My name is Savanna Chen. I was born in United States in 2017. I started learning the flute since April 2022 with my teacher Ya-Jung Chuang from Taiwan and I absolutely love it ever since.
This is the first competition that I have entered and I am thrilled that I got the Gold Star Award. This means a lot to me as I have always loved music and enjoying playing music for my family and friends. Apart from flute, I also play other instruments such as piano and french horn.
This year, I have entered the competition with my favorite song “twinkle twinkle little star”. I have been practicing 4-5 hours a week with different tempo and accompaniment along with 2 online flute lessons with my teacher.
My flute teacher Ya-Jung Chuang. We have 1 on 1 online classes twice a week. She was very patient and provided lots of encouragement throughout my journey, she helped me developed a strong interest in music. has always been very patient and provided lots of encouragement throughout my journey. She has inspired me, helped me developed a strong interest in music and helped build my confidence.
My dream would be to bring people joy through music in the future.”
Wakana, a native of Japan, began playing the French horn at the age of 13. Her passion for orchestral music and the thrill of performing solos have been her driving forces. She was awarded the gold prize at the Music & Stars Awards in December 2022 and received an honorable mention at the 15th K amateur music competition in Japan.
As a French horn player, Wakana is drawn to pieces that prominently feature the instrument. Her ultimate goal is to play the 3rd movement of Mahler Symphony No. 5 as a principal horn. While juggling her studies as a business student, she dedicates a minimum of four hours per week to practicing. She places equal emphasis on solo pieces and honing her fundamental skills, recognizing the French horn as one of the most challenging instruments to play worldwide (as per Guinness World Record).
Wakana’s musical education is enriched by her mentor, Tom Findlay, a student of the Royal College of Music, whose expressive style she admires greatly. Although she had initially aspired to become a professional horn player, family circumstances led her to abandon that dream. Nonetheless, her unrelenting passion for music motivates her to seek involvement in the field indefinitely.
“My Name is Lucia Boeck, I am from Austria and I study classical saxophone concert stu dies and pedagogical studies in master program under the direction of Christian Maurer at University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. I have a YouTube channel Just4Sax that combines different genres of saxophone music (classical music, contem porary music, jazz and crossover) with animated and self-filmed videos that I love to edit. I also compose music for saxophone and I am self-trained in Video editing.
I love classical music, contemporary music, Austrian folk music, jazz, and pop music.
I study under the direction of Christian Maurer. My saxophone professor plays classical and jazz music and he is a role model in different styles he taught us to play different genres on the saxophone.
I would like to make music with my saxophone in combination with editing music videos for bands, TV, orchestra projects, and so on.
If I had to choose a humanitarian project to sustain, I would choose a project to help poor animals.”
“My name is Aidan Lu and I am 10 years old. I was born in Canada. I started playing the piano at the age of 5 and currently a student of Dan Morin. I have performed at local recitals since young age. Over the past years, I have participated in several national and international competitions, and I was honoured to be awarded First Place and Second Place.
I love music from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras and my favourite composers are Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin. Recently, I love listening to Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor.
I practice piano for 1 to 2 hours a day. Since the age of 8, I started to learn one concerto every year. I love playing a piano concerto with the accompanist.
Playing concerto gives me an opportunity to work with different accompanists and learn from them.
Besides piano, I love drawing, reading, snowboarding, and playing basketball with my brother. My dream is to be a pianist when I grow up. “
“Hello to all music lovers. I am Eliseu Silva, I am International solo violinist, Conductor and Professor, Festival Director and PhD in music performance.
As a violin soloist I have played as soloist, with piano and chamber music in many countries such as Australia, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland Japan, Netherlands, Belgium, Romania, Malta, China, Hong Kong, among others. I have recorded for many labels such as Deutsch gramophone, Munich Regroup and different Radios and TVs channels.
I have also been invited as jury of many international competitions such as Talents For Europe International Violin Competition, International Competition Santa Cecília, Alice and Eleonor Schoenfeld international Violin Competition, Hong Kong international Competition.
As a conductor I am the resident conductor of the Bonjoia Youth Orchestra and Antonio Fragoso Orchestra and participated in social projects involving music as a powerful dinamic tool.
