The 24th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition for Children and Youth, Szafarnia 2016

Fermin Bernetxea, studied in Spain and at Hartford University (USA) with Luiz de Moura Castro. He received the Award to The Best Interpreter of Contemporary Music in The Xavier Montsalvatge International Piano Competition and merit award in The Paranov Performance Competition (USA). He has participated in the most relevant music festivals in Spain such as ENSEMS, Alicante, Madrid, San Sebastián, Zaragoza, Valencia and others cities. Also he has played recitals in Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Colombia, Portugal, France, Georgia and United States. He acts as a guest artist with the Brodsky Quartet, bassist Robert Black, The Hartt Contemporary Players, Young Orchestra Pablo Sarasate and Symphony Band of Aragón. In the year 2010 he is invited by The Chopin Centre in Szafarnia, to participate in the events of the Bicentenary. He has made recordings for the main national, American and Portugal radio stations as well as recordings for TV and recording labels such as CRI (New York, USA) and Ars Incógnita (Spain). The american and spanish composers have dedicated their pieces for him. Has participated as a jury member in international competitions. He is currently a faculty member of The Pablo Sarasate Conservatory in Pamplona and he continues to develop his concert career playing concerts and master class.

Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń, a Polish pianist of Bulgarian origin. Graduated with distinctions from a class conducted by professor Zbigniew Śliwiński in the State High School of Music (presently Academy of Music) in Gdańsk. She did her postgraduate studies in Hochschule für Musik und darsteilende Kunst in Vienna in a class conducted by professor Alexander Jenner. She participated in master courses conducted by Susanne Roch, Dieter Zechlin and Georgy Seboka. Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń gives concerts in Poland and abroad. She is a co-founder of the Association of Music Lovers, which holds high level chamber music concerts and Musica nos unit International Festival. She was awarded with a medal of the Commission of National Education and in 2005 with Gloria Artis medal and the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. Presently she is a piano professor in the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz. She is invited to conduct master courses in Poland and abroad, seminars for piano teachers and open lessons and consultations. She cooperates with the Centre of Artistic Education in Warsaw. She has been a jury member for numerous Polish and foreign competitions. Her students receive best awards in piano competitions in Poland and abroad, gave numerous concerts and some of them are successful in teaching in Poland and abroad. Her students include, among others, Ewa Jasińska, Krzysztof Herdzin, Rafał Blechacz, Michio Nishihara Toro, Takayuki Hirata and Paweł Wakarecy.

Fermin Bernetxea, studied in Spain and at Hartford University (USA) with Luiz de Moura Castro. He received the Award to The Best Interpreter of Contemporary Music in The Xavier Montsalvatge International Piano Competition and merit award in The Paranov Performance Competition (USA). He has participated in the most relevant music festivals in Spain such as ENSEMS, Alicante, Madrid, San Sebastián, Zaragoza, Valencia and others cities. Also he has played recitals in Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Colombia, Portugal, France, Georgia and United States. He acts as a guest artist with the Brodsky Quartet, bassist Robert Black, The Hartt Contemporary Players, Young Orchestra Pablo Sarasate and Symphony Band of Aragón. In the year 2010 he is invited by The Chopin Centre in Szafarnia, to participate in the events of the Bicentenary. He has made recordings for the main national, American and Portugal radio stations as well as recordings for TV and recording labels such as CRI (New York, USA) and Ars Incógnita (Spain). The american and spanish composers have dedicated their pieces for him. Has participated as a jury member in international competitions. He is currently a faculty member of The Pablo Sarasate Conservatory in Pamplona and he continues to develop his concert career playing concerts and master class.

Izabella Darska Havasi, a graduate of the National Higher School of Music in Poznan (presently the I. J. Paderewski Academy of Music). She worked as a piano teacher in the Higher School of Ballet, the Z. Kodály Choir School, the F. Liszt Academy of Music and the King St. Stephen’s 2nd Grade Academy of Music in Budapest. She is a founder and artistic instructor of the György Ferenczy’s Foundation in Budapest. Since 2009 Izabella Darska Havasi has been a member of the International Federation of Chopin Societies. She organises Polish and international Chopin competitions, concerts, courses and other events connected with Chopin’s issues. She is a music teacher and lecturer in theory of music in the TIT Cultural and Educational Institute in Budapest. As a solo pianist, chamber pianist and accompanist she performed in Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Romania, Germany and Hungary. She has been a member of Polish and international piano competitions for many years. In 2004 she was decorated with the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. She was granted a diploma of the Hungarian Ministry of Culture and Arts for her outstanding teacher’s work and a diploma granted by Bogdan Zdrojewski, a Minister of Culture and National Heritage for her outstanding contribution to the Chopin Year.

