22 August 2023
3-10 September 2023
Helena Ha-Young Sul, a dedicated and established concert pianist and teacher / coach, is regularly invited as a jury member and teacher in master classes and piano competitions nationally and internationally.
The Swedish-born concert pianist Helena Ha-Young Sul has her roots in Korea and Japan.
Her passion for arranging events and activities for young musicians has established events including the Gothenburg Piano Festival in Sweden and the Music institutes. As a music director, she invites musicians from all over the world.
Her first official appearance, at the age of 7, was to win the first prize at the Steinway International Piano Competition in Hamburg, Germany. She then won gold medal and prizes in Berlingske Tidende in Denmark, Ettlingen International Piano Competition, Germany and Ljunggrenska Music Competition, Kil's piano competitions in Sweden and the Royal Academy of Music, Stockholm.
At the age of 15, Helena Ha-Young entered the ROYAL DANISH MUSIC ACADEMY in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her first teacher was her mother, Inga Törnblom and Marianne Jacobs. Other teachers were Tom Ernst, prof. José Ribera (solo piano), Amalie Malling, Anne Öland (chamber music), Friedrich Gurtler (comp).
She graduated in 1998 with the highest grades in solo piano and chamber music.
Helena Ha-Young Sul
Founder & artistic director
Jury August 27-28
In 1998 she entered the Master Degree (per Postgraduate Performance Course) and studied for 2 years at the ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC LONDON, England. Her teacher was prof. Christopher Elton. In 1999-2000 she had also entered the Pianoteaching program with Vanessa Latarche.
In 2000 she continued at the CONSERVATOIRE DE MUSIQUE DE GENÈVE, Switzerland in Classe de Virtuosité and studied for 3 years with prof. Dominique Merlet and contemporary music with Jean-Jacques Balet. She graduated with the highest grade Diplome de Soloiste. During her studies, Helena Ha-Young participated in several international master classes such as Tel-Hai International Piano Master Israel with teacher Pnina Salzman and was awarded top scholarships from, among others, the Royal Academy of Music and the Lions Rotary Club, Sweden.
She was selected as a Young Artists at the University of Texas at Forth Worth, USA and was awarded Pianist of the Year, Skåne 2000. In Forth Worth, she collaborated with Stanislav Ioudenitch, José Feghali, Yoheved Kaplinsky and Tamas Ungar. Other masterclasses were in Darmstadt with prof. Hans Leygraf. Later with Liisa Pohjola (Finland), Romuald Sztern, Per Tengstrand and Iliya Itin (Sweden) Paul Badura-Skoda and Charles Rosen (UK).
Helena Ha-Young has participated in many national and international piano festivals, including International Piano festival in Eindhoven, Holland, Steinway & Sons Festival in Berlin, Germany, Piano en Saintonge, France, Festival Archipel, Switzerland, Helsingborgs Pianofestival and Båstads International Chambermusicfestival, Sweden In 2011 she performed works by Liszt and invited selected pianists to this event Liszt anniversary at Stenhammarsalen at Concerthouse, Sweden and the concert was recorded by Swedish Radio P2.
She has appeared on TV and Radio (BBC, DR radio, Swedish Radio P2, Suisse Romande and Swedish Television). Helena Ha-Young is also an interpretation of new contemporary music and is performed with Ensemble Contemporain in Switzerland, new music performed as Betsy Jolas, Lionel Rogg and Rolf Martinsson (especially dedicated to the piano piece Acquarius for her) and latest Sofia Gubaidulina successfully had a composer herself.
Among the concerts she has performed piano concerts such as Mozart Pianoconcerto no. 19, no. 21 and Beethoven Triple Concert with the Royal Academy of Music, Copenhagen, Tchaikowski No. 2, Mendelssohn No. 1 and Grieg with, among others, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and Tivoli Symphony Orchestra. She has collaborated with conductors such as Arild Remmereit, Tommy B. Andersson, Olaf Henzold, Michael Tabachnik and Owain Arwel Hughes.
