
Jury of the 2ND INTERNATIONAL PIANO DUO COMPETITION “DUETTISSIMO”
- Bartłomiej Kominek (Chopin Piano Duo) – HEAD – Poland
- Volker Stenzl (Stenzl Piano Duo) – Germany
- Bartek Wąsik (Lutosławski Piano Duo) – Poland
- Mark Sole-Leris (Leris/Chauvel Piano Duo) – France/UK
- Marcella Crudeli – Italy
- Ewa Bogusz-Moore (NOSPR) – Poland
- Katarzyna Sokołowska (Ravel Piano Duo) – Poland
- Michał Dziad (Cracow Piano Duo) – Jury Secretary – Poland
- Łukasz Dębski – Competition Director
BIOGRAMS
BARTŁOMIEJ KOMINEK
He 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”.
VOLKER STENZL
The German pianist studied in Stuttgart and at the Royal Academy of Music in London (a.o. with S. Kovacevich) where he was also a guest professor from 1990-2000. Further valuable artistic inspiration came through private lessons with Alfred Brendel.
He has specialized in playing piano duo together with his brother Hans-Peter, and since winning the prestigious Munich ARD competition in 1986, the Stenzls have played in nearly all European countries, in West Africa as well as in North and South America, in Japan, China and Hong Kong. In January 2009, Gustavo Dudamel invited them to Caracas to perform Mendelssohn´s E major Double Concerto with him and his Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, and in December 2010 the two brothers made their first Russian tour.
With their broad repertoire, ranging from Bach to first performances of contemporary compositions and which – unlike most other piano duos – they always play from memory, Hans-Peter and Volker Stenzl are welcome guests in many concert halls and at major festivals including Salzburg, the Piano festival Ruhr, the Schleswig-Holstein, the Miami and the Reding-Piette festivals. Numerous radio and TV productions (e.g. BBC, ITV, ARD, ZDF, RAI, and ORF) as well as highly acclaimed CD and DVD recordings testify to the wide artistic range of the Volker Stenzl is a highly-respected jury member at national and international competitions and professor at the Hochschule für Musik Theater in Rostock/Germany, conducting a special class for piano duo and professor for piano and piano duo at the Musikhochschule Trossingen.
MARCELLA CRUDELLI
She is considered by international critics as one of the most eminent representatives of Italian concert music. She trained in the great schools of B. Seidlhofer, A. Cortot and C. Zecchi, she graduated with full marks, honors and special mention at the “G. Verdi ”in Milan and at the Academies of Salzburg and Vienna. For years he has carried out an intense career with great success which has resulted in more than three thousand concerts in over eighty countries, both as a soloist and as a member of important chamber ensembles, on behalf of the major concert organizations (Piccola Scala of Milan, Wigmore Hall of London, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Teatro Real in Madrid, Chapelle du Bon Pasteur in Montreal, Accademia di S. Cecilia, Petruzzelli theaters in Bari, Bellini in Catania and Colon in Buenos Aires, St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Enescu in Bucharest, Symphony of Cape Town and many others) and television radios and with the most prestigious orchestras (Accademia S. Cecilia in Rome, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, RAI in Turin, Scarlatti in Naples, Radio-Television Francaise, Kammerorchester in Hamburg, RIAS in Berlin, Teatro Verdi of Trieste, Symphony of Tel Aviv, Municipal Theater of Genoa, S. Carlo of Naples, Sicilian Symphony, Taipei Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacau, Symphonic Insta nbul and Brisbane and many others); she performed under the direction of famous conductors. Former teacher of principal piano at the S. Cecilia State Conservatory of Music in Rome, from 1988 to 2004, she was director of the L. D’Annunzio State Conservatory of Music in Pescara, she also held seminars and advanced courses in Paris, at the ‘Ècole Normale de Musìque A. Cortot before and later at the Schola Cantorum. Confirming her position in the world, she has been awarded several international prizes, including the Sagittario d’Oro, the Adelaide Ristori, the Cimento d’Oro of Art and Culture, the Palestrina, Europe, the Progetto Donna, the Francavilla, the Minerva, the Cimarosa, the Capitoline Oscar, the Sorrento Classica and, for its very high artistic and humanitarian merits, has also received the Lions d’Oro award and the Paul Harris three rubies from Rotary International and the A life for the musical instrument prize, conferred on her by DISMA at the Bocconi University of Milan. In 1993 she was appointed Emeritus Professor at Sakuyo College in Tsuyama, Japan.
