Jury – Chamber ensembles

Soloist, chamber musician, leader/concertmaster, teacher. Guest professor of the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz. The artist has won numerous prizes at music competitions, as a soloist and member of different chamber music setups. He graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, where he studied with Krzysztof Jakowicz. He perfected his skills at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Hochschule für Musik Detmold and Indiana University Bloomington School of Music.  

Paweł Zalejski is the principal violin of the Apollon Musagète Quartet, considered to be one of the best string quartets in the world. The ensemble’s career started with winning the First Prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in 2008. In the subsequent years, the quartet received the ECHO ‘Rising Stars’ award having been nominated by Konzerthaus and Musikverein from Vienna (2010), the title of the New Generation Artist (2012-2014) awarded by the BBC, as well as the Borletti-Buitoni Trust award in 2014. In Poland, the ensemble received the ‘Paszport Polityki’ award in 2013 for „the consistent and effective building of a strong position in the European music life and including Polish music in the repertoire”.  

The Apollon Musagète Quartet has recorded for such record labels as Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, Oehms and Dux, including albums with Polish music – works by Andrzej Panufnik, Witold Lutosławski, Karol Szymanowski and Roman Palester. The musicians have performed at the biggest and most renowned concert halls in Europe and on other continents 

Soloist, chamber musician, jury member at national and international flute competitions, masterclass instructor. He completed solo studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, and master studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris and at Yale University in New Haven. 

Długosz has recorded fifty-eight albums with, mostly, Polish music, which received prestigious music industry awards, including (twice) the International Classical Music Award (ICMA), the Pizzicato Supersonic Award and (three times) the Fryderyk Award. In 2010, the artist made his recording debut with the London Symphony Orchestra, with whom he performed Michael Colin’s flute concerto. The artist has made a number of archival, radio and television recordings in Poland and abroad.  

He is one of those eminent artists who combine the top level musicianship with unusual activities focused on promoting Polish music around the world. More than 200 compositions have been dedicated to him or his wife Agata Kielar-Długosz. Długosz has performed alongside numerous reputable orchestras. As a soloist, he has appeared at such venues as Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Gasteig Carl Orff Saal and Herkulessaal in Munich under such conductors as Zubin Mehta, James Levine, Mariss Jansons, Jerzy Maksymiuk and Jacek Kasprzyk. He has been repeatedly invited to perform the Flute Concerto by Krzysztof Penderecki under the baton of the composer himself. He made the premiere performance of Concertino by Paweł Klecki, a work rediscovered after eighty years of oblivion, with Sinfonia Varsovia conducted by Jerzy Maksymiuk (2018/2017).  

Łukasz Długosz has won a dozen or so international competitions, and he has received numerous honourable mentions and other awards. The Executive Board of the Association of Polish Music Artists (Stowarzyszenie Polskich Artystów Muzyków) awarded him the Orfeusz 2016 for his outstanding artistic accomplishments in the field of flute music, including works written by Polish composers. He received the Polish Composers’ Union Honorary Award from the Board of Directors of the Polish Composers’ Union in recognition of his promotion of Polish music. The Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage awarded him the silver medal ‘For Merit to Culture Gloria Artis’. In recognition of his artistic activities and promotion of Polish culture, Łukasz Długosz has received the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta directly from the President of the Republic of Poland. He became professor of arts in 2019. 

Soloist, chamber musician, teacher. He teaches at cello master classes around the world. Born in Warsaw into a family of musicians. When he was three years old, he and his family moved to Finland. He studied at the Sibelius-Akademia with Csaba Szilvay, Victoria Yagling, Kazimierz Michalik, Marko Ylönen and Heikki Rautasalo. Between 1995 and 1998, he studied at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. He continued his education with Philippe Muller at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris and – as a holder of the DAAD scholarship – with Natalia Gutman at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart. 

