Helena Ha-Young Sul
Jury August 21-22 &
Chamber music concert 21 August
The Swedish-born concert pianist Helena Ha-Young Sul has her roots in Korea and Japan. A dedicated and established concert pianist and educator / mentor. Helena Ha-Young Sul is regularly invited as a jury member and teacher in master courses and piano competitions nationally and internationally. Her passion for arranging events and activities for young musicians has been established events such as the Gothenburg Piano Festival in Sweden.
As an arranger, she invites musicians from all over the world.
Her first official performance, at the age of 7, where won the 1st prize at the Steinway International Piano Competition in Hamburg, Germany. She then won a gold medal in Berlingske Tidende in Denmark, and prizes in the Ettlingen International Piano Competition, Germany and Ljunggrenska Music Competition, Kil's piano competitions in Sweden and the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm.
At the age of 14, Helena Ha-Young entered the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her first teacher was her mother, Inga Törnblom and Marianne Jacobs. Other teachers were Tom Ernst, prof. José Ribera (solo piano), Amalie Malling, Anne Öland (chamber music). She graduated in 1998 with the highest grades in solo piano and chamber music. In 1998, she graduated with a master's degree (Postgraduate Performance Course) and studied for 2 years at the ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC LONDON, England.
Her teacher was prof. Christopher Elton.
1999-2000 Piano Teaching Program with Vanessa Latarche.
In 2000 she continued at the CONSERVATOIRE DE MUSIQUE DE GENÈVE, Switzerland in Classe de Virtuosité and studied for 3 years with prof. Dominique Merlet and contemporary music with Jean-Jacques Balet. She graduated with the highest grade Diplome de Soloiste.
Helena has over 30 years of experience as a solo pianist and chamber musician.
Since 2010, she is the founder and artistic director of the Gothenburg Piano Festival in Sweden.
The Stenhammar Quartet
Chamber music concert 21 August
Since its inception in 2002, the Stenhammar Quartet has established itself as one of Scandinavia's foremost string quartets. Wilhelm Stenhammar's works as well as other Swedish music are of course central to the ensemble's repertoire, but great focus is also on Viennese classicism and contemporary music. The quartet continuously orders works by Swedish composers, including Sven-David Sandström and Per Mårtensson, but has also dedicated and premiered works written by composers from the USA, Great Britain, Finland and Norway.
Stenhammar Quartet has made recordings of about 40 works for Swedish Radio P2, and in 2011 participated in a concert series recorded by Swedish Radio with all of Stenhammar's chamber music.
Previous recordings with the quartet have been praised by critics in both the Swedish and international press - on the respected British music site MusicWeb-International, their playing was described as characterized by 'an obvious authority and appealing bravura'.
Stenhammar Quartet has been the subject of a portrait of the French music channel Mezzo, and in 2009 was awarded Carin Malmlöf-Forssling's interpret prize by Kgl. Academy of Music. That same year, the quartet made their London debut, leading to a re-invitation. The Stenhammar Quartet has participated in festivals and toured Germany, England, Poland, Denmark, Finland, India and Algeria.
SQ has also appeared on Swedish TV (Polarpriset, Melodifestivalen).
On CD, the quartet is represented with recordings of Lars-Erik Larsson's string quartets (Daphne), W. Stenhammar's all quartets (Bis), Atterberg / Rangström (cpo) and works by Hillborg, Mårtensson, Larsson-Gohte and Pelo (Phono Suecia)
Eliane Reyes
Masterclass 20 August
& Jury August 20-22
Eliane Reyes, the pianist prodigy, started performing very early.
In 1988 she was the prize winner of the Cziffra Foundation (Senlis, France) and the same year she played at the Tibor Varga Festival (Sion, Switzerland) and also with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam under the direction of Sergiu Comissiona.
She was first educated by her mother and then continued her studies at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, followed by the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden's class. Eliane went on to the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, to the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Hans Leygraf, the Lemmensinstituut with Alan Weiss and then to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris under the direction of Michel Beroff, Brigitte Engerer, Hans Leygraf and Jacques Rouvier. After graduating, she was appointed professor of complementary piano at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris.
In the spectrum of international competitions, Eliane has won countless prizes, including 1st prize in Ettlingen, Germany and 1st prize at the Cervantes International Piano Competition in Cuba. Finalist at the Montreal International Musical Competition, Clara Schumann International Piano Competition in Düsseldorf, where she was equally awarded for chamber music and at the Maria Canals International Music Competition, just to name a few. Eliane Reyes pursues a career as a recitalist, soloist and chamber musician to the international press and the unanimous praise of the audience.
Through her many performances, she has received absolute support from Rheinold Blüthner, Nany Philippart, Spes, Solti and Vocatio Foundations. Among artists such as Martha Argerich or Vladimir Ashkenazy, Eliane has had the opportunity to invite recitals and to play with Augustin Dumay, Ivry Gitlis, Misha Maisky and José van Dam.