Martin von der Heydt studied piano at the Folkwang-Hochschule Essen (Germany) with Prof. Till Engel. In addition, masterclasses with Vitaly Margulis, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Jean-Philippe Collard and Leonard Stein. Martin von der Heydt’s repertoire encompasses all epochs from Renaissance music to most recent compositions, and comprises standard works as well as many rarities. In 1999, he co-founded the e-mex ensemble, an instrumental group entirely devoted to the performance of contemporary works. Among the numerous internationally renowned composers with whom he worked are: Henri Pousseur, Juan Allende-Blin, Aribert Reimann, Christobál Halffter, Volker Heyn, Akira Nishimura, In-Sun Cho, Michael Denhoff, Jia Guoping, Sidney Corbett, Karin Haußmann, along with distinguished composers of the younger generation. Von der Heydt has won several prizes at international piano competitions. He performed in the important music centres in Germany as well as in many European countries, the USA, Brazil, Chile, China, Korea and Japan. His concerts have been broadcasted by the WDR Cologne, Deutschlandfunk, SWF Stuttgart and Deutschland Radio Berlin. Since 2001, he has held a teaching post at the Folkwang University in Essen and has given piano masterclasses and workshops at German and international music universities including Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo. Since November 2011, he has been teaching a piano class at the Hochschule fuer Kuenste Bremen.

Maria Murawska initially studied in the National Higher School of Music in Poznan in a class conducted by Olga Ilwicka-Dąbrowska and, then, in the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz in a class of Professor Jerzy Godziszewski. She improved her piano skills abroad in Weimar under the supervision of Ludwig Hoff man and as a trainee supervised by Wiera Nosina in the Russian Academy of Music. Following graduation from her studies in the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, she started to teach in her Alma Mater, where, between 1999 and 2005, she acted as a deputy rector for educational matters and, between 2005 and 2012, she was a rector of the Academy. In 2003 she was granted a title of professor of musical arts by the President of the Republic of Poland. She gives solo piano and chamber orchestra concerts in Poland and abroad. Maria Murawska sits on juries of numerous Polish and international competitions. She is a member of the Association of Polish Musicians, the I. J. Paderewski Musical Society in Bydgoszcz, where she has been a vice-president since 2001. She was decorated with the Silver Cross of Merit, Golden Cross of Merit and the Gloria Artis Silver Medal, a Medal awarded by the President of Bydgoszcz and a Medal awarded by the Mayor of Bydgoszcz. She also received awards from the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province and Rector of the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz.

Andrzej Tatarski completed his piano studies and graduated with distinctions from a class of Professor Olga Ilwicka-Dąbrowska of the Academy of Music in Poznan. He improved his piano skills during his postgraduate studies under the supervision of Professor Vlado Perlemuter in Paris. He has been conducting his artistic activities as a solo and chamber pianist for years. Andrzej Tatarski has performed in countries of Europe, America and Asia. He participates in renowned music festivals such as the Poznan Musical Spring, Warsaw Autumns, Karol Szymanowski’s Music Days in Zakopane, Wratislavia Cantans, Festival of Polish Piano Music in Słupsk, Festival of Polish Contemporary Music in Wroclaw and International Chopin Festival in Duszniki. He made a lot of first performances of contemporary works of Polish composers. His artistic works included numerous archival records for Polish and foreign radio stations, records and television and fi lm performances. The artist sits on juries of Polish and international piano concerts such as, among others, the Polish Chopin Competition held in Warsaw, the Ignacy Jan Paderewski International Competition held in Bydgoszcz and International Competition of Piano Duets held in Bialystok. He lectures during master courses in Poland and abroad. He was also a head of the Chamber Music Chair and Piano Chair in the I. J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan, where he has conducted a piano class for many years.