The Jury of the International Leonid Kogan Competition 2017-2025
Karen Aroutiounian (Belgium)
President
Karen Aroutiounian is Professor and Laureate of international competitions. Since 1975, he studied at the Tchaïkovsky Conservatory of Moscow where he worked under the supervision of one of the greatest violinist in history, Leonid Kogan, and where he obtained his diploma with the greatest distinction.
Karen Aroutiounian has made an international career in countries such as Hungary, Germany, Austria, Spain, France, Holland, Ireland, Finland, Canada, etc. during which he gave numerous recitals and made several recordings as a soloist with great conductors as Yuri Simonov, Valery Gergiev, Maxim Shostakovitch, Peter Lilie, etc.
He also participated in concerts with such illustrious musicians as S.Richter, G.Kremer,
V.Tretyakov, P.Hirschhorn, A.Korsakov, V. Spivakov, N.Yashvili etc.
Karen Aroutiounian is also the founder, artistic director, conductor and soloist of the chamber orchestra « Virtuosi » with which he made tours in the ex-U.R.S.S. countries as well as in the Western Europe. They also made diverse recordings.
In 1994, Yehudi Menuhin organised two recitals in Belgium for Karen Aroutiounian.
Karen Aroutiounian is regularly invited to give master classes in Russia, Spain, France, etc. During his career as a Professor, he managed to propel several students toward the top of International competitions.
« K. Aroutiounian is a very interesting, talented and brilliant violinist. He has a sound of a rare beauty, masters perfectly his instrument and has a great artistic flair»
Léonid Kogan
« K. Aroutiounian is a remarkable interpreter, a consummate artist in power as well as in finesse. »
Lord Yehudi Menuhin
« K. Aroutiounian demonstrates his blinding virtuosity, his exceptional lyrical gift, a warm sonority, a perfect accuracy, a clear and analytical phrasing. »
Martine Dumont Mergeay (La Libre Belgique)
Sergey Khachatryan (Germany)
Sergey Khachatryan won First Prize at the VIII International Jean Sibelius Competition in Helsinki in 2000, becoming the youngest ever winner in the history of the competition. In 2005 he claimed First Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels.
Sergey has performed with the Bamberger Symphoniker, Munich Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Mariinsky Orchestra and Orchestre de Paris. He has also collaborated with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and National Symphony Orchestra Washington. He has also visited the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Belgique, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
In the beginning of the 2014/15 season, Sergey performed Beethoven’s Violin Concerto at the Lucerne Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel as the latest recipient of the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award. Other highlights in the season included projects with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Munich Philharmonic, Hamburg Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic performing in venues such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus and Mariinsky Concert Hall.
Sergey has given recitals at Konzerthaus Dortmund, Theatre des Champs Elysees and Cite de la Musique (Paris), Auditori Nacional Madrid, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Palais des Beaux Arts (Brussels), Philharmonie Luxembourg, Carnegie Hall and Herbst Theater (San Francisco).
He has collaborated with Valery Gergiev, Gustavo Dudamel, Kurt Mazur, Andris Nelsons, Vasily Petrenko, Yuri Temirkanov, Daniele Gatti etc…
Sergey’s discography on the label also includes the Sibelius and Khachaturian concerti with Sinfonia Varsovia and Emmanuel Krivine, both Shostakovich concerti with the Orchestre National de France and Kurt Masur, a recording of the Shostakovich and Franck sonatas for violin and piano, as well as Brahms’ three Sonatas for Violin and Piano with Lusine Khachatryan and the complete Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin by J.S. Bach.
Sergey plays the 1740 ‘Ysaÿe’ Guarneri del Gesù violin on kind loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.
Ilya Grubert (The Netherlands)
Ilya Grubert was born in Riga, Latvia. He began his studies at the E.Darzin School of Music in Riga. Considered a student of exceptional talent, at the age of fifteen, the late Yuri Yankelevich, a renowned violin pedagogue of world fame, recognised Ilya’s exceptional talent and invited him into his school in Moscow and later at the Moscow Conservatory. He continued his studies with the famous Russian teachers Yuri Yankelevich and Zinaida Gilels at the Central Music School in Moscow, and then under renowned violinist Leonid Kogan at the Moscow conservatory. Ilya Grubert graduated with a doctorate in 1980. He earned his first international success at the Sibelius Competition in Helsinki in 1975. Subsequently, he won first prize in two prestigious international competitions, the Paganini Competition in Genova and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1978.
