JURY MEMBERS OF 2026 PICC

As Vice President for Artistic Planning at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association(CSOA), Rocca is responsible for the design and execution of all artistic plans, developing innovative programmes and engaging guest artists for the Chicago Symphony, her role also includes supervision of the Symphony Center Presents series.

Working for more than ten years alongside Riccardo Muti, the CSO then Music Director, she has played an important role in enhancing the visibility of one of the most prestigious orchestras in the United States.

Prior to Chicago, she was artistic director of the Orchestre National de France (Radio France) and Director of Artistic Planning for the Cleveland Orchestra.

Born in Bologna, Rocca was Artistic Manager for the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg; Head of Concerts and Programming at the Bournemouth Symphony and Head of Artistic Planning for the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

For a brief period, she was Artistic Director of the LPO, before she rejoined the CSOA. At the beginning of her career, she worked in the Artistic Administration of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the Opera de Paris.

She has been on the jury of several international competitions and member of four committees for the search of a music director.

In 2020 she received the French Legion of Honor.

Henry Fogel is one of America’s most esteemed performing arts administrators, with a career dating back to 1963. From 1981–1985 he was Executive Director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C. From 1985–2003 he was President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestras. From 2003–2008 he served as President and CEO of the League of American Orchestras, and spent the following year remaining with the League as a field consultant to orchestras. From 2009–2019 he served as Dean of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where he is now Dean Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of the Arts.

He was an artistic consultant to the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Brazil from 2008-2016, and has consulted for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Edinburgh Festival. Mr. Fogel has also been a reviewer of recordings for Fanfare magazine since 1986, and has contributed several entries to The Harvard Dictionary of Music. He has been a judge for conducting and other competitions in Chicago, New York, Montreal, Tokyo, Helsinki, and Sofia Bulgaria.

He has received honorary doctorate degrees from Roosevelt University, Northwestern University, the Curtis Institute, and Columbia College in Chicago. In 1999 Mr. Fogel received a Cultural Leadership Citation from Yale University for service to the cultural life of the nation. In June, 2009, he received the highest honor in the symphony orchestra field, the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award. In 1990 was named by Business Week magazine as one of the five best managers of cultural organizations in the United States. In 2003 he was honored by the Illinois Arts Alliance as an Illinois Arts Legend.

Mr. Fogel has also served as a narrator with a number of orchestras, and has appeared as a narrator on CDs on the Albany and Naxos labels. He has also produced a number of internationally syndicated radio programs for Chicago’s Fine Arts Station WFMT, including currently Collectors’ Corner, which is derived from his extensive personal collection of over 30,000 classical recordings. He was for many years a regular panelist on the Metropolitan Opera Broadcast Quiz. He has also written program notes for a number of recording companies and orchestras.

Marlene Brüggen worked at Konzertdirektion Schmid, representing artists such as Leonard Slatkin, Cornelius Meister, and Khatia Buniatishvili. After six years in artist management and completing a Master’s degree in Media and Music, she joined the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. Since autumn 2021, she has been Head of Artistic Planning at the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

Her programming is characterized by an inclusive approach, inspired by pop culture and current social themes. She initiated the season motto “No Concert without a Woman Composer!” and later shaped the thematic focuses “Orchestra for Democracy” and “Afrodiaspora – Composing While Black.”

Lawrence Foster is known for his exhilarating and expressive performances across a wide range of repertoire, enjoying a major international career spanning the US, Europe, and Asia. Recognised as one of the most eminent conductors of Enescu’s music, Foster’s interpretations are celebrated for their faithfulness to the score and deep artistic devotion: “Lawrence Foster seems to have been put on this planet to conduct Enescu’s music. He is clearly a true believer and he understands every technical nuance and every expressive twist and turn” – The Telegraph.

For the 2025–2026 season, Lawrence Foster’s engagements include performances with the London Philharmonia alongside Evgeny Kissin, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the George Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest, the NCPA Orchestra in China, and a tour in Poland with the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, among others.

Foster will also return for concerts with the Polish National Radio Symphony, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. Following his tenures as Music Director of Opéra de Marseille and Artistic and Chief Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Foster continues to be in demand for both operatic and symphonic programmes.

Recent and upcoming collaborations include performances of Brahms, Prokofiev, Enescu, Copland, Korngold, Kurt Weill, Beethoven, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Mahler, Berg, and Penderecki, with orchestras such as the Bruckner Orchester Linz, Würth Philharmonic Orchestra, and Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, in addition to his regular collaborations with Opéra Marseille and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

A long-standing and iconic figure in the classical music world, Foster was awarded the Koussevitzky Prize at Tanglewood in 1966, became assistant conductor to Zubin Mehta at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and chief guest conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1969. He has since held music directorships with the Houston Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier, and the Aspen Music Festival and School, among many others.

