Tel Aviv Classic Violin
Competition

Pavel Vernikov, a student of David Oistrach and S. Snitkowsky, gained a reputation as a virtuoso violinist more than twenty years ago. Among other prizes he won the International ARD Violin Competition in Munich and the Grand Prix at the International Violin Competition “Vittorio Gui” in Florence. He has appeared at such prestigious venues as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, La Salle Gaveau in Paris, La Scala in Milan and Santa Cecilia in Rome.

For the past 30 years he has been a member of the Tchaikovsky Trio.

His artistic partners have included Sviatoslav Richter, James Galway, Alain Meunier, Patrick Gallois, Maria Tipo, Natalia Gutman, Oleg Kagan, Yuri Bashmet, Elisso Virsaladze, Christian Zimmermann and Anthony Pay. He inaugurated the Russian Academy of Higher Learning in Portogruaro and was the Artistic Director of the Gubbio Music Festival, the Dubrovnik Chamber Music Festival and the Eilat Chamber Music Festival.

He teaches and gives masterclasses around the world, in Italy, France, Finland, Spain (Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia Madrid), Israel (Rubin Academy), Germany (Kronberg Academy), etc. and has been invited to be a member of the jury at international competitions (Szigeti, Kreisler, Gui, ARD-Competition in Munich, Sendai (Japan), Budapest, Sarasate, Wieniawski, etc.).

Pavel Vernikov has recorded for RCA, Ondine and Dynamic.

He was a Professor at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Lyon. At present he is a Professor at the famous Konservatorium Wien University and at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne (Site de Sion).

Among his many laureate students are people like Massimo Quarta (1. Prize Paganini International Violin Competition, Genua), Fumiaki Miura (1. Prize Hannover International Violin Competition), Lorenza Borrani (Leader of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe), Fanny Clamagirand (1. Prize Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition, Vienna and 1. Prize International Monte Carlo Violin Competition) and Miki Kobayashi (2. Prize Wieniawski Competition).

In 2013 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Sion Festival in Switzerland, and in 2023, he was appointed as the Artistic Director of the Classic Violin Olympus International Competition, whose inaugural edition is set to take place in 2025 in Dubai, UAE.

Pavel Vernikov plays a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, 1757, violin.

The Austrian artist with Hungarian roots, Eszter Haffner is one of the most exciting and respected violinists of our time. Over the last 30 years, she has been captivating audiences around the world with her distinctively rich sound, superb musicianship and outstanding interpretations. She has established close relationships with the most prestigious conductors and orchestras. Always willing to expand her musical horizons, Eszter is also much sought after as a violist.

Her social missions and her tireless commitment of the arts to the Republic of Austria was rewarded in summer 2021 with the federal award “Golden Decoration of Honor” for artistic services to the Republic of Austria”.

Since 2000 she has been professor for violin at the Royal Academy of Music Copenhagen (Denmark), at the University of Art in Graz and from 2022 at the MDW in Vienna Austria, as well as a visiting professor at the Royal College London, the Sibelius Academy Helsinki, the Franz Liszt Academy Budapest, at the Academy of Music Oslo, Shanghai Conservatory, Shanghai Middle School, JMC Jerusalem and Tijanjin Middle School.

She was Jury member at many international violin competitions as: Spohr Competition Germany, Isang Yung Competition Korea, Piccolo Magico Violin Competition Italy, Andrea Postacchini Competition Italy, Szymanowsky Competition Poland, Baczewich Competition Poland, Serguei Azizian Competition Denmark, LIVE Music Now Austria, Singapur Violin Competition, Brahms Competition Austria. 

She was given several masterclasses at the NYU New York, Jacobs School Bloomington, Stanford University and Yale University, UCLA, USCI and Colburn School  in the USA and Geidai University in Japan.

Eszter plays the “ex Hamma Segelmann” Violin by Nicola Bergonzi 1780 on loan to her courtesy of the National Bank of Austria.

Her strings are kindly sponsored by „Jargar Strings“ by Thomastik Infeld Vienna, her bows by Mr.Charles Shih and her CD recordings by NEIRO Productions,Vienna. Her latest recordings of the Mozart violin concertos with the Salzburg Soloists were released in 2023.

