The exceptional career of Philippe Entremont began at the age of eighteen when he came to international attention with his great success at New York’s Carnegie Hall playing Jolivet’s piano concerto and Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Since then, he has pursued a top international career as a pianist, and for the last 50 years, on the podium as well.

Philippe Entremont has conducted the greatest symphony orchestras in Europe notably : the Wiener Symphoniker, the London Royal Philharmonic, the Göteborg Symfoniker, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, l’Orchestre National de France – in Asia : the China Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo NHK and in America : the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to name only a few… He worked with the world greatest soloists, both instrumental and vocal.

As a pianist, he played and recorded under the baton of Eugene Ormandy, Leopold Stokowski, Fritz Reiner, Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Pierre Boulez… to name a few. He has given over 7000 concerts worldwide, more than 100 with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra.

He is currently Lifetime Laureate Conductor of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra.
Philippe Entremont is Commander of the French Legion of Honor, Commander of the Order of Merit, Commander of the Order of Arts et Lettres. He is also Grand Cross of the Merit of the Austrian Republic.

FINAL PHASE

BIO

Fabrizio Maria Carminati studied piano, composition and conducting in Milan. He made his debut in 1992 with Puccini’s La Bohème in Turin, where he went on to conduct major operatic works. His repertoire includes the most important Italian operas as well as many less known ones. From 2000 to 2004 he was artistic director of the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo and from 2004 to 2006 held the same role at the Fondazione Arena di Verona.
He was then appointed Principal Guest Conductor at Opéra Marseille, where he served from 2008 until 2015.
From January 2020 he is Artistic Director of Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania.
He has worked in opera houses across Italy, and has regularly appeared in Bilbao, Lyon, Nice, Strasburg and Tokyo as well as at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing and the Royal Opera House Muscat.

BIO

Defined by the legendary pianist Aldo Ciccolini as “an artist gifted with extraordinary musical and instrumental skills”, Ivan Donchev began his musical studies at the age of five in Burgas and gave his first public recital at the age of 9 and his first concerto, with Burgas Philharmonic Orchestra, at 12.
He has distinguished himself in many national and international competitions in Bulgaria, Italy and Germany.(“Sergio Fiorentino Prize”, IInd International Piano Competition for German and Austrian Music in Burgas, prize from the “Chopin Society” in Darmstadt etc.).
Ivan Donchev has performed as a soloist in most of the major European cities and has regularly toured in Europe, Asia, USA and Russia.
A Liszt and Rachmaninov specialist, he has been described by critics as “refined ” (“Qobuz Magazine”, France), “full with temperament” (“Darmstadter Echo”, Germany), “gifted with impeccable technique and remarcable ability to excite” (“Il Cittadino”, Italy).

BIO

Yuri Medianik currently serves as principal conductor of the Moscow Theatre Novaya Opera, the VGTRK All-Russian Broadcasting Television State Company, and the Pluri Art Orchestra.
He is a frequent international guest and shares the stage with some of the world’s leading artists including violinists,
Vadim Repin and Maxim Vengerov, singers like Anna Netrebko, Aida Garifullina, Yusif Eyvazov and Vittorio Grigolo, pianists like Boris Berezovsky and Olga Scheps.
Maestro Medianik graduated from the most prestigious conservatoires in Russia including the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Gnesin Academy of Music, and the Ippolitov-Ivanov State Musical Pedagogical Institute, and at 15 was an honored member of Kaunas Conservatory (Lithuania). He interned and participated in master classes with Kurt Mazur. Maestro Medianik’s mentor is world-renowned, People’s Artist of Russia, Yuri Simonov.
Maestro Medianik has lead the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, Chuncheon Symphony (South Korea), Israel Camerata, Ashdod Symphony Orchestra (Israel), Pyongang Symphony Orchestra,Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rostov Academic Symphonic Orchestra, the Kaliningrad Symphony Orchestra, the Volga Philharmonic.