Foster is particularly appreciated as an interpreter of the works of George Enescu and has made a comprehensive survey of commercial recordings of
Enescu’s music. He served as artistic director of the George Enescu Festival from 1998 to 2001, reopening the doors of this great cultural event after the
fall of communism in Romania. In 2023, Lawrence Foster was awarded the Romanian National Order of Merit, Commander, for his contribution to Romanian culture and the promotion of the music of Enescu.

With a discography of exceptional breadth and acclaim, Lawrence Foster has established himself as one of today’s most distinctive recording conductors. He has taken on works across the symphonic, concerto and operatic repertoire, winning both critical praise and awards. His recording of Enescu’s Oedipe (EMI) was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque from the Académie Charles Cros in France.

In recent years he has recorded intensively for Pentatone, including Schumann’s symphonies, orchestral works by Kodály, Bartók and Ligeti, as well as concertos by Bruch, Korngold, Rachmaninov, Grieg and Chopin in collaboration with leading soloists. His Pentatone operatic projects include Othello, Madama Butterfly, Die Fledermaus, and La Fanciulla del West, among others.

After completing her secondary music education in piano and oboe in her hometown Ljubljana/Slovenia, she continued her studies and earned her master’s degree at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg under professors Arthur Jensen and Lothar Koch. During her studies, she performed extensively with chamber orchestras and various chamber ensembles.

In 1993, she became the solo oboist of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared frequently as a soloist with the orchestra and has recorded both as a chamber musician and as a solo performer. In 2014, she assumed the artistic leadership of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, and in 2018 she took over the leadership of the entire Music Production Unit of RTV Slovenia.

She has also been active as a pedagogue and for several years directed the international festival OFF Izola, dedicated to the education and performance opportunities of young oboists and bassoonists.

Umberto Fanni, Director General and Artistic Director of Royal Opera House Muscat, has led a distinguished performing arts and management career. An award-winning concert pianist, Fanni graduated with high honors from the Conservatory of Music in Brescia and completed his studies at the Conservatory of Music in Geneva. Among his early achievements was the founding of the Young Italian Chamber Orchestra, composed entirely of talented young musicians who have now established soloists or playing in renowned orchestras.

At the urging of the conductor Claudio Scimone, Umberto Fanni’s career in performing arts management began as Assistant Artistic Director of the famous ensemble, “I Solisti Veneti”. Following these experiences, Fanni taught Management of Performing Arts at the Catholic University of Milan and held appointments at Fondazione Teatro Lirico ‘Giuseppe Verdi’ of Trieste, Fondazione Teatro Lirico of Cagliari, Teatro Grande in Brescia and Fondazione Arena di Verona.

Since 2014, Fanni has been the Director General and Artistic Director of the Royal Opera House Muscat. Through his leadership, Fanni has made a remarkable contribution to the continuing advancement of the Royal Opera House Muscat as a world-class institution. Of prime importance is the initiative he has taken in developing several co-produced operas with leading opera houses around the world and producing original cultural projects in-house.

Recognised for his contributions to enriching musical art in Oman and beyond, Umberto Fanni was conferred the Order of Honour in January 2024 by His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tariq. Since 2020, Fanni has served as a Council Member of the Beijing Forum for Performing Arts and, from 2023, as a Board Member of the World Association of Performing Arts. In September 2024, has been invited as a speaker at the St. Petersburg International United Culture Forum.

Born in Milan, he pursued his musical education, alongside his university studies, at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, where he graduated with highest honors in Choral Music and Choir Conducting, as well as in Vocal Polyphonic Composition. He later obtained a diploma in Composition and undertook studies in Orchestral Conducting, further refining his skills through advanced masterclasses abroad.

From 1998 to 2007, he served as Chorus Master of the Giuseppe Verdi Symphonic Choir of Milan, collaborating with renowned conductors such as R. Gandolfi, R. Chailly, C. Abbado, L. Berio, O. Caetani, C. P. Flor, C. Hogwood, V. Jurowski, H. Rilling, among others.

Between 2016 and 2019, he held the position of Artistic and Executive Director of the Fondazione Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro Sinfonico di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, before being appointed General and Artistic Director, a role he held until December 2023. He currently serves as Superintendent and Artistic Director of the Fondazione Arturo Toscanini in Parma.