He then embarked on a highly successful career and performed with exceptional talented pianist Naum Grubert and manny distinguished orchestras such as the Moscow Philharmonic, St Petersburg Philharmonic, the Russian State Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Leningrad Philharmonic, BBC Welsh Symphony, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, The Vienna Symphony Orchestra, The English String Orchestra, l’Orchestre d’Auvergne, etc. He has worked eminent conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Gennady Rozhdesvensky, Voldemar Nelson, Jaap van Zweden, Pavel Kogan , Vasilij Sinaisky, Mark Wigglesworth and Maxim Shostakovich and many more. His concerts and recitals have included tours in the United States, Canada, Australia and throughout Europe. His New York recital debut was greeted with much acclaim by the New York Times, which called him “a musician of exceptional talent in the tradition of the great virtuoso’s, possessed of an unwavering tone and extraordinary technique”.
Ilya Grubert has a prolific discography which includes much of the main stream repertoire and also some lesser known works. In January 1996, he won the Golden Tuning Fork award for his performance of Sibelius and Bruch concertos. He has recorded for major recording companies such as RCA, Naxos, Chandos, Channel Classics and Ondine with a repertoire that includes the Sibelius, Tchaikovsky and Bruch Paganini 1 and 2 concertos and all Prokofiev’s violin compositions. His most recent recording released by Naxos is violin music by Heinrich Willem Ernst, which includes the Concertino, the Rondo Papageno and the Othello Fantasy – played in its original version with orchestra, which had never been recorded before. Also his recording of Mjaskovskij and Weinberg violin concerts got enthusiastic reviews.
Ilya Grubert now lives in Holland and is a professor at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He is professor in Portogruaro winter academy (Italy) and University of Minho (Portugal) His students are very successfully in national and international competitions He plays a 1740 violin by Pietro Guarneri of Venice, formerly the property of Wieniawski.
Savva Fatkulin (Spain)
Savva Fatkulin was born in 1981 in Ekaterinburg (Rusia). He began his violin studies at the age of 6 at the Dependent Music School of the Moscow Conservatory.
Later he completed his musical studies at the Reina Sofia Music College, at the Violin Chair of Professor Zahkar Bron.
Between 2001 and 2003 he completed his training with the Professor Grigori Zhislin at the Wurzburg Conservatory (Germany) and later finished his studies with a Certificate of Honor at the Conservatory of Ekaterinburg.
He has received master classes from M. Fuks, D. Zafer, Z. Shikhmurzaeva,
P. Munteanu, O. Krysa, P. Vernikov, A. Niechiporuk, V. Repin, V. Tretiakov,
J.L.G. Asensio, and D. Poppen and has given numerous concerts in Germany, France, England, Ireland, Italy, Brazil, and Russia.
As member of “Trio Concordiae” he was awarded in numerous national and international competitions.
In parallel to his artistic activity, he has been developing his teaching career since he was 18 years old in various private Spanish schools, combining the basis of the Russian school with other, more recent methodologies, achieving notorious results with numerous national and international prices among his students.
Besides teaching in Katarina Gurska High Degree Conservatory, he is currently developing his teaching in several pioneer projects for young violinists in Spain such as, “Official Advanced Performance Program” in “CSKG Academy” and “International Strings Academy” at “Progreso Musical Academy” in Madrid Spain.
Igor Unterberg (Belgium)
Born in Kishinev (URSS) in 1959, Igor Unterberg is of Russian origin but holds today the Belgian nationality.
Igor Unterberg gave his first solo concert with orchestra in 1968-at the age of 9-and in 1970 is a prize winner of the National Competition for Young Artists.
In 1972 he is a Laureate of the “Keren Charet Foudation” in Israel.
He moves to Belgium in 1975 and joins the class of Carlo Van Neste at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels gaining a First Prize in Violin and Chamber Music that same year.
Igor Unterberg gained unanimously in 1983 a “Soloist Diploma” with the highest Grades at the “Musikhochschule Düsseldorf” in Germany, studying with Rosa Fäin, a student of David Oistrach.
Igor Unterberg has performed in numerous countries including Belgium, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Holland, France and Japan.