As a professor I teach at Porto Catholic University, and I have taught in ESMAE, and gave many amsterclasses in Bratislava, Shangai, Beijing and Shenzen music Universities.”
Eliseu Silva is supported by some brands such as D’Addario strings, Sir violins, and Saroni suits and plays nowadays in a C. Guadagnini violin.
All my professores influenced me tremendously… Max Rabinovitch for the connection to the Auer school and bow technique, through Efrehem Zimbalist teachings… Mikhail Berzverhkny for the genius and sort of sauvage liberty when playing. Phillipe Aiche for the connection to the french delicacy and a specific French elan phrasing. Radu Ungureanu for his connection to romanian high music culture and is relation to Enescu. Gerardo Ribeiro for his connection to galamian teachings and music approach. But I really should mention a professor that for many reasons as well because he died with COVID anonymously and solitary a few days ago, and whom I miss immensely, who was huge artist and a true fighter…Valenton Stefanov who taught me how to sing from the soul through the strings of the violin, a teacher that will remain in my memory for ever.
In this way my philosophy as professor is to be as wide as possible with the students. Thus I try to bring up my students as great musicians but most important, as individuals more resilient, sensitive, ready for life, and more altruistic and human.
As a musician I have had very important moments in my life, such as recording for Deutsch gramophone or playing with great musicians such as Pierre Boulez but also having played for great personalities such as the Japanese emperors or the Spanish Monarchy. But also there where many moments that, for the emotion, made them eternal for me, such as playing a very intimate phrase in Brahms violin concerto 2 movement that left me and some people in public in tears.
Strangely enough my most admirable performers died a long time ago, like Heifetz, Hassid, Goldstein, Seidel or Elman, but lately I have been discovering huge and sort of anonymous artists such as Vasa Psihoda and Grigoras Dinicu.
I believe that music is the most powerful tool for changing the world for better and that artist should strive to deepen their duty and power as social actors. Thus, any social cause is a great cause for using our talent art passion and dedication to improve the world. P ersonally I have an association called AMEP and we work consistently with foster houses, nursing centres, psychiatric hospitals, prisons. However I prefer to work with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, with which results have been measured scientifically and have been proved several times in different ways how powerful music can be in improving lives for better.”
“I developed my career as piano soloist playing in Europe, America and Asia; I had the pleasure to perform in venues like Shanghai Symphony Hall, St. Martin in the Fields, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Sala Verdi and many more. I have recorded for several TV channels, and one of my recordings was among the winners of the Global Musical Awards. Last October 2020 I have been awarded with the Cartagine International Prize, Music Section.
Among the professors who most influenced me, my strongest memory is Sergio Fiorentino: his videos and recordings speak for him. One of the greatest pianists ever, he has been not just the best example as a musician, but as a human being first… how to behave, care for others, help them when possible, recognize people’s talent without any envy, be curious about all fields of knowledge and cultivate many interest, not just music. Last but not least, to be aware that being in the flow is better that make things perfect. I have been lucky enough to enjoy, later, Chamber Music with Pier Narciso Masi: another great musician and great man, and he is also one of my best memories.
Nobody holds the truth: whoever says so is lying, or they did not take enough time to think, it’s a matter of knowledge and honesty. Being a musician is very close to scientific research: every morning you start from the beginning, try some experiments on yourself with the noble purpose to learn music better, even if you have an outstanding, long career behind your back, aware that tomorrow it will be the same research but (hopefully) with different results. What you learn over the years is the ability to see through music, your eyes go over the score and they can see many things and you know how to make them real on the piano: this is what I teach students. This last detail is crucial to me, when I was a student, many times I would have loved to have a teacher telling me how to make it real, how to turn my intentions into real sound, by which gesture, which sensation, which thoughts? It was really hard to find the people who could teach me that. My biggest goal is to be that person for my students.