She is the founder and president of E.P.T.A. – Italy (Italian Association of Piano Teachers) of which she was also, for the years 1995-96 and 2003-2004, European president and is the founder and president of the “Fryderyk Chopin” Association, which organizes concerts, international high-level courses and the “Roma” International Piano Competition, with the patronage, among others, of the Italian National Commission for Unesco.
The President of the Republic conferred on her, in 1999 the honor of Cavaliere al Merito of the Italian Republic, in 2003 the Gold Medal and the First Class Diploma, reserved for the Merit of the School, of the Culture and of the Art and, in the 2007, the honor of Commander of the Republic. You have received from the Sovereign Order of Malta the Cross with Crown of Merit of Melitense (2014).
Recently in 2020, she was awarded the Grand Officer of Merit of the Italian Republic.
In 2021 she joined the Board of the IFCS (International Federation of Chopin Societies).
EWA BOGUSZ MOORE
A cultural manager. Since September 2018, she has been the Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio. She is a graduate of the cello class at the Academy of Music in Wrocław and Arts Management at City, University of London. A recipient of the Clore Leadership Programme scholarship and the Leadership Academy of Poland scholarship. In the institutions and festivals she oversees, she combines the creation of artistic programs with building long-term development strategies, collaborating with music institutions worldwide such as the Royal Festival Hall, Elbphilharmonie, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and Philharmonie de Paris. She previously served as the Deputy Director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, managed the I, CULTURE Orchestra, and also oversaw the “Campuses” project, where she, in collaboration with selected prestigious universities in the United States, was responsible for building relations between the USA and Poland at the intersection of culture, ideas, and science. In 2019, she became the first Polish woman and the second woman overall to be accepted into the international organization ECHO, bringing together the most influential music institutions in Europe. In 2020, she chaired the jury for the “La Maestra Paris” competition for female conductors, and in 2022, she assumed the position of Co-Chair of the European Union Youth Orchestra.
MARK SOLÉ-LERIS
An English pianist of Spanish-Dutch origin born in Rome studied and obtained his diplomas in Rome (Santa Cecilia), Paris (L’Ecole Normale de Musique) Salzburg (Mozarteum) and Siena (Accademia Chigiana). His teachers were successively: P. Sheftel, E. Streatfield, F. Medori, C. Helfer and G. Mounier.
Winner of a special prize with Frédéric Chauvel at the Grieg piano duo competition in Oslo (Norway) and with the U.N.P.Q. at the “Backchiev” competition in Vologda (Russia), he has an international career which has led him to play extensively across Europe and the United States: (Purcell Room in London, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Sale Apollon and Athena in ‘Acropolis in Nice, Salle Cortot in Paris, Grand Hall of the National Radio in Bucharest, “South Florida center for Arts” in Key Largo in Florida, “Hall of the House of Composers” Moscow “Ohrid Summer Festival” in Macedonia…) . He has recorded for radio and television (RAI, Vatican Radio, Dutch NOS, Romanian National Radio, and in the United States WWL-TV, HTV…) Mark Solé-Leris is member of the 4-hand piano duo Chauvel/Sole-Leris, and the United Nations Piano Quartet.
He also devotes a significant part of his activity to Chamber Music, having concertized with the violinists E. Borok, (ex. concert master of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra) V. Mollard of the Zodiac Trio, the cellist G. Schieffen ( Tchaikovsky Prize in Moscow) and the French percussionist and composer Alain Huteau.
Mark Solé-Leris has also collaborated with orchestras such as: the Cannes PACA orchestra, “Il Complesso da Camera di Roma”, the Romanian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the “Camerata Valahica” of Bucharest “I solisti Azzurri” of Nice, etc. and with the conductors: A. Melchiorre, K. Weise, P. Bender, S. Streatfeild and C. Brancusi.
Often called upon to be a jury member for competitions at the conservatories of Nice, Marseille, Cannes and Lyon and for the Steinway Competition in Cannes, Mark Solé-Leris is also regularly invited to the international competitions Viotti (Vercelli), Euterpe (Bari), Città di Moncalieri (Torino) and V. C. Righetti Prize (Cortemilia).
Creator with Frédéric Chauvel of the International piano duo Competition in Valberg in 2005 (in collaboration with the Conservatoire des Alpes Maritimes) and in Monaco in 2013 (in collaboration with the Académie Rainier III in Monaco).