As a conductor, he explores a repertoire that ranges from the great masterpieces of the Baroque and Classical eras to contemporary works, with a particular passion for rediscovering lesser-known compositions from the Baroque period. His work has brought him to collaborate with leading institutions and festivals such as the Venice Biennale, Teatro alla Scala, Milano Musica, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, RTSI Lugano, Teatro Real in Madrid, the National Orchestra of Chile, UiS Stavanger in Norway, Adda Sinfonica Alicante, the MITO Festival, the Enescu Festival, the Gluck Festival, the Saint Moritz Festival, and Wigmore Hall in London.

For over twenty years, he was Music Director of the Mailänder Kantorei, an ensemble linked to Milan’s German community, with a repertoire focus ranging from the German Baroque to the Romantic era.

In 2008, he founded laBarocca, a vocal and instrumental ensemble specializing in 17th- and 18th-century music. With this group, he has performed major works of the Baroque repertoire across Italy and Europe. Noteworthy achievements include his debut at Wigmore Hall in London in 2016—followed by several return engagements—regular participation in the MITO Festival, the reopening of Teatro Gerolamo in Milan (where he is now a recurring guest), and appearances at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest and the Gluck Festival in Nuremberg. In 2019, laBarocca was featured in an Italian tour organized by CIDIM. Since 2014, he has also been regularly invited to conduct during the main liturgical celebrations at Milan Cathedral.

laBarocca began its recording activity in 2017. Its discography includes the album Heroes in Love – Gluck Opera Arias with Sonia Prina (2017), The Solo Cantatas for Bass by J.S. Bach with Christian Senn (2018), and Missa Omnium Sanctorum by Jan Dismas Zelenka (2019), which received several international awards.

Robert Gilder & Co has been at the forefront of international artist management for over 30 years. After studies at Durham University in the UK, Robert Gilder worked for English National Opera and the Festival of Music in Great Irish Houses before entering the world of artist management in 1982. Robert Gilder & Co now has offices in London, New York and Skopje (Macedonia) and manages a roster of singers, conductors, directors and instrumentalists who are in worldwide demand. The list of distinguished artists with whom he has collaborated includes Yehudi Menuhin, Arnaldo Cohen, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Ruth Falcon, Joyce Castle, Galina Gorchakova, and Deborah Voigt to name a select few. Aside from this, he has also been responsible for the training and mentoring of a new generation of artist managers.

In recent years Robert Gilder has been selected as a jurist of several of the world’s leading vocal competitions including Verviers, the ‘Maria Callas Vocal Competition’ in São Paulo, Brazil and the “Competizione dell’Opera” in Dresden. He is frequently asked to give guest masterclasses and workshops to Young Artist Programs on artist development and career management. Robert Gilder is the recipient of the 2009 Patrick Hayes Award at the New York ISPA Congress.

Born in Milan in 1977.

He pursued a professional education that led him to a degree in International Relations, to which he simultaneously combined his musical studies to deepen and complement his passion for opera.

At the age of 24, he began his professional experience as a manager, which led him to realize his dream of working for some of the greatest artists on the international scene and with the world’s leading opera houses. In 2011, he founded the agency that bears his name: Ariosi Management.

Since then, he has the privilege of guiding established artists, working to launch rising young talents and gradually opening up his perspectives to event organization.

Alessandro personally follows the career of each of his artists, thus realizing his professional aspiration: to combine his passion for opera with the management of his artists.

He carefully supervises their career development, seeking to fulfil the aspirations and unique characteristics of each and every one of them, and establishing relationships with theatres and promoters on an international scale, with the aim of bringing out the full potential of each of his artists.

French-American conductor, born in Beirut, into a musical family. George Pehlivanian’s path in music began with piano and violin lessons at the age of three and six respectively. In 1975, Pehilvanian and his family emigrated to Los Angeles and went on to study conducting with Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel and Ferdinand Leitner. He also spent two summers at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena where he was awarded the Diploma di Merito.

In 1991 Mr. Pehlivanian was crowned unanimously by the International Jury, with the Grand Prize of the Besançon International Conducting Competition. Thus becoming the first American to have received this honor in the history of one of the most respected competitions in the world.

Since then Maestro Pehlivanian has consolidated his reputation as one of the leading conductors of his generation. On the concert-platform he has led many of the world’s leading orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia, Israel Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala, Leipzig Gewandhaus Leipzig, NDR Hamburg , Orchestra of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Monte-Carlo Philharmonic, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestra Nazionale della RAI Torino, the BBC Philharmonic, Bamberger Symphoniker, the Czech Philharmonic, the Norddeutsche, Hessische and Südwetsdeutsche Runfunk Symphony Orchestras, Saarländisches Staatsorchester, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orquesta Nacional de España, Nationaal Orkest van België, Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo, Orquesta Radio Television de España, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and many others.

