Angela Cheng is recognized for her brilliant technique, tonal beauty, and superb musicianship, earning her recognition as one of her country’s national treasures. She has performed with major symphonies including the Saint Louis, Houston, and Indianapolis as well as philharmonic orchestras in Buffalo, Louisiana, London, Israel and Minas Gerais in Brazil. Recent performances include her debut with the Fort Worth Symphony under Robert Spano, and a return to the Vancouver Symphony. In next season, there will be performances with renowned orchestras such as Boulder Philharmonic, Newfoundland, Okanagan Symphony and more. Also, she has performed at Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall, and as a member of the Zukerman Trio, at prominent venues such as the Musikverein in Vienna, the Sydney Opera House and more. Her festival appearances include Banff, Chautauqua, Colorado, Verbier, Edinburgh, Miyazaki and more. She also appears regularly on recital series throughout United States and Canada, collaborating with the Takács, Colorado, and Vogler quartets. She is a frequent masterclass instructor in North America and Asia at institutions like the Royal Conservatory of Music, Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts and more. She has served on the jury for prestigious competitions, including the Cleveland, Esther Honens, and Montreal International Piano Competitions, among others. Also a former Gold Medalist of the Arthur Rubinstein and Montreal International Piano Competition. A native of Hong Kong, Ms. Cheng studied extensively with Menahem Pressler at Indiana University and with Sascha Gorodnitzki at The Juilliard School. She is currently on the artist faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she was honored with the 2011-12 Excellence in Teaching Award.

Markus Groh gained international acclaim after winning first prize at the 1995 Queen Elisabeth Competition as a first German. Known for his unique sound and impressive technique, he has earned a place among the world’s finest pianists. In 2019, Sony Classical released its first recording featuring Markus Groh performing Danny Elfman’s piano quartet with Berlin Philharmonic members, adding to his award-winning solo recordings recognized by Gramophone and Fonoforum. He has performed with more than 140 orchestras worldwide, including the Cleveland, New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra. In Europe, he has appeared with the London Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and top German orchestras, under conductors like Iván Fischer and Fabio Luisi. As captivating recitalist, he has appeared in major venues over the world such as London, Milan, New York, Paris, Tokyo, and Vienna. He is also the founder and director of the Bebersee Festival Berlin. It is noted for the innovative programs and multimedia elements, celebrated for over 20 years and regularly broadcast on German national radio. In 2010, he toured Germany by horse-drawn carriage, performing on a replica of the 1836 Steinway No.1 “Kitchen Piano.” Documented by filmmaker Ralf Pleger, this tour highlighted contrasts between the 19th and 21s tcenturies and raised awareness of environmental issues. Markus Groh was a student of Konrad Richter and Hans Leygraf. He attended masterclasses of Dmitri Bashkirov and Leon Fleisher to name a few. Currently, he is a Professor of Piano at the University of the Arts in Berlin, his students have won numerous awards and recorded on major labels such as Naxos and Sony Classical.

Thierry Huillet is a distinguished composer, conductor, and pianist whose work spans a wide array of compositions and performances. His compositions include around 120 works, commissioned by major institutions and festivals such as Radio-France, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Abbaye de Sylvanès and more. His pieces performed by prominent orchestras worldwide, including the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre National de Lille, and National Chamber Orchestra Washington D.C. His works have been featured in major festivals and venues globally, including NCPA Beijing, Seoul Arts Center, and Auditori Barcelona. Also, he is regularly invited as a conductor by the Korean Chamber Orchestra, Pori Sinfonietta Finlanda, and Accademia Santa Cecilia, conducting in renowned venues and festivals including Seoul Arts Center, Halle aux Grains de Toulouse, and Pirineos Classic Spain. As a pianist, he won First Prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition(1987) and gained recognition in other competitions, including the Busoni and Tokyo International Piano Competitions. He has performed as a soloist with notable orchestras, including the Cleveland, RAI, and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. He studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris with Pierre Sancan and Germaine Mounier, attending masterclasses with Paul Badura-Skoda and Germaine Mounier. He is currently a Senior Professor at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Toulouse, France, and frequently gives  masterclasses and conferences around the world.

