Professors of Clavicologne International Piano Festival Updated
Calling all talented pianists from around the globe! Clavicologne International Piano Festival, a prestigious musical event dedicated to promoting the talents of young musicians worldwide, awaits you in the stunning surroundings of Italy's Abruzzo region. Held at the prestigious Conservatory of Music "Luisa D'Annunzio" in Pescara, The 12th ClaviCologne International Festival offers one of the most prestigious piano platforms in the world in the heart of the Mediterranean, providing intensive classical music instruction to young musicians from world-class pedagogues and teachers.
Held from the 4th of August to the 8th of August, ClaviCologne 2025, helmed by President Konstantin Ishkhanov and Artistic Director Giuliano Mazzoccante, acts as a revolutionary initiative, aiming to refine the piano techniques of participants from all nationalities under the age of 35 with the help of world-class luminaries.
This year, the academy is proud to welcome an illustrious list of piano virtuosi, namely Saleem Ashkar, Michel Beroff, Milana Chernyavska, Epifanio Comis, Severin von Eckardstein, Pavel Gililov, Pietro De Maria, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Hisako Kawamura, Giuliano Mazzoccante, Marios Papadopoulos and Zhe Tang, offering participants an exclusive opportunity to gain wisdom from these maestros. Learn more about them below:
Saleem Ashkar: An internationally acclaimed pianist, Ashkar made his Carnegie Hall debut at age twenty-two and has since become one of the most standout musicians of his generation. He has performed with an array of the world’s leading orchestras and ensembles, including The London Symphony, Orchestra La Scala Milano, The Staatskapelle Berlin and The Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, etc and has also worked closely with celebrated conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Jakub Hrůša, Pietari Inkinen, among others.
Michel Beroff: French pianist and conductor Beroff is renowned as one of the leading interpreters of Messiaen’s music. He has performed with prestigious orchestras worldwide under the direction of such conductors as Abbado, Barenboim, Bernstein, Boulez, Dohnanyi, Dorati, Dutoit, Eschenbach, Gielen, Inbal, Jochum, Leinsdorf, Masur, etc and has been conducting orchestras such as the chamber orchestra de la Scala de Milano, the Russian state Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lyon, among many others. An exclusive EMI artist for over 25 years, he has released more than 50 recordings, among them the complete works for piano and orchestra from Liszt, Prokofieff and Stravinsky, conducted by Seiji Ozawa and Kurt Masur.
Milana Chernyavska: One of the leading pianists and educators of our times, Chernyavska serves as a piano professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria, the International Music Academy in the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Reina Sofia Escuela Superior de Musika in Madrid. A highly sought-after teacher at international master classes as well as a jury member at various prestigious piano competitions, including the ARD in Munich and the Busoni Competition, she also appears regularly at international festivals and major music centres around the world, such as the Lucerne Festival and Ruhr Piano Festival.
Epifanio Comis: An acclaimed teacher with a diverse career as a soloist and conductor, Comis has performed with numerous world-class orchestras, including the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra of Bucharest, the Karlovy Vary Symfonic Orchestra, the Tulare County Symphony Orchestra of California etc. In addition to his performances, he offers masterclasses at prestigious institutions such as the Manhattan School of Music, Chopin Academy in Warsaw, Royal Conservatoire in Mons, Ecole Normale in Paris, and Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, among others. He is a professor and director at Vincenzo Bellini State Conservatory in Catania and serves as the artistic director of the Ljubljana Festival International Piano Competition.
Severin von Eckardstein: Eckardstein is recognised as one of today's foremost pianists, with an extensive history of solo concerts and performances on prominent stages worldwide. He has collaborated with renowned orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, NHK Orchestra, and the Mariinsky Orchestra. Additionally, he has worked with distinguished conductors such as Paavo Järvi, Jaap Van Zweden, Philippe Herreweghe, Marek Janowski, and Valery Gergiev. His CD recordings are highly acclaimed, featuring compositions by Medtner, Scriabin, Wagner, Schubert, Schumann, Debussy, and others.
Pavel Gililov: Considered one of the most influential piano experts in the world, Gillov has played a significant role in shaping many pianists' careers over the past few decades. He conducts several masterclasses across Europe and the Far East and serves as the Chairman of the Jury and Artistic Director of the International Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn. His performances and CD recordings have received widespread acclaim from both audiences and critics, and he has been invited to prestigious events such as the Salzburg Festival, Berliner Festspiele, Wiener Festwochen, Edinburgh Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, and the International Music Festival of Buenos Aires.
Pietro De Maria: Maria is an active concert pianist who has performed as a soloist with well-known orchestras under the baton of esteemed conductors such as Roberto Abbado, Gary Bertini, Myung-Whun Chung, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Daniele Gatti, Alan Gilbert, Eliahu Inbal, Marek Janowski, and Ton Koopman, among others. Her repertoire ranges from Bach to Ligeti, and he is the first Italian pianist to have performed the complete works of Chopin in six public concerts.
Stanislav Ioudenitch: Ioudenitch is a member of the elite group of Cliburn Gold Medal winners, having earned the Gold Medal at the 11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. His many other accolades include prizes at the Feruccio Busoni, William Kapell, Maria Callas, and New Orleans competitions and performances at major international cultural centres including Carnegie Hall (New York), Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Gasteig (Munich, Germany), Conservatorio Verdi (Milan, Italy), Mariinsky Theater (St. Petersburg, Russia), International Performing Arts Center (Moscow, Russia), etc.
Hisako Kawamura: Winner of the prestigious Suntory Music Award in 2020, granted for “notable contributions to the development of Western-style music in Japan'', pianist Kawamura has performed with orchestras including Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Wiener Symphoniker, Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, etc. An avid and sensitive chamber musician, she also performs regularly with cellists like Clemens Hagen, Maximilian Hornung and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi.
Marios Papadopoulos: Described by The London Times at his piano recital debut in 1975 as possessing "all the attributes of one of the world’s greatest players," Papadopoulos has since enjoyed an internationally renowned career as both a pianist and conductor. He holds a music doctorate and is a Keble College, Oxford Fellow. In 2010, he was awarded Oxford City’s Certificate of Honour, and in 2014, he received an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List for his services to music in Oxford.
Zhe Tang: Tang is celebrated as one of the leading pianists and educators of his generation in China. He received the "Grand Award for Excellence in Teaching" from the Chinese government and was featured on the cover of "Piano Artistry," the most prestigious music journal in China. He has served as a juror for international piano competitions, and his performances have been broadcast on various platforms, including Chinese National TV and Radio, BBC, Polish National Television, Oriental TV, WQXR in New York, and WFMT in Chicago, among others.
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