JURY DESIGNATED FOR THE (PRB) ROUND
Meet Jury Members of the Preliminary Round Bled (PRB)
Christopher Chen
International Conductor - CHAIR
Born in Kaohsiung, Christopher Chen graduated from the Peabody Conservatory Johns Hopkins University with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree.
In 2005, he won the Herbert von Karajan Young Conductors Award, followed by an invitation to collaborate with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival. From 2007 to 2011, he was Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Jiangsu Symphony Orchestra, professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and Artistic Director of the Suzhou Culture and Arts Centre.
In 2013, he began leading the Academy of Music of Suzhou University and the following year he led the Baroque Camerata Orchestra in Taiwan and the Tapiola Youth Symphony Orchestra in Finland. He has worked with orchestras in Europe, USA, Asia and Russia. Since 2022 he is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra.
In 2016 Chen became General and Artistic Director of the Jiangsu Center for the Performing Arts in Nanjing, P.R. China and while there personally invited many outstanding musicians and ensembles including Z. Mehta, V. Gergiev, A. Netrebko, L. Kavakos, A. Nelsons, A. Sladkovsky, K. Zimerman, the Vienna, Munich, Israel, and London Philharmonic Orchestras,.
Dr Chen is one of the Experts of The Thousand Talents Plan — the highest award for foreigners in China and is Distinguished Professor at the Communication University of Zhejiang in Hangzhou. He resides in Australia, China and Finland.
Ibrahim Yazici
Music Director Istanbul State opera and ballet
Born in 1970 in Ankara, İbrahim Yazıcı studied piano, composition, and conducting at the Ankara State Conservatory. He continued his studies at the “Conservatoire Regionale de Musique de Perpignan” and graduated with three “Premier Prix”. Additionally, he worked with Gilbert Varga and participated in master classes across various European countries. The artist completed his master’s degree at Hacettepe University and fulfilled his proficiency in art program, which he started at Bilkent University, at Dokuz Eylul University.
İbrahim Yazıcı’s intensive and diverse conducting career commenced in 1995 at the Ankara State Opera and rapidly expanded to conducting orchestras such as the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Brandenburgische Staatsorchester, Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra, Camerata de France, and Ensemble Resonanz Hamburg. He has performed at prestigious concert halls like the Presidential Symphony Orchestra and all major symphony orchestras in Turkey, as well as the Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, Essen Philharmonie, Moscow International Music House, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Liederhalle Stuttgart, Palais des Beaux Arts Bruxelles, Berlin Konzerthaus, Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center, and Seoul Arts Center. In 2000, he conducted the operas “Suor Angelica” and “Gianni Schicchi” at the Puccini Festival in Valencia. In April 2008, he performed with the Turkish Presidential Symphony Orchestra at the International House of Music in Moscow. He has also been featured in Europäischer Musik Sommer Berlin, CBS Korea, Bella Pais, Mersin, and Istanbul International Music Festivals. In 2012 and 2013, he conducted Fazıl Say’s Nazım Oratorio in high-profile concerts in Wuppertal, Essen, and Frankfurt.
He has recorded numerous works by Turkish composers such as Ahmed Adnan Saygun, Fazıl Say, Muammer Sun, and Turgay Erdener on CD and DVD.
In 2002, İbrahim Yazıcı was awarded Hacettepe University’s “Artistic Encouragement Award”, the “Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia” by the President of Italy in 2005, and “Conductor of the Year” in 2012.
Since 2017, Yazıcı has also turned to composition and taught at Hacettepe University, Ankara State Conservatory, and the Music and Performing Arts Faculty of Bilkent University. From 1998 to 2007, he was the conductor of the State Polyphonic Choir, served as the General Music Director of the İzmir State Symphony from 2007 to 2012, conducted at the Mersin State Opera and Ballet from 2013 to 2015, and was a conductor at the İzmir State Opera and Ballet from 2015 to 2023. He has been Artistic Director of KODA from 2020 to 2024. Between 2014 and 2024, he served as the Music Director of the Olten Philharmonic Orchestra and is currently the General Music Director of the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet.
Hossein Pishkar
International Conductor
The Iranian conductor Hossein Pishkar appears with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish Royal Opera Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini, Orchestra Regionale della Toscana, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatsorchester Stuttgart and the WDR-Sinfonieorchester.
Notable debuts in the past have included Bizet’s Carmen (stage direction: Barrie Kosky), Shostakovich’s The Nose (stage direction: Àlex Ollé), Verdi’s Aida and Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at the Royal Danish Opera, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (stage direction: Barrie Kosky) at the Staatsoper Stuttgart and Verdi’s Rigoletto (stage direction: Cristina Mazzavillani Muti) at the Ravenna Festival.