In 2009, Sofya Gulyak became the first woman to win the 1st Prize and Princess Mary Gold Medal at the Leeds International Piano Competition. Celebrated for her precision, delicacy, and expressive power, she has performed with major orchestras worldwide, including the London Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, collaborating with esteemed conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sakari Oramo and Mark Elder. Her recitals and concert appearances have been numerous at prestigious venues such as La Scala and Sala Verdi, Wigmore Hall, Kennedy Center and Walt Disney Hall. She has also graced festivals including Klavier Ruhr, Chopin Festival in Duszniki-Zdroj, Festival de Sceaux and Busoni Festival. Her recordings on Champs Hill Records and Piano Classics labels have received high praise from Diapason, Gramophone, Guardian, and American Record Guide, with her performances hailed as powerful and vividly expressive. In addition to solo work, she has collaborated with Wihan, Chilingirian, Arianna quartets and with renowned soloists. Also, her playing has been broadcast on globally in France, Germany and United States to name a few. She is a native of Kazan(Russia) where she studied in Kazan State Conservatoire under Professor Elfiya Burnasheva. Continuously studied at Royal College of Music in London with Vanessa Latarche. She attended as a jury member of the international piano competitions across Europe, Asia, and the Americas and has given master classes worldwide. For over a decade, she has been a professor of piano at the Royal College of Music in London and was appointed as an associate professor at Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University in 2023.

Recognized as one of the top Chopin interpreters of our time, Kevin Kenner was the top prize winner in the 1990 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, as well as top prizes in the Tchaikovsky Competition and the Terrance Judd Competition, among others. Born in California, Kenner was introduced early to the classical music traditions of Poland and studied as a teenager with Poland’s eminent professor Ludwik Stefański in Cracow. When he returned to the U.S. he continued his studies with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and worked with Leonard Bernstein at the Tanglewood Music Center. Following a concert tour with conductor Stanisław Skrowaczewski, who frequently performed and recorded with Artur Rubinstein, described his collaborations with Kenner to be the most sensitive and beautiful he remembered. He has performed and recorded with violinist Kyung-Wha Chung and concertized with the Tokyo, Escher, Belcea, Mosaiques, Apollon Musagete, Endellion and Vogler Quartets. In addition, he has frequently been invited to appear at the Verbier Festival and Warsaw’s “Chopin and His Europe” Festival. A distinguished recording artist, Kenner’s interpretations of works by Paderewski and Chopin were each picked as recordings of the month by Grammophone magazine. Other recordings were heralded by Diapason, Fanfare and Polish National Radio. After teaching for more than a decade as professor at London’s Royal College of Music, Kenner accepted a post at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, where he continues to prepare many young talented pianists for international performance careers. He has served as juror at the Busoni Competition in Bolzano and at the Chopin International Competition in Warsaw among many others.

Aleksandar Madžar was born in Belgrade in 1968. He started playing the piano with Gordana Malinovic at the age of six, and later studied with Arbo Valdma, Elisso Virsaladze and Daniel Blumenthal in Novi Sad, Belgrade, Moscow and Brussels. He won prizes at the Geneva, Leeds, Ferrucio Busoni and Umberto Micheli International Piano competitions, and gave his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic and Iván Fischer in 1990. Since then he has performed regularly throughout Europe, enjoying a rich and varied career giving solo and chamber music recitals, as well as performing concertos with conductors André Previn, Marcello Viotti, Paavo Järvi and Andris Nelsons. He also occasionally tours to North and South America, South Africa, the Far East and Australia. Aleksandar Madžar is a frequent guest of Wigmore Hall, the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, the Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels and Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and his regular chamber music partners include the Takács Quartet, Anthony Marwood, Vilde Frang and the soprano Juliane Banse. He teaches at the Royal Flemish Conservatoire in Brussels and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg.