In North America he has conducted the Houston, Montreal, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Paul, Buffalo, Rochester, Honolulu, Puerto Rico, Vancouver, Ottawa, Quebec, Toronto and the Pacific Symphony Orchestras. He has also worked with the Russian National Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Japan Virtuoso Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Qatar Philharmonic, Quingdao and Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestras. In Winter of 2017 Maestro Pehlivanian made history as the first conductor of Armenian descent to conduct the Presidential Symphony Orchestra of Ankara.

Equally at home in the Operatic World as in the Symphonic, Mr. Pehlivanian has conducted leading opera companies of both Europe and the United States, including performances of CARMEN for the Long Beach Opera, California, JENUFA, BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA, and ERNANI for the New Israeli Opera, LA TRAVIATA at the Mariinsky, St. Petersburg, TOSCA at Grand Theatre de Bordeaux and St. Etienne, the Dutch premiere of RIDERS TO THE SEA in Rotterdam, LA VOIX HUMAINE at the Cite de la Musique, Paris, OTELLO, CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA and GIANNI SCHICCHI at Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, PIQUE DAME and ANDREA CHENIER at the Teatro Lirico, Cagliari, LE DAMNATION DE FAUST at Teatro San Carlo, Napoli and Teatro Regio, Parma, the world premieres of LE JOUR DES MEURTRES by Pierre Thilloy for l’Opéra-Théâtre de Metz and SETTE STORIE PER LASCIARE IL MONDO by Marco Betta as well as a critically acclaimed new production of BORIS GODUNOV for Teatro Massimo di Palermo.

In 2011 George Pehlivanian founded the Touquet International Music Masters in France, a unique festival assembling the National Youth Orchestras of Europe. In 2012 Maestro Pehlivanian was Professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSMDP) and in 2013 Maestro was the director of the Post Graduate Program in conducting at the Katarina Gurska Conservatory in Madrid.

Since 2020, Maestro has founded his own Opera Academy , the Pehlivanian Professional Opera Academy (PPOA), in the beautiful city of Bled, in Slovenia. In 2022, Maestro Pehlivanian decided to create his own National Orchestra, the POA Festival Orchestra , the resident orchestra of the Festival Hall and the Pehlivanian Professional Opera Academy, in Bled, Slovenia.

He has collaborated with the Best. Some of the renowned artists include : Maxim Vengerov, Leonidas Kavakos, Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Vadim Repin, Janine Jansen, Misha Maisky, Hilary Hahn, Gidon Kremer, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Gil Shaham, Arcadi Volodos, Emmanuel Ax, Lynn Harrell, Fazil Say, Nemanja Radulovic, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Maurice Andre, Evelyn Glennie, Andre Watts, Mirella Freni, Ruggero Raimondi, Dimitri Hvorostovsky, Ferrucio Furlanetto, Paata Burchuladze, Leona Mitchell, Leo Nucci, Simon Estes, Albert Dohmen, Vladimir Galuzin, Carlo Guelfi, Denyce Graves, Michele Crider, Marjana Lipovsek and countless more of the world’s highest calibre soloists/artists.

Maestro Pehlivanian was asked to become the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Slovenian Philharmonic (2005-2008) and has held many Principal Guest Conductor positions with various orchestras, such as: Residentie Orkest of The Hague, Wiener Kammerorchester, Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, and the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestras. He was also Direttore Principale of the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari.

He has appeared at many of the world’s most important International Music Festivals, including the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Aix-en-Province, Mito Milan, Radio France de Montpellier, Jeunesse Musicale Vienna, Festival Bruckner of Linz, White Nights of Saint Petersburg, Verdi Festival di Parma, Rávena, Aspen, San Sebastien, Santander, Ravello, Madrid, Cannes MIDEM, El Escorial, Ljubljana, Granada, Osaka, and Kyoto.

His discography includes a double CD release on Virgin Classics/EMI with the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic, recordings with Sony Classical with London Philharmonic, the world premiere recording of music by Zhukov under CHANDOS with the Residentie Orchestra, works by Rodrigo with the Orquesta Nacional de España STUDIO SM, as well as Liszt’s complete works for piano and orchestra with Louis Lortie and the Residentie Orchestra for Chandos. This recording received special praise by Gramophone Magazine.

Specialist in interpreting today’s music, Maestro Pehlivanian’s latest CD release of Christian Jost music for Coviello ,was received with great enthusiasm. His historic recording of the monumental Leningrad Symphony of Shostakovich was released with IBS classical. First time a Spanish orchestra recorded this grandiose Symphony, with one of his favorite National Youth Orchestras, Joven Orquesta Nacional de España, which he has regularly conducted for almost three decades.