She works as a consultant for the organization “Live Music Now” in Vienna founded by Lord Yehudi Menuhin; the Aurora and Old Ox Festivals Sweden; EMIV Vienna; CIMS Portugal and the “Virtuoso Belcanto” Festival in Lucca, Italy. As the organizer of the “Serguei Azizian” competition in Denmark and as a member of the jury faculties for major international competitions, she promotes young talents from all over the world.

She is faculty member of the “PE-Förderkreis der Studierenden” Mannheim (Germany) and professor at the “Villa Musica” Mainz (Germany).

Since 2017 she is curator of the Arts at the Austrian Embassy in Copenhagen. Eszter is member of the Ensembles Haffner Strings, Haffner Trio and the Aurora- Old Ox Ensemble Sweden.

After studying with Prof. Gerhard Schulz, Sandor Vegh, Philippe Hirshorn, György Kurtág and Thomas Kakuska at the Academy of Music in Vienna, Budapest and Utrecht,

she played her debut in 1991 in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein under the direction of Karl Österreicher. Since then she has been at home in the world's largest concert halls. She is winner of numerous international competitions and awards, as well she participates in countless music festivals around the world.

She devotes herself enthusiastically to the works of contemporary composers.

Countless compositions by Alfred Huber, Peter Eötvös, Aleksey Igudesman and Volker David Kirchner have already been written for her.

Itzhak Rashkovsky, the internationally renowned Ukrainian-Israeli violinist and pedagogue, was awarded a Master's Degree by the Samuel Rubin Israeli Academy of Music, Tel Aviv, where he studied with Professor Yair Kless. He has appeared worldwide as a soloist and chamber music player at prestigious concert venues, including Carnegie Hall and the Grand Hall of Moscow Conservatory.

As a Professor of Violin at the Royal College of Music, London, he has become one of the leading and most sought-after teachers in the UK. His students, who come from all over the world to study with him, have been winners of numerous national and international competitions. He has given masterclasses in many countries around the world at well-known music institutions, including the Juilliard School, Shanghai Conservatory, Haute école de musique de Lausanne (Switzerland), Singapore, and Moscow Conservatories. He has also served as a jury member of numerous major international competitions, notably Henryk Wieniawski (Poland), Sion Valais (Switzerland), Joseph Joachim (Germany), Lipizer (Italy), and Yampolsky (Russia).

Itzhak Rashkovsky is one of the founders and Music Director of Keshet Eilon Violin Mastercourse, Israel, an international summer programme for exceptionally talented young string players, located in Kibbutz Eilon, as well as the founder and Artistic Director of the Music Masters, London. His articles and editions of violin pieces were published by The Strad magazine. In recognition of his outstanding services to music, Itzhak Rashkovsky was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Music by The Prince of Wales in 1998, and the Fellowship of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2018.

Yamei Yu was principal concertmaster of the Komische Oper Berlin from 1996 to 2001 and of the the Bavarian Opera in Munich from 2001 to 2010. She has worked with conductors including Zubin Mehta, Herbert Blomstedt, Kirill Petrenko, Kurt Masur, Christoph Eschenbach, Kent Nagano, Vladimir Jurowski, Semyon Bychkov, Gustavo Dudamel, Roger Norrington, Wolfgang Sawallisch. 

As a chamber musician Yamei Yu has collaborated with Gidon Kremer, Thomas Hampson, Gérard Caussé, Boris Pergamenschikow, Hariolf Schlichtig, Radovan Vladkovic, Rosamunde Streichquartett, Leipziger String Quartet, Vermeer String Quartet. From 2005-2014 she was the Violinist of the Piano Trio Trio Parnasssus and received “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2007”, “Klassik Echo 2008” and was nominated for the 2009 BBC Award.

International concert and solo recital engagements have brought Yamei Yu to the Richard Strauss Festival, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg and Figueres/Barcelona, Roskilde (Denmark), Berliner Festwochen, Ravinia Festival Chicago, Leipziger Bachfest, Stuttgarter Bachwochen, Ludwigsburger Festspiele, Mecklenburg Vorpommern Musik Festival, Salzburg Festival, Festival van Vlaanderen, Stavanger and Osloer Kammermusikfestival, Festival Crete Senesi/Italy. She performed at famous venues including Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Concerthall Bilbao, Berliner Philharmonie, Herkulessaal in Munich, Wiener Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall London, Auditorio Nacional de Madrid and Valencia. 

Yamei Yu is currently a Professor of Violin at the Robert Schumann Hochschule, Düsseldorf, Germany.