Among the achievements in my career, I have so many nice memories, but among the highlights I loved the debut at Shanghai Symphony Hall and, many years before, playing at the Parco della Musica and many other places. Some months ago I have been pleasantly surprised for being awarded with the Cartagine International Prize, Music section; surprised because among the past winners there are names so much greater than mine: Kofi Annan, Ennio Morricone… I cannot hope to go that far in my life! But what makes me happy is to see the two fields I like most to work with joined together in that prize: music and personal growth: I strongly believe they should go hand in hand, always. There is no improvement in your music if you don’t work on yourself, constantly.
I don’t listen to music very often, ‘cause I am doing it the whole day, from myself and from students, but when I do it I love to listen to everyone, especially if I don’t know them already but, among the greatest, I am always so curious to see what Martha Argerich does, mostly in orchestra concerts, because very often her ideas are technically and musically so inspiring. And I like very much Beatrice Rana!
If I would have to choose a humanitarian project to sustain, no doubt, I would pick. something regarding women’s education; there are many places in the world where girls are still excluded from a proper education, and poverty is not merely the lack of money, poverty is being isolated from the persons and chances that can help you get where you want. That is is the real problem and we should care more about it.”
Hailed by the Classica Magazine as a “pianist of magnetic presence”, Ingmar Lazar performs in the world’s leading concert halls and festivals, and won critical acclaim for his CD recordings. Prizewinner of international competitions, he is the recipient of the Tabor Foundation Piano Award at the Verbier Festival (2013). Lazar serves as artistic director of the Festival du Bruit qui Pense, and of the Escapades Pianistiques, two international festivals located in France.
“Among the teachers who influenced me the most, there is Valery Sigalevitch who built me up artistically, and Alexis Golovin who developed in me a way of thinking. Other major influences include Dmitri Bashkirov, Malcolm Bilson, Fou Ts’ong, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Roustem Saitkoulov, and Elisso Virsaladze.
Having been taught by different professors, I know that there are so many different ways in approaching music, and that there are always multiple answers to one question. This is something that I always think of when I am teaching myself, as I believe a right solution can be different regarding each student. To be able to stimulate a young musician and open him to all the richness of the world of music is in my opinion one of the greatest achievements one can have.
As I look back, it is always musical accomplishments which left the strongest impact upon me. For example, when at the age of eleven I played for the first time Chopin’s 3 rd Ballade, and one year later Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata and Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”. Recently it was when I was sharing the stage with pianist Jean-Claude Pennetier in a four-hand Schubert programme.
Naturally there are many pianists that I admire. It is difficult to say just a few names, but among them there is Alfred Cortot, Josef Hofmann, Vladimir Horowitz, Josef Lhevinne, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Artur Schnabel.
And if there were three recordings that I would take on a desert island, it would include Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting Beethoven’s Symphonies, Gustav Leonhardt playing Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier… but impossible to make a third choice without regretting a fourth one!”
“I was born in Switzerland in 2009, I started playing the cello at the age of 5 and a half with G. Leclerc, then with Emmanuelle Goffart at the Conservatoire de Lausanne. From the age of 8, I won national and international competitions and had the chance to play for many regional concerts. At the age of 9, I joined the Ministrings group of the Lausanne Conservatory (directed by T. Strinning and B. Batt), which allowed me to develop my skills in stage expression and improvisation and to give concerts in many countries. I love music so much that I also play other instruments for pleasure: oboe, violin, ukulele, guitar, piano etc.
I like a lot of music of different styles, but mainly classical, jazz and traditional (Celtic) music. For example, I like very much Handel’s concerto grosso and the concerto in B for oboe by A. Marcello.
If it’s a normal day, I start my practice with technical exercises (empty strings, scales, arpeggios) and then I work on my pieces. Normally, I work between 2 and 4 hours a day.
I practice my pieces more and more, I start slowly, then faster. When the piece is ready, I thread the pieces like for the concert or the competition. I also practice with accompaniment, to know perfectly my entries and the piano/orchestra part. I also use visualization before going to bed and in the car for example.
Currently, my teacher is Denis Severin at Zakhar Bron Zurich. I wanted to work with him after I met him during the masterclass SOMAK academy in Biel in 2020. It was also on this occasion that I had the chance to play as a soloist with an orchestra for the first time (Budweis, dir. D. Svec)! We got along well right away and I liked his way of working. I feel very privileged to be his student.
