Li Ming-Qiang, born 1936 in Shanghai, was Vice-President of the Shanghai Conservatory (1984-89) and Professor of Piano since 1983. He studied with Alfred Wittenberg and Tatiana Petrovna Kravchenko of the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music. He won the Third Prize of the 3 rd Smetana International Piano Competition, Prague’s Spring Festival, 1957, the First Prize of the First George Enescu International Piano Competition in Romania in1958 and the Fourth Prize of the 6 th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Since then he has concertized extensively throughout Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania. He is a highly regarded jury member of many major International Piano Competition including the Beijing International Piano Competition in China, the Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in the USA, the George Enescu International Piano Competition in Bucharest, the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, Hong Kong International Piano Competition, the Dinu Lipatti International Piano Competition in Bucharest, the Montreal International Music Competition in Canada, the Prokofiev International Piano Competition in St. Petersburg, the Rubinstein International Master Piano Competition in Tel-Aviv, the Santander International Piano Competition in Spain, the Sydney International Piano Competition in Australia, the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow and many others. Since 1989 he has been lecturing and giving master classes at many leading Universities, Conservatories and Schools of Music in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and the USA. He has made recordings for the China Records, Electrecord of Romania, Supraphon of the Czech Republic and Alpha Omega (Hong Kong). He is a life-member of the American Liszt Society and Honorary member of Trinity College of Music, London.

Defined by The New York Times “an artist with supreme technical mastery, dazzling and charming with his highly cultivated sound”, Alberto Nosè is one of the most awarded piano artists of his generation. He stood out the international music world at the age of eleven winning 1st Prize at the Jugend für Mozart International Competition in Salzburg. Top prize winner of Montecarlo Piano Masters, New York Concert Artists, Paloma O’Shea in Santander, Long-Thibaud in Paris, Maj Lind in Helsinki, Busoni in Bolzano, he was laureate at the F. Chopin International Piano Competition in 2000 which led him to a worldwide career as soloist as well as with major orchestras (London Philharmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonique de Radio France, Sinfonica de Madrid) in the most renowed concert venues like Carnegie Hall in New York, Southbank Centre in London, Konzerhaus in Berlin, Théâtre du Châtelet and Salle Pleyel in Paris, Auditorium in Madrid, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, City Hall in Hong Kong, Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, La Fenice in Venice, Santa Cecilia in Rome. Jury member in many international piano competitions like Kiev, Tbilisi, New York, Hong Kong, Helsinki, Budapest, Graz, Ljubljana, Warsaw, he is co-founder of the International Amadeus Competition in Lazise, Italy. His debut album for Piano Le Magazine featuring works by Brahms, Chopin, Liszt and Prokofiev won several awards like CHOC du Monde de la Musique and La Clef by ResMusica. His CD of the Keyboard Sonatas by J. Ch. Bach, recorded on modern piano and published by Naxos, has been broadcast by Radio France, BBC 3, Radio 4 Netherland, Radio New Zealand, ABC Classic FM USA and Australia. His third album with Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet for Harmonia Mundi won Diapason d’Or. Since 2019 he has been founder, artistic director and producer of Amadeus Sound Project, an independent record label which releases all his new recording projects. Invited to teach master classes around the world, he was guest professor at the Music Conservatory in Geneva, Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Mannes College of Music in New York, as well as at Music Academies in Gdansk and Bydgoszcz. His musical education started at Verona Conservatory and continued at Imola International Piano Academy. His artistic development has been also enriched by his musical studies with Maurizio Pollini, Murray Perhaia, Andrzej Jasinski, Paul Badura-Skoda, Michael Beroff, Alexander Lonquich, Arie Vardi, Fou Ts’ong, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. He is currently Piano Professor at Verona Conservatory of Music and on the faculty of the International Accademia Amadeus in Valeggio sul Mincio, Italy.

Xin Wang established herself in spite of her young age as one of the leading pianists of the inner Mongolia China. She came into public attention when she won a special prize at the national Piano Competition China with the age of seven and has since gone on to give piano concerts an recitals in concert halls all over China. She studied with Jolio Largacha and Gabriel Rosenberg in Cologne and Nurnberg. During her study she got a scholarship of the DAAD. Xin Wang has won numerous honors and prizes including the piano competition Lengano Italy, the piano competition Bettona Italy and many others.

She is regularly a welcome guest at diverse well-known concert places in Europa and Asia like Berliner Philharmonie, Schloss Elmau in Germany, Qintai Concert Hall in Wuhan, Concert Hall in Xiamen, Henan Art Center in Zhengzhou, Concert Hall in Ningbo, Poly Grand Theatre in Hohhot and many others. As a soloist Xin Wang appeared with many famous orchestras, among them Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Aachen, Sinfonia Rotterdam, Kammerphilharmonie St. Petersburg, Marchigiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Karlsbad Symphony Orchestra, Zagreb Soloists and Berliner Camerata under the baton of famous conductors like Kazem Abdullah, Christopher Ward, Conrad van Alphen, Marek Štilec, James P. Liu, Juri Gilbo, Eduardo Strausser and Fuad Ibrahimov. She is a regular guest at international festivals such as Skrjabin Piano Festival Grosseto Italy, Piano Festival „federi musica“ Neapel Italy, International Piano Festival Salerno Italy, „IBLA Claasic“ Sicilia Italy, Piano Festival Orbetello Italy, „Friday Nights with Yury Revich“ Wien Austria, International Art Festival Kotor Montenegro, International Music Festival Deià Spain, Festival „Palau March Museu“ Palma Spain, „Festival de musique classique a Pompignan“ Toulouse France, Palais Sommer Dresden Germany, „Monschau Klassik“ Germany, „International Piano Festival Wuhan" China and many others. As a passionate chamber musician she regularly works with colleagues like Echo-Klassik prize winner Yury Revich or Alexandre Debrus in China and Europe.