After teaching at the Cannes and Valbonne Conservatories as well as at the Nice and Marseille National CRR’s Mark Solé-Leris currently holds the position of piano teacher and head of the keyboard department at the Conservatoire des Alpes Maritimes.
KATARZYNA EWA SOKOŁOWSKA
A pianist, chamber musician, educator, organizer of artistic, didactic, and scientific events. A graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the piano class of J. Ekier and A. Paleta-Bugaj, as well as in chamber music under M. Nosowska. In the field of chamber music, she completed postgraduate and concert studies (Konzertexam) with the piano duo H.P. Stenzl and V. Stenzl at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock (Germany). Additionally, she holds a master’s degree in Economics from the University of Opole. In 2018, she obtained a habilitation degree in musical arts.
For over 25 years, along with Agnieszka Kozło, she has been part of one of the leading Polish piano duos, the Ravel Piano Duo, honored with numerous awards, performing in Poland, Europe, and Asia. The duo’s extensive repertoire includes compositions for four hands and two pianos from the Baroque era to the present. The duo has premiered many works. In recent years, the pianists’ activity has focused on the Polish duet repertoire – its research, editing, performance, and recordings. As part of this initiative, they have released the album series “Polski kalejdoskop” (Fryderyk Award 2016 and 2 nominations for the Fryderyk Award 2018), and in 2021, a 3-disc album featuring the complete works for four hands by Zygmunt Noskowski (nominated for the Fryderyk Award 2022 and Golden Diploma at the 2nd International “Muzyczne Orły” Competition). Additionally, the duo collaborates with the Polish Music Publishing House and Eufonium Publishing House.
Sokólska combines her concert activities with teaching, leading the chamber music class at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and the piano class at the Fryderyk Chopin State Music Schools Complex in Warsaw. She is invited to be a jury member at Polish and international competitions. For many years, she has been associated with the International Music Courses Society named after Jerzy Heller, where she serves as Vice President. Within this role, she is involved in the organizational and substantive coordination of the International Music Course in Opole. Since 2020, she has also been a board member of the Association of Polish Chamber Musicians.
BARTEK WĄSIK
One of the leading and versatile Polish pianists. An arranger, composer, winner of numerous international competitions and non-musical awards, including the Paszport Polityki and the Fryderyk phonographic award. He is a co-founder and member of ensembles such as Kwadrofonik and Lutosławski Piano Duo (together with pianist Emilia Karolina Sitarz), with which he has been associated for over twenty years. The ensemble has won many awards in international competitions and has accumulated a spectacular repertoire of approximately 150 compositions spanning from the Baroque period to contemporary times. The group has also premiered numerous works. In 2020, the ensemble received the Koryfeusz Muzyki Polskiej award in the “Personality of the Year” category.
Simultaneously, Bartek Wąsik follows his own artistic path, capturing the attention of both audiences and critics. He has performed solo and with ensembles in Europe, Asia, and both Americas. At Carnegie Hall and Chicago Symphony Hall, he presented his own arrangements of Frederic Chopin’s compositions. In the Berlin Philharmonic, he performed an original arrangement of Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” with Kwadrofonik and pieces from the album “Folklove,” which won the Folk Phonogram of the Year award. His project “Nowa Warszawa,” featuring twelve newly arranged songs about Warsaw (with Stanisława Celińska and the Royal String Quartet), received critical acclaim and was honored with the Culture Guarantee and Inspirations awards.
He has collaborated with Bartek Konopka (film “Nowa Warszawa”), Jan Komasa (spectacle “Ksenofonia. Symphony for the Other”), Artur Rojek, Adam Strug (“Requiem ludowe” – Folk Phonogram of the Year), Katarzyna Nosowska, Ralph Kaminski, Dorota Miśkiewicz (“Lutosławski, Tuwim – Songs Not Only for Children” – Gold Record status). In 2020, together with Mela Koteluk, he composed songs for the poetry of Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, which in his arrangement appeared on the album “Astronomia poety. Baczyński” (Mela Koteluk & Kwadrofonik), awarded the Fryderyk award. In 2021, along with Ralph Kaminski, he received another Fryderyk for the album “Kora.” Since 2020, he has inaugurated the cycle of his own piano recitals “Pianokrąg” (“Pianorizon”) at the Królikarnia in Warsaw, presenting sophisticated works by artists on the border between classical music (Glass, Cage, Adams, Sakamoto, Mykietyn) and alternative music, as well as his own compositions. At the end of 2022, he released his first solo album – “Daydreamer” – featuring his own arrangements of Radiohead’s songs.