BIO

Kremena Nikolova started the violin at the age of six, winner of many competitions for young violinists, she performed as soloist with since the age of eleven.
During the following years she enriched her musical knowledge under the guidance of artists such as Zakhar Bron, Michael Frischenschlager, Gerard Poulet, Dong-Suk Kang, Pavel Vernikov, Enrico Onofri, Chiara Banchini, Giorgio Fava and Anton Martynov.
Kremena Nikolova has a wide experience as concertmaster and is currently teaching assistant at the École supérieure des Arts de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Belgium.

BIO

The common thread of Frédéric Roels’ career is the constant link between text and music. His career as a director and playwright oscillates between theater, music and opera. After studying at INSAS in Brussels, theater section, he founded his company, Prospéro & Cie.
At the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, he assisted Claire Servais on most of her productions from 1995 to 2008 and directed several titles.
From October 2009 to September 2017, Frédéric Roels was artistic director and general of the Opéra de Rouen Haute-Normandie.
From 2012 and notably in the context of co-productions with the operas of Limoges, Massy, ​​Versailles, Reims, the Royal Opera House Muscat and AsLiCo, he signs the productions of Carmen, La Damnation de Faust, Les Contes d’Hoffmann , Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Norma. In January 2019, he co-signed with Claire Servais the production of La Bohème at the Opéra Grand Avignon.
Appointed in December 2019, Frédéric Roels took up his post as director of the Opéra Grand Avignon on September 1, 2020.

BIO

Born in 1974 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, he received his first piano lessons at the age of five and at sixteen made his conducting debut.
In 2000, at the age of 26, he was invited to assume the position Music Director of the Plovdiv Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra, becoming the youngest conductor in Bulgaria to hold such a position.
Over the years, Nayden Todorov has worked with absolutely all symphony orchestras and opera theatres in Bulgaria, but has a special bond with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and from the beginning of 2017 was elected its director.
In his concerts with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra Nayden Todorov has collaborated with some of the most prominent singers and instrumental performers in the world, such as Raina Kabaivanska, Angela Gheorghiu, Sonya Yoncheva, Vesselina Kasarova, Paul Badura-Skoda, Milena Mollova, Bernd Glemser, Peter Rözel, Yuri Bashmet, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Sarah Chang, Maxim Wengerov, Vadim Repin, Julian Rachlin, Midori Gotō and many others.

BIO

Chavdar Valkov began his music education at the age of six. He graduated from the National Music School, and then the State Music Academy in Sofia with a degree in violin. He was concertmaster for the New York Harlem Theater and of chamber orchestra “Studio Primo”.
As a concertmaster he toured widely with Broadway productions of Porgy and Bess and West Side Story.
Since 2010 works together with the Spanish impresario agency “Powerstring Media Music” in the realization of recording projects for Western Europe and America.
He regularly performs as a soloist in the main musicla centres od Bulgaria, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse, Pleven, Shumen, Gabrovo, Sliven, Haskovo, Pazardzhik, taking part to the most important music festivals of the region.
He became concertmaster of the Pleven Philharmonic Orchestra in 2014.

ELIMINATORY PHASE

BIO

Acclaimed conductor, Robert Franz has held to three principles throughout his career: a commitment to the highest artistic standards, to creating alliances and building bridges in each community he serves, and a dedication to being a strong force in music education.
As Music Director of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra and Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival Orchestra, Associate Conductor of the Houston Symphony, and newly appointed Artistic Advisor of the Boise Baroque Orchestra, he has achieved success through his focus on each of these principles.
This season Franz celebrates his 13th year as Associate Conductor of the Houston Symphony where he was recently honored as the first member of the orchestra conducting staff with the Raphael Fliegel Award for Visionary Leadership.
Founder and Music Director of the Idaho Orchestra Institute, Franz served also as Music Director of the Boise Philharmonic from 2008-2016, and the Mansfield Symphony (OH) from 2003-2010.