Her discography consists of works by Nicolas Bacri, F. Chopin, C. Debussy, Benjamin Godard, F. Liszt, Michel Lysight, D. Milhaud, M. Ravel, A. Tansman, as a result of which she received many awards such as " Pianiste Maestro ”by the French magazine Pianiste,“ Ring ”by Classic Info,“ Joker ”by Crescendo Magazine and a“ Supersonic ”award from Pizzicat and especially from ResMusica, where she was awarded“ La Clef d’or ”for her solo recording of 24 Intermezzi by A. Tansman. Eliane Reyes was nominated three times for the "International Classical Music Awards".
Eliane Reyes is currently Professor of Piano at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.
Patrick Jovell
Master class August 20
& Jury August 20-22
Patrick Jovell is former chairman of the Swedish Piano Educators' Association and also an Honorary Member. Educated in Sweden, the USA and France, he has given concerts as both soloist and chamber musician in fifteen countries and has participated in Swedish Television, Swedish Radio and Italian RAI.
As an educator, he has worked as a senior lecturer and associate professor at the music academies in Gothenburg and Tilburg, Holland. Jovell's students have received prizes at Swedish and international piano competitions. As a lecturer and masterclass holder, he has recently been invited to festivals and other forums in Sweden, Italy, Iceland, Estonia, Russia and the USA.
Jovell regularly participates as a writer and co-editor for the Swedish Piano Bulletin, pianostreet.com and the magazine The World of Piano Competitions.
As an innovator and pianist, Patrick Jovell collaborated with a number of filmmakers in the project "Swedish Piano Films", which led to a nomination by the Swedish Film Institute to compete at the International Film Festival in Venice. He also holds workshops on various topics, from the Russian composer Alexander Skrjabin's color hearing (synesthesia) to today's digitization of music education. Jovell is a former board member of the Swedish Music Council - the National Committee of the International Music Council.
Katrine Gislinge
Jury August 21-22
Katrine Gislinge has played both solo and chamber music concerts throughout Europe and the USA.
For the past three decades, Katrine Gislinge has established herself as one of Scandinavia's leading and most prominent pianists, and with her formidable desire to express herself and exceptional empathy for music, she positions herself as one of the most distinct and interesting artists in Denmark.
Katrine Gislinge's interpretations are characterized by a trembling sensitivity, where every little detail in the music becomes very important but at the same time gathers in a clear and forward-looking stream.
In her hands, in her music, she manages to create the perfect balance between the most delicate and the most direct, and when you listen to her you enter a musical space of "intoxicating sensuality" - as one reviewer described it.
Katrine Gislinge's repertoire extends from Bach to the very latest music, and she manages in a beautiful and fascinating way to add her personal, sensitive playing color and extra dimensions to each of the piano repertoire's style periods.
The pianist Martin Sturfält has established himself as a noted interpreter of both newer and older Swedish music, e.g. through internationally acclaimed recordings of Stenhammar and Wiklund on Hyperion Records. He is a frequent guest as a soloist with both Swedish and foreign symphony orchestras and concert halls and is also a dedicated chamber musician.
Martin was born in Katrineholm in 1979 and started playing the piano at the age of four. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. His main teachers were Esther Bodin-Karpe, Stefan Bojsten, Paul Roberts and Ronan O'Hora.
Ever since the age of 11, Martin has been active as a concert pianist, and his performances have taken him around Scandinavia, the rest of Europe, the USA and Asia. As a soloist, he has collaborated with prominent conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Sir Mark Elder, Andrew Manze, Thomas Dausgaard, Vasily Sinaisky and Alexander Vedernikov with orchestras such as NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, Halléorkestern in Manchester and most other English orchestras and with all Swedish symphony orchestras, including The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has given solo and chamber music concerts at e.g. Nybrokajen 11 and the Concert Hall in Stockholm, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Purcell Room in London, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.
Martin's first competition success was in 1999 when he received first prize in the Swedish Yamaha competition. In the following years he won first prizes in e.g. the English Yamaha competition in 2002, the Nordic "Blüthner competition" in Malmö in 2002, the John Ogdon Prize in London in 2004 and the Terence Judd Award in Manchester in 2005.
After almost a decade in London, Martin moved back to Sweden in 2010, where he now lives in the Sörmland countryside, where in his spare time he, among other things, engaged in beekeeping and apple growing.
Martin Sturfält's recording is the most significant tribute to Stenhammar's absolute understanding of the piano's voice. Subtle, agile and beautifully shaded ”
The Independent on Sunday
“… Real technical brilliance, which Sturfält has in abundance. […] A masterly performance. ”
Manchester Evening News
"Martin Sturfält is a master of complex late romantic piano music and plays with impressive brilliance, power and clarity"
Aftonbladet
Inger Sandin
Jury August 21-22
Inger Sandin has previously been active as an opera singer but has now been an artist mediator, agent and concert producer for many years.
On an assignment basis, she has in the last decade presented many of Sweden's greatest musical talents at major events, often in the presence of royalty.
Inger operates the platform / agency Eccoli Agency Sweden.