He is also a highly demanded teacher.
Wong Ho Kei Calvin (China)
Calvin Wong, violinist, enjoys an eclectic career as a performer, educator and conductor in a wide variety of styles from the Baroque to the Romantic, and across different levels of students. Nurturing students into violinists always makes him feel proud and moved.
Mr. Wong has earned Music Degree at Hong Kong Baptist University Music Department, where he served as teaching assistant for the violin courses. He pursued additional studies in violin teaching methods with Prof. Wong Fu Tong, Prof. Zhang Shi-Xiang and Prof. Sergey Fatkulin.
Mr. Wong can be considered one of the most devoted educators. In 2013, Mr. Wong was the recipient of the Schoenfeld International String Competition Outstanding Teacher Award. In 2018 and 2020, Mr. Wong was the recipient of the Eighth and Tenth Hong Kong International Violin Competition Teacher Award for Excellence in Teaching. Many of his students were awarded international prizes as well, including Concorde Violinistico Internazionale“Andrea Postacchini”, Schoenfeld International String Competition, Graham Music Award, Prokofiev International Music Competition, Singapore Raffles International Music Competition, Hong Kong International Young Musicians Competition etc.
Performance is one of core value of his teaching system, he makes an effort to bring his students opportunities to perform as soloists all around the world, such as Petronas Filharmonik Hall in Malaysia, Academic Glinka Capella (State Capella Hall), Finlandia Hall etc. as well as all the major concert halls in his hometown.
In 2022, Mr. Wong takes the Violin Professor role at the Centro Superior KATARINA GURSKA School of Music. He also serves as the course director of the Hong Kong Young Soloists and the instrumental teacher of Diocesan Girls’Junior School and Conductor of Ying Wa Primary School Senior Strings Orchestra and received
Conductor Award in The World Orchestra Festival 2021. He has also served as an adjudicator in competitions such as The Hong Kong International Young Musicians Competition directed by Violinist Kirill Troussov.
Aram Gevorkian (Belgium/Latvia)
Aram Gevorkian was born in 1951 in Armenia (Yerevan) He began learning the violin at the age of 6. After graduating the Special Tchaikovsky Music he studied at the Yerevan Komitas Conservatory with Professor G. Bogdanian.
In 1973 young musician moved to Moscow and entered the Symphony Orchestra of Radio Television of the USSR under the direction of Mr. Shostakovich. In 1981 he joined the orchestra of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR under the direction of G. Rozhdestvensky.
Between 1980 and 1990 he was often invited by all major Russian orchestras such as Orchestra of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre, Symphony Orchestra of the Russian Federation, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio etc. and worked with eminent conductors such as M. Shostakovich, G. Rozhdestvensky, I. Temirkanov, E. Svetlanov, A. Khachaturian, V. Gergiev, Mr. Jansons, Z. Mehta, Y. Menuhin, A. Schnitke, A. Babadjanyan, S. Gubaidulina, T. Khrennikov ... He also participated in many tours that have taken him on all continents.
In 1991 he moved with the whole family in Belgium. From 1991 to 2017 he is the first violin of the Symphony Orchestra of La Monnaie. Since 2018 he lives and works in Latvia.
Michael Vaiman (Germany/Israel)
Michael Vaiman was born in Odessa (Ukraine) and after graduating distinguished Stolyarsky school of music in his hometown he studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, under the tutelage of legendary violinist David Oistrach&Semyon Snitkovsky.
1989 he emigrated with his family to Israel, teaching at the Rubin Academy of music in Tel Aviv and since 1999 Michael Vaiman Professor at the Cologne Musichochschule.
Michael Vaiman is Top prize-winner at the H.Wieniawski Competition in Poznan (Poland) and performs as a soloist in Europe, USA, Japan, Israel, Russia.
Among the high points of his international career concertos with orchestras and conductors such as the Berlin Symphony Orchestra under Gunter Herbig, the Moscow Philharmonic under Yuri Simonov, St.Petersburg's Symphony orchestra under Arvid Janssons, ”Moscow Soloists” Chamber Orchestra under Yuri Bashmet, London Soloist Chamber Orchestra,etc.