Xin Wang is founder and artist director of the international piano festival in Geilenkirchen Germany and jury president of the international piano competition "Euregio Piano Award". She is often inivited as a jury member in many international piano competitions such as Campillos Spain, „Isidor Bajic Piano Memorial Competition“ Novi Saad Serbia, „Neue Sterne“ Wernigerode Germany, „Mauro Paolo Monopoli Prize“ Barletta Italy, „Notes in Harmony“ Bettona Italy, „Academy Award“ Rom Italy, Asian Youth international piano Competition Hongkong, and many others.

Since 2012 she teaches as a guest professor at different music universities in China and gave several master classes in China and Germany with prestigious teachers from well known music universities in Europe.

Joshua Izzard is an American musician, investor, and technology finance executive. As a pianist, he debuted to critical acclaim in Carnegie Hall before receiving his MA from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and was an international competition prizewinner. He went on to earn an MBA in quantitative finance and accounting from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business where he also taught corporate finance and investments. After leaving music due to a hand injury, he embarked on a career as an M&A investment banker, and portfolio manager at a long-short strategy hedge fund. He is currently a technology industry executive as Chief Strategy Officer of the top-rated Silicon Valley micromobility company, Unagi Inc. His diverse business interests include a classical music management company and other technology, finance, and AI investments. He is the Administrative Director and CEO of the biannual Nashville International Chopin Piano Competition which he co-founded in 2022 with renowned Polish-American pianist, Dr. Graciella Kowalczyk.

French-Swiss composer and pianist Michel Runtz was born in Paris and lives mainly in Switzerland. He is a former professor and dean of piano classes at the Music Conservatory of Regions (Switzerland). He is the founding president of the International Piano Competition of Fribourg (Switzerland) and co-founder of the International Sino-Swiss Piano Competition of Shanghai, both competitions dedicated to the repertoire of the 20th and 21st centuries, for young pianists.

Michel Runtz has already performed his works in China, France, Italy, Morocco, Poland, Russia and Switzerland. His compositions are increasingly featured in international competitions and in the programmes of renowned performers such as such as Irina Kataeva, Fanny Clamagirand, Vanya Cohen, Jay Gottlieb, William Chen, Simone Keller, Boris Baraz...

The new creation Notes and Light, a Michel Runtz concert emphasizing a new concept of a performance with lights was presented in Düdingen, during the Festival Murten Classics 2009 (Switzerland) as well as in China (Shanghai, Shenyang). In the year dedicated to France/Russia, Michel Runtz composed the imposed works for the Competition Festival 2010 of piano ensemble Concertino of Nizhny Novgorod (Russia). These consist of pieces for piano(s) for 4, 6 and 8 hands. The duo Malisova Schreider recorded the pieces for piano 4 hands. Michel Runtz has been invited several times by the composition department of the Shanghai Conservatory to give lectures on his writing and his works. A concert of his compositions was presented by various Chinese chamber musicians and soloists.

In 2018, Michel Runtz was awarded the Claude Blancpain Foundation Prize (Switzerland) for the foundation of the Jeune Musique Association, for the continuation of the Fribourg International Piano Competition and the new international influence of Fribourg through its Fribourg - Shanghai innovative project. This project took shape in 2019 with the 1st Sino-Swiss International Competition of Shanghai and the creation of an exchange network between China and Switzerland, activated by the 1st Prize winners who have become ambassadors for the contemporary musical heritage of both countries. The 2nd edition of this Shanghai competition has just been held in March 2024. Michel Runtz has just finalised the composition of an opera based on Yasmina Khadra's work, Cousine K. In 2025, Michel Runtz will be the guest composer at the Iitti Music Festival in Finland. The works of Michel Runtz are published by Runtz Music Edition.

The German pianist and music manager Florian Koltun studied at university of music in Cologne and at the University of Music Trossingen by Prof. Ilja Scheps and Tomislav Baynov.

He had Masterclasses also with prestigious teachers like B. L. Gelber or G. Rosenberg. His active concert work started at the age of 14 when already calling attention to himself by winning several first prizes at the German competition Jugend musiziert as well as the national Bach Competition in Köthen.

He is first prize winner of several international piano competitions, like the piano competition in Caraglio / Italy, the international piano competition for young pianists in Luxembourg, the Henri Herman Concours in Maastricht / Netherland or the international piano competition “Notes in harmony” in Bettona / Italy.

Florian Koltun is regularly a welcome guest at diverse well-known concert places in Germany, Belgium, Netherland, Italy, France, Spain or China. He performed recitals in prestigious places such as the Alte Oper Frankfurt, Berliner Philharmonie, Thürmer-Saal Bochum or Schloss Koethen.

He is artistic director diffrent concert series and festivals in Germany (Heinsberg, Aachen, Windeck, Geilenkirchen, Boltenhagen and Monschau) and gave several masterclasses at different music universities in China and Europe since 2012. From 2015 until 2017 he was teaching piano at the music university Cologne.