The American Record Guide has described Massimo Quarta as “the embodiment of elegance” and according to Diapason “the brio and the sensuality of his playing, the purity of his sonority and the elegance of a diction deprived of emphasis, give to his view a tenderness and a refinement rarely heard.”

Massimo Quarta sets standards in his recording for Dynamic rediscovering the original version of both better known Paganini's works as the 6 Violin Concertos played with the “Cannone” Guarneri del Gesú, the violin owned by the great Genovese virtuoso, as well as works for violin and piano (I Palpiti, Napoléon, Weigl Variations, Le Streghe). His recording of Paganini 24 Caprices has been released by Chandos. His revolutionary approach to the virtuosistic Italian music have won over audiences and have been widely acclaimed in the international press (CHOC Award 2004 of “Le monde de la Musique”) gaining him an honoured place alongside the most distinguished artists (The Strad).

Massimo Quarta began to study violin at age of eleven at the “T. Schipa” Conservatory in Lecce, then followed his studies and graduated at the “S. Cecilia” Conservatory in Rome with Beatrice Antonioni. He subsequently studied with Salvatore Accardo, Ruggiero Ricci, Pavel Vernikov and Abram Shtern.

After winning the most important national competition, (Opera Prima “Philips”, Concorso di Vittorio Veneto), Massimo Quarta came to international attention in 1991 when he won the first prize at the prestigious “Nicoló Paganini International Violin Competition” in Genoa.

As a result of the extraordinary success achieved from this prize, he soon started an international career which has taken him to major concert halls in Berlin (Konzerthaus, Philharmonie), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Paris (Salle Pleyel, Théâtre du Châtelet), Munich (Philharmonie am Gasteig), Frankfurt (Alte Oper), Duesseldorf (Tonhalle), Tokyo (Metropolitan Art Space, Bunka Kaikan), Warsaw (Warsaw Philharmonic), Moscow (Great Hall of the Conservatory), Milan (Teatro alla Scala), Rome (Accademia di Santa Cecilia), performing with such conductors as Yuri Temirkanov, Miun Wun Chung, Christian Thielemann, Daniel Harding, Daniele Gatti, Vladimir Yurowsky, Aldo Ceccato, Isaac Karbtvcevsky, Daniel Oren.

Firmly established soon as one of the most brilliant violinists of his generation, he has been the guest of renowned festivals notably those in Stresa, Sarasota, Kuhmo, Spoleto, Bratislava, Kfar-Blum, Bodensee, Ljubjana, Ravenna, Città di Castello, Lyon, Naples, Sapporo, Potsdam, Berliner Festwochen and Gidon Kremer's Kammermusikfest in Lockenhaus.

Along with his intense career as a soloist, Massimo Quarta has been acclaimed as one of Europe's most dynamic and exciting conductors, appearing with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherland Symphony, the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, the Berliner Synfoniker, the National Symphony Orchestra of Buenos Aires, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana OSI, the Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester (Denmark), the Orcquesta Filarmonica de Malaga, the Orchestra of Teatro Carlo felice in Genova, the Sudwest Deutsche Kammerorchester, “I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano” Orchestra, the Orchestra of Padova, the Fondazione “A. Toscanini” Orchestra, the “Haydn” Orchestra of Bolzano, the “Accademia di S. Cecilia” Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Orchestra.

Massimo Quarta had his début as soloist and conductor at Musikverein with Philharmonia Wien and at the Concertgebouw with the Netherland Symphony. He has recorded as conductor with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra the Mozart Concertos for two and three pianos and Mozart Piano Rondos and as soloist and conductor with the Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano, the Concerto n° 4 & 5 by H. Vieuxtemps for Dynamic.

He has been music director of the Istituzione Sinfonica Abruzzese Orchestra, the Fondazione I.C.O. “Tito Schipa” Orchestra in Lecce, and is since 2017 Music Director of the Orquesta Filarmonica de la UNAM of Mexico City (OFUNAM). Massimo Quarta has been awarded of the International Prize “Foyer Des Artistes”, of the “Gino Tani International Prize for Arts and Spectacles” and has also recorded for Philips and the “Four Seasons” by A. Vivaldi with the Moskow Chamber Orchestra for Delos.

He has been elected Accademico di Santa Cecilia by the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

Massimo Quarta is Professor at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana (Musikhochschule) in Lugano.”