Gebert has performed both as a soloist and a chamber player at a number of prestigious festivals, such as the Kuhmon Kamarimusiikki, Oleg-Kagan-Musikfest, Festival de Deauville, Ravinia Festival, Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus, West Cork Music and Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw. His artistic standing has been shaped, in particular, by meeting and cooperating with contemporary composers, such as Mauricio Kagel, Salvatore Sciarrino, Friedrich Cerha, Krzysztof Meyer, Krzysztof Penderecki, Albert Schneltzer and Kurt Schwertsik. In 2005-2012, he was a member of the Altenberg Trio Vienna. The ensemble’s repertoire comprised more than 200 compositions, a large part of which were commissioned by the ensemble or inspired by their playing. As part of the Altenberg Trio, Aleksander Gebert taught at the Konservatorium Wien Privatuniversität, Accademia di Musica di Pinerolo and Accademia Pianistica ‘Incontri col Maestro’ in Imola, Italy. 

Between the years 2015 and 2021, Aleksander Gebert was pro-vice-chancellor of the Hochschule für Musik Detmold (Germany), where he has also been professor since 2010. In the academic year 2011/2012, he was visiting professor at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. He regularly offers master classes in such countries as Finland, Poland, Russia, the Netherlands, Italy, Albania, Denmark, Mexico, New Zealand, Korea, Hong Kong and the United States.  

The artist has won numerous prestigious cello competitions. He was awarded First Prize at the Valentino Bucchi Competition in Rome in 2000, Third Prize at the Antonio Janigro Competition in Zagreb in 2000, Second Prize and Audience Award at the Geneva International Music Competition, where he played alongside the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Heinrich Schiff (2000), and Second Prize at the Witold Lutosławski International Cello Competition in Warsaw in 1997. 

Soloist, chamber musician and teacher. Professor of the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hanover. She studied at the Academy of Music in Katowice, the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1992, she won the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in the category of cello and piano duo playing with Andrzej Bauer. Ever since that time, she has performed worldwide taking part in the most prestigious festivals.  

The artist’s career has been especially influenced by her cooperation with and mentoring by the eminent conductor Stanisław Skrowaczewski, with whom she performed throughout the world. Their joint collaboration resulted in a music album with Fryderyk Chopin’s piano concertos released by Oehms Klassik in 2003. The artists have also made live recordings for ABC Australia in Tasmania and Sydney. One of Ewa Kupiec’s foremost accomplishments has been the performance of the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Alfred Schnittke with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Konzerthaus in Berlin in 2005. The work’s first performance since 1964, it was recorded and released by the Phoenix record label in 2008, along with other works for piano and orchestra by the same composer. Contemporary composers dedicate their works to Ewa Kupiec. The pianist was the dedicatee and performer of compositions written by Randall Meyers and Antonio Bibalo; they were later released on an album titled Conception (2005).  

The rich discography of the artist comprises 38 CDs with works written by such composers as Fryderyk Chopin, Franz Schubert, Philipp Scharwenka, Antonín Dvořak and George Enescu. Her performance of Andrzej Panufnik’s piano concerto, included on the Complete Works project released by CPO, was given the ICMA’s ‘Special Achievement Award’ in 2015. She also recorded the piano quintet by Grażyna Bacewicz in an arrangement for piano and string orchestra for Naxos in 2015. The CD received the Fryderyk awarded by the Polish music community for the best achievements in the Polish music industry. She also received the Echo Klassik (currently Opus Klassik) award for her recording of works by Karol Szymanowski and Witold Lutosławski for the label Koch Schwann (1999).  

Ewa Kupiec conducts master classes throughout Europe and she is invited to adjudicate at the biggest and most prestigious piano competitions in the world, such as the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, the International Beethoven Competition held in Bonn, the International Piano Competition Maj Lind in Helsinki and the International Piano Competition in Sydney. 

Chamber musician, soloist, conductor and teacher. He is a professor for chamber music and Vice Rector for International Affairs and Art at the mdw – Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. He first studied violin and composition at the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität in Linz, and then continued his violin studies at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna with Wolfgang Schneiderhan and Gerhart Hetzel. 

