President of the Jury
Gábor Eckhardt – pianist
Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Aladár Tóth School of Music, Budapest

Gábor Eckhardt began his musical studies at the Zoltán Kodály Primary School for Singing and Music. In 1975, after graduating from the Béla Bartók Secondary School of Music, he was admitted to the second year of the piano course at the Liszt Academy of Music. His teachers were Sándor Falvai and György Kurtág. He attended a two-year post-graduate course at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, studying with Dmitri Bashkirov. In 1980, he was awarded first prize in the Dohnányi Piano Competition at the college.

He is an active performer both at home and abroad. In 1996 he was awarded the Liszt Prize. As a dedicated interpreter of Hungarian contemporary music, he has been awarded the Artisjus Prize several times and the Oeuvre Prize in 2012. He was a founding member of the Intermodulation Chamber Ensemble led by László Tihanyi. He formed the Trio d’Echo with András Horn (clarinet) and György Déri (cello). From 2003–2009 he was a member of the Budapest Festival Orchestra.

He teaches piano at the Liszt Academy of Music. His pupils have successfully performed in national and international piano competitions, many of them becoming renowned artists. He regularly gives master classes and further training courses, not only in Hungary but also in Europe and Asia. He has participated as a jury member or jury president in numerous competitions in Hungary and abroad (Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Serbia, Japan, China, Vietnam, etc.). He was the editor of the second volume of the score of György Cziffra’s ‘Transcriptions’. He is a popular presenter with both children and adults.

Members of the International Jury
Boldizsár Csíky Jnr. - pianist
Gheorghe Dima Academy of Music, Cluj-Napoca

Boldizsár Csíky Jnr. was born in 1968 in Reghin (Szászrégen). He studied in the Lyceum of Arts, Tirgu Mures (Marosvásárhely), and then in the Gh. Dima Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár). As a college student studying piano, he won the nationwide prize five times, then in 1994 won the ‘Cella Delavrancea’ prize. He has taken part in masterclasses with Lev Naumov and Jenő Jandó. Between 1993 and 1997 he was a student of Walter Krafft’s masterclasses in Munich. In 1998 he attended a summer masterclass in Fontainebleau where his teachers to G. Cassadesus, Ph. Bianconi, and Ph. Entremont.

In 2000, after performing in nearly 40 concerts each season there, the Munich Music Seminar appointed him permanent soloist. He has performed with all the symphony orchestras in Romania, and has made radio, television, and CD recordings. He is a member of several national and international juries, and has given many masterclasses at home and abroad. He has performed in over 800 concerts, in all the musical centres in Romania and also in Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Moldova, Russia, Scotland, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the USA. Conductors with whom he has performed include: Erich Bergel, Ion Baciu, Emanoil Elenescu, Emil Simon, Petre Sbârcea, Lajos Bács, Ervin Aczél, Remus Georgescu, Cristian Mandeal, Horia Andreescu, Ilarion Ionescu-Galați, Sabin Păutza, Gheorghe Costin, Edward Tschivzel, Zoltán Kocsis and others. His chamber music partners include: István Ruha, Diana Ligeti, Gurban Carmen, Gaetano d’Espinosa, László Fenyő, Rolf Herbrechtmayer, Andreas Henkel, Valentin Arcu, Dan Grigore, Jenő Jandó, the Transsylvania String Quartet, the Gaudeamus String Quartet, the Moscow Trio, and others.

In 2000 he gained a doctoral degree with his thesis on Scriabin’s piano music. He is currently a professor of the University of Music in Cluj-Napoca. Several of his pupils take part and win prizes in national and international competitions, and many of them have now become renowned in the concert hall or as teachers.

Erzsébet Kőrösiné Belák – pianist
King St. Stephen High School of Music, Budapest

Erzsébet Kőrösiné Belák graduated with honours in piano and piano teaching at the Liszt Academy of Music in 1988, then for 10 years taught at the Richter János Music Secondary School in Győr. She began work at the King Saint Stephen Music Grammar School 30 years ago, and still directs the piano department of the school. In parallel with this for 15 years she taught at the Béla Bartók Conservatory.

The King Saint Stephen Music Grammar School has for 15 years hosted the children’s concert series ‘The Steinway is yours’, which Erzsébet Belák created based on her own idea, and which she directs herself. Many of the pupils discovered during the concert series are now pianists and teachers. As leader of teaching practice at the Béla Bartók Conservatory, she participates in directing the observation of trainees from the Music Academy. She regularly holds further education courses, showcase lessons in Hungary and in the surrounding countries, and also in Mexico and China. She regularly sits on the jury in piano competitions in Hungary and abroad. Every year she is invited as an arts teacher to the Lotz János Summer School, to the Bozsok Festival, and she gives courses in Siófok and Budapest. Many of her pupils have become outstanding pianists, teachers, or recognized experts in music life in Hungary and abroad.

Krisztina Mate - pianist
Music School of Subotica, Subotica

After finishing music high school in Subotica in the class of professor Mária Székely, Krisztina Mate graduated at the Academy of Music in Novi Sad with renowned pianist Rita Kinka. She improved her music education at masterclasses with Arbo Valdma, Kemal Gekić, and Jegor Chugajev.

Since 2002, Kristina Mate has been a professor at the Music School Subotica. Her students have won many awards and special prizes at national and international competitions.

As a piano accompanist, she has worked with strings and woodwind instruments, as well as working with singers and choirs, ranging from young students to professional musicians, at concerts, masterclasses, and competitions in her country and abroad. Kristina Mate has participated as an official accompanist in the Miloš Nikolić violin masterclass (2005–2015), the FEMUS International competition for woodwind instruments (2017, Subotica), and the MINI PAGANINI International competition for young violinists (2021, Belgrade). She was the official pianist of the Subotica Symphony Orchestra Association (2018–2020).
Kristina Mate has been the director of the ‘Pianissimo’ international competition for young pianists in Subotica since 2015.

Marianna Szakács - pianist
Dezső Zádor Secondary School of Music, Uzhhorod

Marianna Szakács is a pianist and a recipient of the Honoured Worker of Culture of Ukraine award. She graduated from the Lviv Academy of Music in 1987 and has been the head of the piano department at the Dezső Zádor Music School (College) in Uzhhorod since 2009. She has performed as a guest artist in Switzerland and the USA. She has given piano masterclasses and participated as a jury member in numerous piano competitions, including the International Piano Competition for Four Hands MusicMagic (Zenevarázslat) 2020. She is the initiator and organizer of the Dezső Zádor International Piano Competition.

Over the years, she has prepared many of her graduating students for a career in music, and they have gone on to study in Ukraine and Europe, at the Music Academies of Kiev, Budapest, Bratislava, Berlin, Madrid, Brussels.