Roberto Plano is an Italian pianist who performs regularly across North America and Europe in venues such as Lincoln Center, Sala Verdi, and Wigmore Hall. He has performed with global orchestras under the direction of conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner and Pinchas Zuckerman and performed at renowned festivals including Newport, Gilmore, Chopin and Bologna. Including 1st Prizes in Italian National Competitions, he also won 1st prize at the 2001 Cleveland International Piano Competition and other awards at major competitions such as Honens, Dublin, Sendai, and Van Cliburn. In 2018, he also won the American Prize in the solo professional division. As a favorite guest on NPR’s Performance Today, he has recorded over 20 CDs with several receiving five-star reviews. Recent events include soloist appearances with Kremerata Baltica at Portogruaro International Festival and 10 concert chamber music tour in China with Juilliard faculty Laurie Smukler and Darrett Adkins. He studied piano at Verdi Conservatory Milan, Ecole Normale “Cortot” Paris(earning 1st prize), and the Lake Como Academy. Known as the “Pavarotti of the Piano” for his lyrucism, he has been acclaimed as an heir to Rubinstein and Horowitz. Appointed Associate Prof. of Piano at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music in 2018. In 2023, he became Prof. of Piano at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana and Visiting Prof. at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He is frequently invited in international juries and planning to join the 2025 Van
Cliburn Competition Screening Jury.

Pianist Minsoo Sohn is known for his musical intelligence and masterful virtuosity. Described by the New York Times as “a genuine artist, with a thoughtful and poetic interpretation”. Sohn has toured extensively throughout North and South America, Europe, Israel, and Korea, appearing in important venues and festivals. Sohn is particularly noted for his interpretation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and the New York Times praised his Honens label recording of the work as a “beautifully articulated, radiant interpretation,” placing it as one of the top classical recordings of 2011. His recordings also received critical acclaim from New Yorker Magazine, Plain Dealer, Gramophone, Calgary Herald, and Toronto Star among others. In 2020, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, Mr. Sohn concluded his four-year immersion in the composer’s music, which included a concert series, recordings, and writings. Over the course of his Beethoven project, Mr. Sohn performed and recorded the composer’s thirty-two sonatas in a series of recitals at Seoul Arts Center and recording sessions at Tongyeong Concert Hall. Sony Classical released the highly anticipated nine-album set of “Complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas” in the Fall of 2020. He held positions at Michigan State University and Korean National University of Arts before joining his alma mater, New England Conservatory, in the Fall of 2023. He is indebted to Russell Sherman and Whakyung Byun for guiding him to follow his bliss.

Danwen Wei, a outstanding pianist from People’s Republic of China, is celebrated for his commanding technique and artistic temperament. He has performed as a soloist with renowned orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota, Seattle Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and New York Chamber Symphony Orchestra. His performance with the New York Philharmonic was broadcast on PBS’ Live from Lincoln Center. A Steinway Artist, he has toured extensively across the United States, Europe, and Asia and has been featured at prestigious festivals such as the Ravinia Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, Beijing Music Festival, and Tuscan Sun Festival. His two solo albums were released on the 3D Classic label, and a concerto performance was released by China Record Company. Recently, Mr. Wei is expanding into the area of conducting as well. He has conducted leading orchestras such as Soloisti di Perugia, Budapest Youth Symphony, The Oshdot Symphony of Israel and the Master’ s Chamber Orchestra of the Central Conservatory of China. Since 2013, he has been the principal conductor of Music Fest Perugia in Italy. A graduate of the Juilliard School and one of the last pupils of Vladimir Horowitz, Mr. Wei is now a sought-after teacher and adjudicator in both national and international piano competitions. He regularly gives lectures and master classes worldwide. His students have achieved top prizes in many competitions, and he is faculty member of festivals including Music Fest Perugia and Beijing Music Festival and Academy. Currently, he is on the faculty of the Central Conservatory of China in Beijing, and became chairman of piano department in 2019.