He is director of the ISA – Internationale Sommerakademie (International Summer Academy of the mdw) and artistic director of ECMA, the European Chamber Music Academy, which supports development of young chamber music ensembles. Johannes Meissl gives master classes at numerous renowned music academies worldwide, and he was a guest professor at the Conservatory of Music in Shanghai for several years. Many of his students have won awards in international competitions. Recent years have also seen him achieve success as a conductor. 

Since 1982, he has been a member of the Artis Quartet, with which he has won numerous prizes at international competitions. The quartet has appeared at the largest concert halls of Europe and America, and it has recorded more than 40 music albums. Many of these recordings received prestigious music industry awards, such as the Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d’Or, Deutscher Schallplattenpreis and Echo Klassik. For more than 35 years, the Wiener Musikverein has presented the annual Artis Quartet series as part of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde’s official invitation. 

Chamber musician, teacher, chair of Piano and String Chamber Music at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. He graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music, where he studied piano with Bronisława Kawalla and piano chamber music with Jerzy Marchwiński. Morawski has received multiple awards from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland and the Vice-Chancellor of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.  

He won the second prize at the Krzysztof Penderecki International Competition of Contemporary Chamber Music in Kraków in 1999. He has been a multiple prize winner as the best pianist at the Polish vocal competitions, received the award of the Mayor of Warsaw Lech Kaczyński (in 2003) and a Fryderyk award (together with violinist Sławomir Tomasik) for the best performance of the complete music for violin and piano by Karol Szymanowski (in 2011), an honour granted by the Polish music community for the most notable accomplishment on the Polish music market.  

Robert Morawski has performed in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, France, China, Canada and the United States of America. He has appeared at such festivals as the International Contemporary Music Festival ‘Warsaw Autumn’ (‘Warszawska Jesień’), the International Festival ‘Contemporary Music Laboratory’ (‘Laboratorium Muzyki Współczesnej’), the ‘Music in Old Kraków’ Festival (‘Muzyka w Starym Krakowie’), the Ada Sari Vocal Art Days (Dni Sztuki Wokalnej im. Ady Sari), the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Music Festival in Łańcut and the National Festival ‘The Stars Promote’ (‘Gwiazdy Promują’) in Jelenia Góra. 

Polish-Ukrainian conductor and teacher, lecturer at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, artistic director of the Symphony Orchestra of the Silesian Philharmonic and assistant director of music at the Baltic Opera (Opera Bałtycka) in Gdańsk. He graduated from the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, where he studied symphony orchestra conducting with Prof. Warcisław Kunc. He also studied under the care of Johanes Wildner at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. He set up his first orchestra when he was only 13, thus also making his conducting debut. 

Yaroslav Shemet has appeared in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, China, Poland and Ukraine conducting the musicians of the Neue Philharmonie Hamburg, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonie der Nationen, INSO-Lviv Orchestra, NFM Wrocław Philharmonic Orchestra, Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra, Sudecka Philharmonic Orchestra and Opole Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also conducted at the festivals held in Bayreuth, Munich and Hong Kong. The artist has worked with some renowned and outstanding soloists, such as Lars Danielsson and Francesca Dego. He specialises in contemporary music, having conducted more than sixty world premiere performances. 

As a music director, Shemet made his debut at Opera Bałtycka in Gdańsk in 2018 with the opera Les pêcheurs de perles by Georges Bizet. He has been a guest conductor of the National Operas of Lviv and Odesa. During the 2020/2021 season, he was principal conductor of the INSO-Lviv Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra in Lviv, principal conductor of the Coloratura Opera Lab and Coloratura Opera Fest, and principal guest conductor of the Neue Philharmonie Hamburg. Since 2021, he has been employed at Opera Śląska (Silesian Opera), where, as music director, he conducted Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Rondine and a revival of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera La Finta Giardiniera.  