I have so many dreams at the moment, that they are always changing! At the moment I would like to work with Rega as an air rescuer.
I couldn’t choose, because I would like to support them all! I especially like the protection of the planet and the animals…”
“We are a Vienna-based ensemble with Polish origins. We all met in Warsaw during our studies and we decided to form an ensemble with the mission to promote unknown Polish chamber music. We have great love and appreciation for Polish music and we have always been very dedicated to the cause of finding and popularizing the music of the less fortunate composers.
During our journey through the Polish history of music, we have found some true piano chamber music gems, which deserve to be presented to a wide, international audience. Our favorite Polish composers include Ludomir Różycki, Artur Malawski, Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński and Franciszek Lessel. They all represent different times and styles, from late classicism until the second half of the XX century. Our research has led us to work as music editors for the EUPHONIUM Publishing House, for which we edited Lessel’s Piano Trio in E major op. 5. The score was published in 2020 as the first ever printed edition of this beautiful piece. We have also recorded three Polish piano trios for the biggest Polish label – DUX Recording Producers – and our performances have been very well reviewed both by critics and the audience.
We believe that bringing newly discovered music to the public is our duty, as we are artists carrying the musical legacy of our country to the next generations. This is the main goal for which we aim through our studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where we study in the class of piano chamber music of professor Avedis Kouyoumdjian. We also work with Sibila Konstantinova and Vida Vujic regularly. What we admire about our university is that it is very international and diverse. Coming from Poland, studying with teachers from Austria, Lebanon, Armenia, Bulgaria, Serbia, and other countries has been a true inspiration for us as young people looking forward to learning from different stories, habits, and experiences of our mentors.
In the past few years, we have succeeded to present rediscovered Polish music to some prestigious concert halls around the world, such as the Polish National Philharmonic Hall and other wonderful concert halls in Lithuania, Italy, Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Our highlight for the 2022/23 season is a concert cycle in Musikverein in Vienna, probably the most recognized hall in the world, where we will perform three concerts, each of them including a Polish piece.
Our biggest musical dream is to travel with our music to all the countries, all the communities, and all the surroundings, to connect traditions of different origins and cultures throughout the world. We are delighted to be able to fulfill that dream already, but our aspirations and ambitions wander way further and we keep working on expanding our project.”
“My name is Emmanouil Makridis and I’m 16 years old. I’m from Greece. I’m studying now at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki, with Prof. Thanos Mitsalas. I have won 9 prizes in classical guitar and music Competitions since last year (when I started participating in competitions).
I like all kinds of music, especially Jazz and Contemporary Music (XX Century) because I feel free and I’m able to express myself easier.
I practice about 4-5 hours per day (sometimes more, depending on the situation). At first, when I’m learning a new piece of music, I practice slowly, so I can think every single note and then when the piece (or the part of the piece) feels secure, I raise the tempo, little by little until I reach the desired speed. After I reach a normal speed (sometimes is not the final tempo, but close to it) I start to consciously interpret the piece. Besides the musical interpretation, I try to “say’’ something deeper, in order to be able to connect with the audience.
When I started playing guitar, my first teacher was Costas Bravakis, who really inspired me, made me love the guitar and connect deeply with music. So, every time I’m thinking about my relationship with Art in general, I always think about him.
I try to participate in every competition possible, to gain experience and put myself out there.
My dream is to be the best and to truly express my “inner self” when on stage, to create that magical connection with other people.”
Award winning experience : – 1st Prize Music and Stars Music Competition – 1st Prize International Music Competition “The Muse” – 1st Prize Orpheus Soloists Music Competition – 1st Prize Palaio Faliro Guitar Festival (cat. Up to 18 years old) – 2nd Prize Palaio Faliro Guitar Festival (cat. No age limit) – 2nd Prize London Music Competition – 2nd Prize Tasos Pappas Music Competition (2021) – 2nd Prize Orpheus Soloists Competition (2021) – 3rd Prize Sofia Guitar Festival (cat. Up to 17 years old)
