National Piano & Violin Competition 2023: Adjudicators

"Christopher Park is a pianist who captivates with his fascinating technical mastery, astounding musical maturity, and a particularly intense performance style” – this was the explanation given by the jury upon awarding Christopher Park the renowned Leonard Bernstein Award 2014. He thereby joined the ranks of noteworthy musicians such as Lang Lang, Lisa Batiashvili and Martin Grubinger, who all started their careers with this internationally sought-after award.

Numerous important ensembles have engaged Park, a Bamberg-born musician, including the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Norwegian National Opera Orchestra, Spanish National Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia, Cape Philharmonic Orchestra, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, China NCPA Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, Chambre Orchestra of Lausanne, English Chamber Orchestra, Munich Symphony Orchestra and Bamberg Symphony. In November 2014, Christopher Park stood in for Emanuel Ax to great success with the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra, only a few months after his widely celebrated début in Hamburg.

So far he has worked with conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach, Paavo Jarvi, Sebastian Weigle, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, James Gaffigan, Ion Marin, Zsolt Hamar, Roman Kofman, Nicholas Milton, Kimbo Ishii, Paul Daniel and Dimitri Kitaenko. He has given concerts in Europe, Asia, America and New Zealand and played at events including the Ravinia Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Klavierfestival Ruhr, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Quincena Musical de San Sebastián.

Christopher Park has been chosen as "Rising Star“ by the ECHO (European Concert Hall Organisation). Therefore he debuted in Europe’s renowned concert halls in Barbican Centre London, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Musikverein & Konzerthaus Vienna, Konserthus Stockholm, Opera Oslo, Müpa Budapest, Gulbenkian Lisboa, Philharmonie Berlin, Seoul Arts Center, Kennedy Center Washington D.C., and others.

Alongside his engagements as a soloist, for which he has gained recognition in the form of various scholarships and awards, he is passionately involved in chamber music. He made his début in the Brahms Saal of the Vienna Musikverein at the end of 2014 with the Küchl Quartet, which comprises members of the Vienna Philharmonic. After that the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra nominated him as their candidate for the Credit-Suisse Award. He has also played with Avi Avital, Pablo Ferrandez, Marc Bouchkov, Richard O’Neill, Leticia Moreno, Adolfo Gutiérrez Arenas, the Pavel-Haas Quartet and accompanied singers including Sumi Jo. He has collaborated with John Neumeier on various projects such as Stravinsky’s Petrushka Variations, Schumann’s Kinderszenen and suites by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Next to his solo albums with Deutsche Grammophon, his CD with works by Schumann, Stravinsky and Neuwirth is celebrated in European magazines as "brilliant recording" and "reference version". It is released with Oehms Classics.

Christopher Park was influenced by two major musical traditions during his studies: the Russian school going back to Lev Oborin with Lev Natochenny as well as the German school of Wilhelm Kempff with Joachim Volkmann.

Park taught in Frankfurt/Germany at both, the Conservatory and the University of Music and Performing Arts. Since 2021 he holds a professorship at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo.

Noriko Ogawa has achieved considerable renown throughout the world since her success at Leeds International Piano Competition. Noriko’s “ravishingly poetic playing” (Telegraph) sets her apart from her contemporaries and acclaim for her complete Debussy series with BIS Records, confirms her as a fine Debussy specialist.

As an exclusive recording artist for BIS Records, Noriko’s latest recording is of solo music by Eric Satie. Ranging from Mozart, Rachmaninov and Debussy to contemporary composers including Alexander Tcherepnin, Vagn Holmboe, and Yoshihiro Kanno, Noriko boasts a prolific catalogue of over 30 albums.

Noriko appears with all the major European, Japanese and US orchestras including the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

She is a renowned recitalist and chamber musician, performing with artists such as Evelyn Glennie. In 2001 Noriko established a piano duo with Kathryn Stott, performing Malcolm Arnold’s Concerto for Two Pianos at the 2013 BBC Proms.

Noriko was appointed as the Chairperson of the Jury for Japan’s prestigious 10th Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in 2018 and elected to the board of the World Federation of International Music Competitions the same year. Noriko is a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, as well as guest educator at the Royal College of Music, Yamaha Masterclass from Tokyo to Seoul, Chetham’s International Piano Summer School and at the Hamamatsu International Piano Academy.

In addition to her busy performing and teaching, Noriko regularly judges at international competitions such as the BBC Young Musician, Munich International Piano Competition, Honens International Piano Competition and the Scottish International Piano Competition.

Originally from New York, violinist Kevin Lin has received international recognition for his musicianship and “soulful” playing (The Arts Desk). Lin currently serves as Concertmaster of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

Lin is a highly sought after Concertmaster, previously holding the position of Co-Leader in the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His Guest Concertmaster appearances have included the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Lin has performed as a soloist and recitalist across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, and South Korea. In recent years, Lin has received prizes from the Irving M. Klein International Competition (Fourth Prize) and the Schmidbauer International Competition (First Prize), as well as competed in the George Enescu International Violin Competition and Menuhin International Violin Competition.

Lin spent his early years studying with Patinka Kopec in New York, and later with Robert Lipsett at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree. He continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia as a recipient of the Mark E. Rubenstein Fellowship, under the pedagogy of Aaron Rosand.

Kevin performs on the 1683 Ex-Gingold Stradivari on loan to him from the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.