In 2019-2018, he was conductor and associate artistic director of Oksana Lyniv’s Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. 

Chamber musician, professor, and deputy director of the Department of Music at the Zurich University of the Arts in Switzerland. Born in Pretoria in South Africa, he completed, with distinction, cello studies at the University of Pretoria and at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, Germany. He continued his education at the Hochschule Musik und Theater Zürich (now ZHdK), from which he obtained his soloist’s diploma in 2003. In 1995, the artist won two prestigious competitions held in his native country – the Sasol Music Prize and the JCI-JIM-Joel Competition. His teachers have included Thomas Grossenbacher, Johannes Goritzki, Gerard van de Geest and Marian Lewin. His current artistic standing has also been influenced by encounters with such maestros as Heidi Litschauer, Maria Kliegel and Boris Pergamenschikow. 

Cobus Swanepoel is an accomplished chamber musician, who has appeared in formations ranging from conventional piano trios and string quartets to cross-over groups and contemporary music ensembles. He has been a regular member of the Pianova piano quartet since 2009, and he has appeared as principal cello with Swiss, German and Austrian orchestras, such as the Zürcher Kammerorchester, Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, Münchener Kammerorchester and Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg. This rich experience he has acquired is complemented by his regular solo performances alongside a number of orchestras with works by such composers as Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Antonín Dvořák, Edward Elgar, Jean Françaix, Joseph Haydn, Witold Lutosławski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Camille Saint-Saëns, Franz Schubert, Dmitri Shostakovich and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  

Pianist, teacher, member of the jury at international competitions. He studied piano with Olga Iliwicka-Dąbrowska at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, from which he graduated with distinction in 1968. He perfected his piano skills with Vlado Perlemuter in Paris. Andrzej Tatarski leads a busy artistic life as a soloist and chamber musician. 

He has performed in a few dozen countries of Europe, America and Asia. He has taken part in such renowned music festivals as Warsaw Autumn, Kraków International Festival of Composers, Karol Szymanowski Music Days in Zakopane, Polish Piano Festival in Słupsk and International Chopin Festival in Duszniki-Zdrój. He regularly appears with recitals at the Chopin centres in Poland, such as Żelazowa Wola, Łazienki, Szafarnia, Sanniki and Antonin. 

The artist has made numerous world premiere recordings of music written by contemporary Polish composers and he actively promotes the repertoire which has fallen into oblivion. For the Selene record label, he has recorded such compositions as piano works written by Henryk Wieniawski, Józef Wieniawski, Raul Koczalski and Ignacy Friedman; and for the Dux label: Harnasie by Szymanowski in a version for two pianos and chamber works by Apolinary Szeluto as world premiere recordings. Tatarski is also passionate about the French music repertoire exemplified by Olivier Messiaen’s oeuvre: he is the first Polish pianist to have performed the series of Petites esquisses d’oiseaux and Catalogue d’oiseaux, and individual compositions, such as Déchiffrage II and Les offrandes oubliées. The pianist’s repertoire includes 28 pieces for piano and orchestra, which he has presented beside such eminent conductors as Andrey Boreyko, Mirosław Błaszczyk, Tomasz Bugaj, Agnieszka Duczmal, Jerzy Katlewicz, Grzegorz Nowak, Marek Pijarowski and Paweł Przytocki. 

As a chamber musician, he has made a number of recordings with leading Polish artists, including Bartosz Bryła, Joanna Domańska, Michał Grabarczyk, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, Joanna Kozłowska, Bartłomiej Nizioł, Piotr Pławner and Andrzej Wróbel. Tatarski regularly sits on the juries of national and international piano and chamber music competitions and he is frequently invited to conduct master classes in Poland and abroad, e.g. in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States. 

He worked as a teacher, between 1968 and 2018, at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań. He became full professor in 1989. He has been awarded the Gold Medal ‘For Merits to Culture Gloria Artis’.