In the 2025/26 season Hossein Pishkar will debut with the Haydn Philharmonic Orchestra in Bolzano, Janacek Philharmonic in Ostrava and the Orchestra of the Lithuanian Opera. He returns to the Belgrade Philharmonic, Orchestra Regionale della Toscana, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Qatar Philharmonic and the Pazaislis Music Festival Lithuania
As an assistant he worked with François-Xavier Roth in the production of Philippe Manoury’s Lab.Oratorium with the Gürzenich-Orchester and as second conductor he took over performances at the philharmonic halls in Cologne and Paris, as well as at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Hossein Pishkar was an assistant of Sylvain Cambreling at the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie for Berg’s Lulu Suite and Rebecca Saunders’ violin concerto Still.
Hossein Pishkar won the prestigious German Conducting Award in 2017, an international competition for young conductors organised by the German Music Council in partnership with Cologne’s leading musical institutions. Additionally in 2017 the German Music Council presented him with the Ernst-von-Schuch Sponsorship Award from the Ernst-von-Schuch Family Foundation.
Hossein Pishkar has received further tuition in masterclasses with Riccardo Muti (Aida in Ravenna in the context of the Italian Opera Academy) and Sir Bernard Haitink (Lucerne Festival
Orchestra). He has participated in Germany’s prestigious Dirigentenforum programme, taking classes with John Carewe, Marko Letonja, Nicolás Pasquet, Mark Stringer and Johannes Schlaefli.
Before moving to Düsseldorf to study conducting with Rüdiger Bohn at the Robert Schumann Hochschule, Hossein Pishkar studied composition and piano in Teheran, where he was born. In Iran he has conducted the Teheran Youth Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Teheran Music School.
Rodolfo Barráez
Associate Conductor Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela
A natural communicator with infectious charisma, Berlin-based Venezuelan conductor, Rodolfo Barráez, brings remarkable vivacity, sensitivity, and zeal to his artistry. The 2025-26 season sees him continue his tenure with both the Singapore Symphony and the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela as Associate Conductor.
Awarded first prize at the 2023 Hong Kong International Conducting Competition, previous competition successes include first prize at the 2018 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México International Conducting Competition (OFUNAM), and second prize at the 2020 Siemens-Hallé International Conductor Competition in Manchester.
Assistant Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic starting in the 2023-2024 season, Rodolfo Barraez has collaborated extensively with the Orchestra, conducting them at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl in performances of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite and Joshua Bell’s The Elements Project .
Rodolfo has also recently conducted the Münchener Kammerorchester on their tour of South America, the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela on their tour of China, and the Appasionato Orchestra at the Verbier Festival. Making his European debut at the Philharmonie Berlin in 2019 with the Hauptstadt Sinfonie-Orchester, other recent highlights include debuts with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Hallé Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Gävle Symfoniorkester, Symphony Orchestra of the Principality of Asturias, Orquesta Sinfónica y Coro Radio Televisión Española, Bogotá Philharmonic, Yucatán Philharmonic, Querétaro Symphony Orchestra, UNAM Philharmonic Orchestra, and Minería Symphony Orchestra.
In 2024, Rodolfo conducted the Singapore Symphony for their live recording of the Butterfly Lovers Concerto , released on Pentatone, which reached #1 on the Apple Music (Worldwide) Classical Music chart, #4 on the UK Official Specialist Classical Music chart and #6 on the US Billboard Traditional Classical Music chart. Having completed a Bachelor degree in conducting at the Universidad Nacional Experimental de las Artes de Venezuela, Barráez also studied a Bachelor and Master degree in conducting at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin.
Strongly influenced by his own remarkable education as part of El Sistema under the guidance of José Antonio Abreu and Teresa Hernández, Rodolfo is committed to contributing to music education. In 2019, Rodolfo founded the Falcón Conducting Workshop; an organisation which nurtures and supports the development of emerging conductors through masterclass and workshop series in his hometown as well as worldwide at high renowned institutions such as the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas. In addition, as part of El Sistema Greece and supported by the Hilti Foundation, Rodolfo provided performance training to young musicians from deprived communities in Greece, furthering his passion for bringing young people together through music performance and education.
Rodolfo formed the intrinsic roots of his conducting career as an eminent violinist. Previously a member of the Teresa Carreño Symphony Orchestra, Rodolfo has performed under Sir Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado, and Gustavo Dudamel at venues such as Teatro Alla Scala Milan, London’s Royal Festival Hall, Salzburg Festival, and Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space.
George Pehlivanian
French / American Conductor
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.