He also participated in many music festivals such as Kuhmo (Finland), Tours (France), Elba Festival (Italy), Summit Music Festival (New York) playing together with well-known musician such as Paul Badura-Skoda, Yuri Bashmet, Mario Brunello, Akiko Ebi, DinaYoffe.
Michael Vaiman invited as jury member of different violin competitions, also giving numerous master classes in Salzburg Mozarteum Summeracademy,
Liszt Academy in Budapest, Toho School of music (Tokyo), at Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester, UK), Beijing Central Conservatory of Music (China),
South Methodist University in Dallas(USA),"Keshet Eilon" in Israel and many others.
Many of his students are winners of international competitions.
M.Vaiman has many radio, TV, and commercial recordings, his CD&DVD recordings include works by Bach, Schubert, Wieniawski, Prokofiev, Ysaye, Szymanowski, Kreisler, etc.
Eric Melon (Belgium)
Eric Mélon studied at the Liège Royal Conservatory of Music, where he obtained in 1984 the higher diploma in violin with the highest distinction, in the class of Leopold Douin. The same year, he made a recording of works by Michel Leclerc. He holds the Hector Clockers prize as well as that of the province of Liège, and he is also a laureate of the « Fondation de la Vocation ».
Eric Mélon has also won the Edouard Deru (1984) and the Henry Vieuxtemps (1986) violin competitions. From 1986 to 1989 he followed advanced studies at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth. He finished his training by following the course of professor Herman Krebbers at the Sweelinck Conservatorium of Amsterdam.
He is a very experienced soloist, having played in many countries under the direction of fine conductors, like Pierre Bartholomée, Ronald Zollmann, René Defossez, Kurth Schäfer, Georges Elie Octors, Patrick Davin, Dennis Burkh, André Vandernoot, Andreas Stoehr……
As a passionate chamber music player, he was a member of the Alma Trio and the Jericho Trio.
He is very interested to discover regularly in the large repertory for violin unknown or forgotten masterpieces, especially in the sonata repertory of the 19th and 20th century with the pianist Jean Schils.
Many of his concerts and recitals have been recorded or broadcast. He also recorded several CDs.
He is also a passionate professor at the Royal Conservatory of Liège and is often invited for summer courses in France and Belgium.
Armen Harutyunyan (Armenia)
Armen Harutyunyan was born on the 6th of April, 1960 in Yerevan /Armenia/.
He is a professor of the String faculty of Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory and P. Tchaikovsky Special Music School.
Since 2009-Director of the Yerevan Arno Babajanyan State Musical-Pedagogical College.
Since 2011-Artistic director of “Arno Babajanyan International Competition-Festival for Junior and Young Pianists”.
Most of his students joined the staff of the prestigious orchestras and are the laureates of international competitions.
Armen Harutyunyan gave master classes in the USA, Belgium, Lebanon, Georgia, and in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Valery Oistrakh (Russia/Belgium)
Born in Moscow to the family of the illustrious Oistrakhs, Valery Oistrakh represents the third generation of great violin virtuosi beginning with his grandfather David and followed by his father Igor.
Valery Oistrakh took his first violin lessons from his grandfather David.
He then studied at the famous Central Music School in Moscow.Among the other teachers some years was also prof. V.Bronin assistant of L.Kogan who's pupils was : V.Mulova, I.Grupman, E.Grach...
He continued his studies at the Gnessin Music-Pedagogical Institute in his native city.
With his awe-inspiring technique, silky tone and consummate artistry he has beguiled audiences the world over performing on the great concert stages of Russia, United States, Canada, Australia, England, France, Germany. Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Japan...
He has played as both violinist and violist with world-leading orchestras as the Moscow and Leningrad Philharmonics, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Scottish National Symphony, Orchestre Colonne de Paris, Orchestra Santa Cecilia di Roma, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchester , Toronto and Vancouver Symphonies, Sydney Symphony...
He has been accompanied by such notable conductors as Kurt Mazur, Gennady Rozdestvensky, Yuri Simonov, Muhai Tang, Gyorgy Lehel, Saulius Sondetzkis, Vladimir Fedoseev, Tibor Varga...
Since 1996 he is professor at the Royal conservatory of Brussels.
Vilmos Csikos (Belgium-Hungary)
Vilmos Csikos is a Laureate of International Violin Competitions and a Concert Soloist.
He obtained his Master degree in the class of Yossif Ivanov at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with great distinction.