Helena has over 30 years of experience as a solo pianist and chamber musician and has performed in Sweden, Denmark (1998-99 a concert with Beethoven sonatas and a concert work by Chopin in the Tivoli Concert Hall) other concerts have been given in Israel, Germany, France, Switzerland, United States, China and South Korea. Most recently, there have been successful solo concerts in Montenegro and Budapest.
As a sought-after coach and educator, she also travels to various summer courses and universities to teach masterclasses. She works as a teacher in Gothenburg and arranges Music Mind Games, a pedagogical way to learn music theory. Other major interests are interior design and art.
Since 2010, she is the founder and artistic director of the Gothenburg Piano Festival in Sweden. www.goteborgspianofestival.com
PROFESSOR CHRISTOPHER ELTON
Christopher Elton was born in Edinburgh and received most of his musical training at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he achieved the unusual distinction of receiving the Academy's highest achievement award - the Dip. RAM - on both piano and 'cello.
Christopher Elton's international recognition has come as a result of the many successes of his students - mostly at the Royal Academy of Music. Many have won international awards, including the gold medal at the Cliburn (where last year Anna Geniushene won the Silver Medal award. Other first prizes are the London "World", "Top of The World", Shenzen International Piano and Montreal International Piano As well as competitions such as Jaen, Newport , Dudley and New Orleans Further success has come with five prize winners in the relatively recent Leeds International Piano Competitions as well as in the Tchaikovsky, Leipzig Bach, Dublin, Shanghai and Taiwan Competitions and many other Students have also been successful in the prestigious Young Concert Artists award in New York, as well as in the London Young Concert Artists Trust Many of his students are now recording artists, including Freddy Kempf, Yevgeny Sudbin, Joanna MacGregor, Inon Barnatan and Benjamin Grosvenor.
While his priority has long been his work at the Royal Academy, London, Christopher Elton recently accepted an invitation to join the piano faculty at the Yale School of Music as Visiting Professor for the second semester of 2017/2018. He has also been in great demand abroad both as a teacher and as a jury member for international competitions. In recent years, he has given masterclasses in the United States, Japan, Israel, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Spain, Germany and Ireland and Vietnam, many of them for important conservatories or universities. He has also been a member of the jury at many important international competitions - The Cliburn, Moscow (Tchaikovsky), Dublin, Leeds, Busoni (Bolzano), Rubinstein. Vienna Beethoven, Shenzen and China International to name but a few. He has also given concerts in the UK, USA, Ireland, Spain, Australia and Vietnam.
He was a prizewinner in several British and international piano competitions, performing and broadcasting regularly both as a soloist and in chamber music. At the same time, he worked as a freelance cellist with the major London orchestras.
Christopher Elton was head of keyboards at the Royal Academy of Music in London (where he was elected a fellow in 1983) from 1987 to 2011. In 2002 he was awarded the title of professor at the University of London. He now also holds the title of Emeritus Director of Piano, and still has a large class of students at the Royal Academy of Music.
Christopher Elton
Jury 9-10 September
Master class 10 September
Galina Ehrngren studied at the conservatory in St. Petersburg with prof. N. Golubovskaya. She has experience teaching piano in both St. Petersburg and Stockholm. Principal of Maestro Academy.
She is the author of several textbooks with a focus on piano methodology. Among other things, a textbook for beginners "Pianoresan" which is a combination of Russian classical piano school and newer teaching methods such as practical harmony and aural teaching as well as various forms of music making such as improvisation. The book has been used in Sweden since 2005.
Galina Ehrngren is the founder and artistic director of the Stockholm International Music Competition (SIMC). She has received the Mai von Rosens Piano Teacher Award 2020 which is awarded by the Royal Academy of Music.
