First round jury

Milan Langer, piano (Czech republic)

The pianist Milan Langer graduated from the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. At the age of seventeen, he won the Chopin Competition in Marienbad and he also received laureate’s titles and diplomas from a number of prestigious international competitions in Bolzano, Moscow, Santander or at the Prague Spring competition during his studies. His solo recordings of piano works by A. Reicha and V. J. Tomášek gained him attention. He has been a solo piano and chamber music teacher at the Prague Conservatory since 1998. He leads piano courses and seminars in the Czech Republic and abroad. He has been a member of the Czech Trio since 1994, with whom he has recorded a number of award-winning recordings for the Supraphon and Arco Diva record companies and others.

František Novotný, violin (Czech republic)

František Novotný studied the violin at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. He then continued his studies abroad under the renowned virtuosos and teachers, Zakhar Bron and Viktor Tretiakov. He has received laureate’s titles and honourable mentions at more than twenty competitions, such as the Concertino Praga, the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Prague Spring competition or the Premio Paganini in Genoa. He is the holder of an Award from RAI, the Italian Radio and Television Company, and of the Henryk Wieniawski Medal. He performs his wide-ranging repertoire on significant stages in Europe, Japan and the USA. He is also active as a professor at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts and he teaches at international master classes.

Vít Petrášek, cello (Czech republic)

The violoncellist Vít Petrášek graduated from the Prague Conservatory and the Musikhochschule Luzern. He is a recipient of a prestigious Edwin Fischer Preis and a two-time winner of the violoncello competition in Liezen. As a soloist, he cooperates with the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra or the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, amongst others. He is a founding member of the Epoque Quartet, which last year celebrated 20 years of its existence. During this period, the ensemble has gained a firm place in the Czech and European music scenes, it has significantly shifted the boundaries of the quartet repertoire and it has become a leading ensemble which is invited to cooperate with a wide range of excellent musicians from various musical branches.

Irvin Venyš, clarinet (Czech republic)

The clarinettist Irvin Venyš studied at the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and subsequently supplemented his education with a yearlong internship at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris. He is the laureate of a number of prestigious international competitions, including the Prague Spring, the Jean Françaix Competition in Paris and the international competitions in Markneukirchen and Bayreuth. His performance range stretches from the classical clarinet repertoire through to demanding pieces of the 20^th and 21^st centuries (Czech and world premieres) and on to folklore. He is a frequent guest on prestigious stages in a number of European countries, Japan and the USA. He plays for Czech Radio, Czech Television, Mitteldeutsches Rundfunk, Arco Diva, NAXOS or Supraphon. He is active as a teacher and is also the Assistant Dean for international affairs and science and research at the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

Milan Puklický, music director (Czech republic)

Milan Puklický graduated from the Prague Conservatory and from Josef Vlach’s class at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He performed as a member of chamber ensembles and as a soloist in many European countries and in America until 1985. He then expanded his theoretical and practical musical education with private study of composition and conducting. He has been a musical director at Czechoslovak and late Czech Radio since 1985 and has been exclusively involved in this area since 1990. He cooperates with domestic and international recording companies, music groups, chamber ensembles and soloists in his capacity as a musical director. He has contributed to the creation of many recordings, some of which have received significant international awards.

Evert van Berkel, Sveriges Radio, EBU (Sweden)

Evert van Berkel has worked at Swedish Radio as a producer for the classical music section, both in the area of orchestral works and chamber, operatic and choir works, since 1992. He is responsible for the coordination of recordings and for their quality. In 2009–2016, he represented Swedish Radio as a jury member at the New Talent Bratislava competition and he was a jury member at the Concertino Praga in 2015. In 2008–2014, he was a delegate at the International Rostrum of Composers, of which he has been the chairman since May 2014. In addition to radio recordings, he has also participated in the creation of a number of CDs and several operatic productions for television. Since 2015, he has been the chairman of the international competition of contemporary music of the International Rostrum of Composers.

Anna Fusek, flute, violin (Germany)

Anna Fusek, a native of Prague, has played the flute, violin and piano since her early childhood. She has studied these instruments in Rotterdam, Berlin and Basil. In 2007, she debuted as the solo flautist with the Berlin Philharmonic and as a soloist on all three instruments with the Orchestra della Toscana in Florence in 2017. She also cooperates with other significant orchestras such as Collegium 1704 or the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. To date, she has performed concerts in a number of European countries and in North and South America and on several prestigious concert podiums which include Vienna’s Musikverein, Carnegie Hall in New York or the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She also leads her own Ensemble Kavka as a multi-instrumentalist.