Since 2016, he is studying with Karen Aroutiounian, renowned Concert Violinist and professor as well as student of the famous violinist Leonid Kogan.
1st prize at the Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition in 2007 (Fermo, Italy).
1st prize at the Remember Enescu International Violin Competition in 2007 (Sinaia, Romania).
Laureate at the Louis Spohr International Violin Competition in 2013 (Weimar, Germany).
1st Grand Prize at the Leonid Kogan International Violin Competition in 2017 (Brussels, Belgium).
1st Grand Prize at the Henry Vieuxtemps International Violin Competition in 2020 (Verviers, Belgium).
He gave concerts in Hungary, Germany, Austria, Spain, France, Holland, Italy, Romania, Armenia, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Ukraine and Belgium.
In 2018, he was invited as a jury member for the 4th edition of the Young Belgian Talent competition in Brussels (Belgium).
Since 2019, he is invited as a jury member for the Leonid Kogan international violin competition for Young violinists in Brussels (Belgium).
He is regularly invited to perform at International music festivals in Europe and in Asia.
He played as a soloist with the Aria Symphony orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the Liszt Symphony orchestra of Weimar, The Brussels Sinfonietta and The Symphony Orchestra of Tilburg with such renowned conductors as Etienne Rappe, Dmitry Filatov, Nicolas Pasquet, Hans Casteleyn and Krzysztof Penderecki.
He will record on CD the 3 Brahms Violin Sonatas with the renowned pianist Jean-Claude Van Den Eynde in 2021.
Igor Volochine (Russia/France)
Having completed his studies at the Tchaïkovsky Conservatory of Moscow, in the class of S. Snitkovsky, under the direction of David Oïstrach, Igor Volochine then began a brilliant career as a solo violinist in the Collegium Musicum chamber orchestra.
In his capacity of Concertmaster of the National Symphonic Orchestra of Moscow, Mr Volochine travelled throughout the world playing in the most prestigious concert halls and took part in numerous recordings for records and television.
In 1986 Youri Bashmet invited him to join the Moscow Soloists Ensemble as solo violinist. The Ensemble performed in the Salle Pleyel, the Concertgebouw, the Albert Hall, the Carnegie Hall…
Now living in France (since 1991), Mr Volochine is frequently invited to play in international festivals both as a soloist and as a performer of chamber music.
Mr Volochine’s pedagogical activity is rich and varied. From 1997 to 2013, he taught at the Conservatoire National Superieur in Paris, and also at the National Regional Conservatories in Paris and Versailles. He is now Professor at the Ecole Normale A. Cortot in Paris. At the same time, he gives proficiency courses and master classes in Italy, Japan, Taiwan…
Alexander Detisov (Spain)
Alexander Detisov, winner of several international violin competitions as the Caucasus Competition, Herbert v. Karajan Competition and the USSR Competition of String Quartets, was distinguished with the Honored Diploma from the Tbilisi State Conservatoire (Georgia).
From 1980 to 1983 worked as the assistant of Professor V.Klimov at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, continuing nowadays his pedagogical labor as Professor in the High School Academy “Musical Progress” (Madrid) and giving Master Classes in different parts of Spain.
He performed as a soloist with different symphonic orchestras as well as he played in premier the Concert for Violin and Orchestra by M.Moreno-Buendía in 2012 with the Georgian State Symphony Orchestra conducted by D.Kakhidze. Besides, Detisov has recorded many CD’s, like the romantic sonatas of J.Brahms, R.Schumann, A.Rubinstein and N.Medtner, between others, for Spanish Classical Radio.
As a Concertmaster he worked with the Georgian State Symphony Orchestra and was invited to the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra by conductors as V.Dudarova and P.Kogan, sharing stage with famous conductors and musicians like G.Rozhdestvensky, M.Rostropovich, V.Gergiev, D.Kitaenko, G.Sokolov, N.Gutman or V.Tretyakov.
After moving to Spain with the “Moscow Virtuosi” chamber orchestra of V.Spivakov, he performed in the Spivakov-Quartet and the Moscow String Quartet, giving numerous concerts and recording CD’s of Tchaikovsky and Borodin, which left a wonderful response in the press.
Furthermore, he was invited for several years to the High School of Music “Reina Sofia” in Madrid.