Ecaterina Wehlander
Master class 26 August
Jury August 27-28
István I. Székely
Master class 26 August
Jury August 27-28
He has performed with international artists such as Clara Novakova, Joaquin Palomares, Joan Enric Lluna, Jovan Bogosavljevic, Susanna Gregorian, with the soloists from the Valencia Orchestra, etc. In 2017, he recorded several Chopin studies of exceptional virtuosity of the animated short film Impromptía, directed by Marpromía Lorenzo and produced by Enrique Millán, with the participation of Cultur Arts (Generalitat Valenciana) and the network A Punt Media. Impromptu has been one of the most relevant Spanish animation shorts from last year, nominated for the Goya 2018 Awards. It was premiered at the Alcalá de Henares Emblematic Film Festival, and has so far been screened in more than 50 events in 20 countries, such as the Animation Festival of Annecy (France), Bristol Encounters (UK), Anima Mundi (Brazil) or Animation Nights (New York). Winnings: Best Art Animation at Expression Art Movie Festival (Los Angeles, USA), Best Short Film (exaequo) at Animaze Animation International Festival (Montreal, Canada), Best Experimental Animation Card at International Animation Cardboard Festival - La Tribu (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Best Animation Short Film at Astorga Film Festival (Spain), Best Valencia animation at Cortoons (Gandía) István I. Székely is the founder of the artistic director of the Franz Liszt Center Piano Competition, the Great Masters Piano Competition and the Sombor Philharmonic.
Patrick Jovell is the former President, now an Honorary Member of the Swedish Piano Teachers Association (EPTA).
Educated in Sweden, the USA and France, he has given concerts as both soloist and chamber musician in fifteen countries and has participated in Swedish Television, Swedish Radio and Italian RAI.
As an educator, he has worked as a senior lecturer and associate professor at the music academies in Gothenburg, Sweden and Tilburg, the Netherlands. Jovell's students have received prizes at Swedish and international piano competitions.
As a lecturer and masterclass holder, he has recently been invited to festivals and other forums in Sweden, Italy, Iceland, Estonia, Poland, Serbia and the USA. Jovell regularly participates as a writer and editor for the EPTA Sweden Magazine, Piano Street Magazine and the magazine The World of Piano Competitions.
In this capacity he also received assignments from The Chopin Institute in Warsaw. As an innovator and pianist, Patrick Jovell collaborated with a number of filmmakers in the project "Swedish Piano Films", which led to a nomination by the Swedish Film Institute to compete at the International Film Festival in Venice.
He holds workshops on various topics, from Alexander Scriabin's color hearing (synaesthesia) to today's digitization of music education. Jovell is a former board member of the Swedish Music Council - the National Committee of the International Music Council (IMC/UNESCO). He has enjoyed support from The Royal Swedish Academy of Music, The Swedish Institute, The Wallenberg Foundation and the French Government a.o.
Patrick Jovell
Master class 26-27 August
Jury August 28th
Patrick Jovell
Jury Online Semifinal
Jury 9-10 september
Mästarklass 10 september
Patrick Jovell är tidigare ordförande, nu hedersmedlem i Svenska Pianopedagogförbundet (EPTA - Sweden).
Utbildad vid musikhögskolor i Sverige, USA och Frankrike har han givit konserter som både solist och kammarmusiker i femton länder och bl.a. medverkat i Sveriges Television, Sveriges Radio och Italienska RAI.
Som pedagog har han fungerat som universitetslektor och docent vid musikhögskolorna i Göteborg, Sverige och Tilburg, Nederländerna. Jovells elever har fått priser vid svenska och internationella pianotävlingar.
Som föreläsare och masterclass-hållare har han nyligen bjudits in till festivaler, konferenser och andra forum i Sverige, Italien, Island, Estland, Polen, Serbien och USA.
Jovell medverkar regelbundet som skribent och redaktör för EPTA Sweden Magazine, Piano Street Magazine och tidningen The World of Piano Competitions. I denna egenskap har han även fått uppdrag från Chopin Institutet i Warszawa.
Som innovatör och pianist samarbetade Patrick Jovell med ett antal filmskapare i projektet "Svenska pianofilmer", vilket ledde till en nominering av Svenska filminstitutet för att tävla på den internationella filmfestivalen i Venedig.
Han håller workshops i olika ämnen, alltifrån Alexander Skrjabins färghörsel (synestesi) till dagens pågående digitalisering av musikutbildning.
Jovell är tidigare styrelseledamot i Svenska Musikrådet - den nationella kommittén för The International Music Council (IMC/UNESCO). Han har åtnjutit stöd från Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien, Svenska Institutet, Wallenbergstiftelsen och som fransk statsstipendiat.
Hemsida: www.patrickjovell.com