Katarzyna Szydlowska - First Prize (Platinum medalist - Artist Category) Katarzyna was born in 1993 in Poland. She started playing the violin at the age of 7. She graduated Soloist Master from Universität der Künste in Berlin in the prof. Latica Honda-Rosenberg violin class. In 2020 she opened PhD process in Music Academy in Wroclaw. She is laureate of more than 30 National and International competitions. inter alia: 2nd Prize Competition Les Musicales du Centre Paris, 1st Prize at the International Ludwig van Beethoven Music Competition in Vienna, 1st Prize at the 5th International Competition of Contemporary Music in Krakow, 1st Prize at the Juliusz Zarebski International Competition in Warsaw, 2nd Prize at IX St. Serwaczynski National Competition for Young Violinists in Poland, 1st Prize at the International G.Tartini Competition in Slovenia and 3rd Prize at the A.Rubinstein International Competition in Germany. She is holder of Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Scholarship, Fundation Sapere Auso Scholarship , Leaonidas Kavakos Festival Scholarship, Foundation Artur Rubinstein Scholarship, D.Barenboim Masterclass Scholarship and many others.From 2018 she is member of Staatskapelle Akademie in Berlin. As a soloist and chamber music player she played at many International Festivals in China, Russia, Germany, Poland, France, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and others. In 2019 with her Piano Quintet she released a CD with pieces of M.Wainberg.
Markus Siedenberg (Platinum medalist - Artist Category)
27th September 1972: Born in Mülheim an der Ruhr (Germany). 1986-1988: Piano lessons with Vladimir Horowitz (New York). April 1987: Debut in Israel with Beethoven‘s 3rd Piano Concerto (conductor: Prof. Dr. Tibor Istvánffy, Budapest/Cottbus), since then numerous concerts worldwide. 1987-1988: Composition lessons with Pierre Boulez (Baden- Baden). Numerous Gold Medals/First Prizes at international music competitions, most recently: Quebec International Music Competition 2020 (Canada), Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition Salzburg 2020 (Austria), Music and Stars Awards 2020 (Spain, two Gold Medals), Canadian International Music Competition 2020/2021 (Platinum Medal), "Winner of the Golden Key Piano Festival Vienna 2021". 1993-2000: Piano studies (Folkwang Academy of the Arts, Germany). PhD in musicology with a monograph on Beethoven‘s Opus 111, European University Press, Berlin, London, Paris. Cf. amazon.de, click button „Mehr lesen“ for Zurich University musicologist Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Hinrichsen‘s evaluation of the book as an outstanding international scientific achievement.
Sebastian Di Bin (Triple Absolute First Prize Winner - Platinum Medalist for Classical, Jazz & Pop Piano) Sebastian Di Bin debuted at 11 years old with the Slovenicum Orchestra of Ljubljana (Slovenia). Two of his many noted international prizes won are the San José International Piano Competition (CA) and the 12th UNISA International Piano Competition (SA). Important performances include la Fenice (Venice), Verdi (Milan), Johannesburg Philarmonic (SA), Philharmonische Kammerorchester (Hannover), Salzburg Festival, “Chopin's Marathon”, etc. He has been broadcast on Italian television and in the USA, Europe and S. Africa. He recorded four CDs with Centaur Records and published a book of compositions with “Edizioni Musicali Wicky” publications (Milan).
He obtained Piano Diplomas at the Pesaro Conservatory, the Imola International Piano Academy and a Masters Degree from the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy at the Udine Music Conservatory for Composition and Film. In 1991 he was appointed UNICEF Ambassador for artistic merits and represented Italy together with Luciano Pavarotti at the UNICEF “Danny Kay” World Gala (Amsterdam).
Ildiko Juhasz (Platinum medalist) First Prize - Artist Category Hungarian born Poland based flutist Ildiko Juhasz studied at the University of Music in Graz Austria with Herbert Weissberg, Erwin Klambauer and Raphael Leone (piccolo). As a soloist she played many concerts worldwide (USA, Germany, Poland, Hungary, South Korea) and over the past years she has won several international competitions including Canadian Int’l Music Competition 1st, Quebec Int’l Competition 1st, The North Music Competition Sweden 1st, Danubia Talents Hungary 1st, Busan Maru Korea 3rd, Medallion Artist, USA final. Currently working on her debut album which will be released mid 2021 by CD Label Orpheus Classical NY. Apart from solo and chamber music appearances, Ildiko Juhasz is an active orchestra musician, she plays the principal flute at the Sudetic Philharmonic Orchestra (Filharmonia Sudecka) based in Walbrzych, Poland. Cooperates with other orchestras like Bayerische Philharmonie eV. Munich and Beethoven Academy Orchestra Krakow.
Bentley Penn Bentley Penn, from Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. He is 7 years old. He began learning piano at the age of Five. He always sees his mother playing the piano and he has developed a natural passion for it as well. He has been studying piano with Dr. Hyejin Park since the age of 6. Over the past year, Bentley has won several international piano competitions and performed in venues worldwide. *Little Mozart international piano competition 2020 (USA) -First Place *Estonian National Academy music competition in 2020 (Estonia) -First Prize *Young artist music competition 2020 ( South Korea) - First Place *Glovil national music competition 2020 (South Korea) - First Place *Quebec international music competition 2020 ( Canada) - First Prize *Muse international music competition 2020 ( Greece) - First Prize *Progressive musicians competition 2020 (USA) - Gold Award Winner *Appassionato Youth Music Festival 2020 (Canada) - Gold Award Winner *New Talent Youth Music Competition 2020 ( England) - Gold Award Winner *Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition 2020 (Austria) -First Absolute Prize + Exceptional young Talent special prize *Golden Classical Music Awards 2020 (USA) - First Prize + Exceptional young talent special Prize *Virtuoso International Competition 2020 (South Korea) - First Prize *Odin International Music competition 2020 (Estonia) - First Prize *Grand prize virtuoso international music competition(Germany)- ABSOLUTE PRIZE (100/100) Winner + EXCEPTIONAL YOUNG TALENT Special Prize. *30th Young Musician Competition Città di Barletta (Italy) - First prize *American Protégé International Music Talent Competition Fall 2020(USA)- First place winner *American Protégé International Competition of Romantic Music 2020( USA)- First Place Winner (Young Musicians Category) *Steinway Virtual Piano Competition - Nationals (USA) - Third place winner, Division 1 *Sinyoung music competition( South Korea) - First place *Crescendo International Music Competition (USA) - First Place *King's Peck international music Competition- First Place *ASCO International Music Competition (Hongkong)- Champion *Golden Classical Music Awards International Competition (USA)-FIRST PRIZE Winner + EXCEPTIONAL YOUNG TALENT Special Prize of the 2021 *Oilsands Rotary Music Festival 2019 (Canada) - Platinum award winner *2019 Royal Conservatory Gold Medalist for the Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut region
More bios and photos of winners to come! Stay tuned!