DINU LIPATTI COMPETITION
JURY
Distinguished artists and music professionals guiding the competition
The jury of the Dinu Lipatti International Piano Competition brings together respected pianists, professors and music professionals with significant international experience. Their role is essential in ensuring a rigorous, transparent, and artistically meaningful evaluation process.
Through their expertise, the jury identifies not only technical excellence, but also musical depth, individuality, stylistic understanding, and artistic maturity. In keeping with Dinu Lipatti’s legacy, the competition values integrity, refinement, and expressive sincerity, offering young pianists the opportunity to be heard, assessed, and encouraged by leading figures in the classical music world.
Martin Hughes
Martin Hughes began his musical journey as a chorister at Salisbury Cathedral, later studying with Eric Warley at Bryanston School, and subsequently entering the Paris Conservatoire at the age of sixteen, in the class of Yvonne Lefébure. His education continued at the Moscow Conservatoire with Lev Oborin, and through influential encounters with Benjamin Britten and Wilhelm Kempff.
His Wigmore Hall debut at the age of 21 led to engagements with major orchestras and a series of solo recitals at London’s South Bank. His lifelong commitment to the Viennese classics began with a Beethoven sonata cycle in 1979, presented over eight weekly concerts, and culminated in a Schubert sonata cycle in Berlin, marking the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 1997.
“Measured, lucid, serene, and above all, superlatively intelligent, Martin Hughes’s piano recital at the Queen Elizabeth Hall yesterday was an artistic triumph — something for his audience to treasure in their hearts and minds.”
— Bryce Morrison, The Daily Telegraph
Martin Hughes held a professorship at the Berlin University of the Arts before joining the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he is now emeritus professor. Renowned for his original approach to piano technique and musical text analysis, he has guided many students to success at major international competitions, including the International Beethoven Competition in Vienna.
He has written for Cambridge University Press and Universal Edition. Of his article on Beethoven interpretation on modern instruments (“Interpreting Beethoven,” ed. Stowell, Cambridge University Press, 1994), Paul Badura-Skoda remarked:
“Every pianist who is seriously interested in rendering the spirit of a Beethoven piano work ought to read it.”
His most recent publication, Translating Beethoven: The 32 Piano Sonatas, is available on Amazon worldwide.
“Original, scholarly, and full of penetrating observations. This book by Martin Hughes is a revelation, despite the huge amount of scholarship on Beethoven available elsewhere.”
Dana Borșan
Described by Die Rheinpfalz as “a thoroughbred musician” and praised by Münchner Merkur for a “limitless virtuosity and the power of tone combined with delicate sensitivity and spirituality,” Dana Borșan is one of Romania’s most respected pianists.
An esteemed pedagogue, she has served since 1990 as Professor and Doctor of Music at the National University of Music Bucharest. She was concert soloist with the Romanian Radio Orchestras and Choirs from 2000 to 2018, and previously with the Oradea Philharmonic between 1981 and 1990.
In 2006, she completed a unique project in Romania: the complete cycle of Mozart’s piano concertos, performed live with the Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra and released as an 8-CD album — a landmark achievement in Romanian pianism.
Born in Cluj, Dana Borșan graduated from the Bucharest Conservatoire (now the National University of Music Bucharest) and was later awarded a scholarship at the Universität der Künste Berlin. She studied with distinguished masters such as Gabriel Amiraș (a pupil of Heinrich Neuhaus), Georg Sava, and Peter Florian, and benefited from the mentorship of Hans Leygraf, Hélène Boschi, and Dmitri Bashkirov.
A series of national and international competition prizes — most notably Second Prize at the prestigious Robert Schumann International Competition in Zwickau at the age of 19 — rapidly propelled her career onto major concert stages.
For over five decades, Dana Borșan’s name has appeared consistently on concert posters across 17 countries, in programs of renowned festivals such as the Enescu Festival (Bucharest), Schumann (Zwickau), Potsdam, Faenza, Aberdeen, Lipatti (Bucharest), Mozart (Cluj), and Mărțișor (Chișinău).
She has given more than 950 concerts and recitals, recorded over 2,000 minutes of music for Romanian National Radio, and released 14 CDs and 2 LPs with labels such as Casa Radio, K.U. Classics, Eterna, and Electrecord. These include works by Schumann and concertos by Chopin, Liszt, Mozart, Hanns Wolf, Moszkowski, and Chausson. Her artistry has brought her together with numerous renowned conductors, including Cristian Măcelaru, Vladimir Uryupin, Julien Salemkour, Sascha Goetzel, Sébastien Rouland, Jochen Wehner, David Crescenzi, David Gimenez, Emil Tabakov, Horia Andreescu, Christoph Adt, Alexis Hauser, Cristian Mandeal, Daisuke Soga, Jin Wang, and many others.
She has been recognized with Romanian Critics’ Awards (1991, 1998, 2006), the UNIMIR Prize for interpretative excellence (2019), and was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit, Knight Rank, in 2011 by the President of Romania.
Dana Borșan has also taught as an Erasmus guest professor at universities in Vienna, Paris, Stuttgart, Weimar, Oslo, Cork, and Nuremberg, and has given masterclasses in Essen, Wuppertal, Stuttgart, and Catania. She has served on the juries of numerous national and international competitions, including Liszt (Bayreuth-Weimar), Grieg (Oslo), Guérande (French Music), and competitions in Hong Kong, Bucharest (Enescu, Lipatti), Cluj (Mozart), and Arad (Beethoven).
Gianluca Luisi
“ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING ITALIAN PIANISTS OF OUR TIME…”
Critics from around the world (Postdate Nachrichten , Fanfare, New York at Carnegie Hall Concert reviews , Musica, consider Gianluca Luisi one of the most interesting Italian pianists of our time. His performances have received enthusiastic acclaim in many areas of the world.
In Italy, he graduated with honors from the Conservatory of Pesaro with M° Franco Scala ; studied at the Incontri col Maestro International Academy in Imola with Lazar Berman, Boris Petrushansky, Riccardo Risaliti, Piero Rattalino and with Aldo Ciccolini in Naples and Paris.
Gianluca Luisi has performed in prestigious halls and important venues such as the Musikverein in Vienna , Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Festival of the “Rarity of the piano music” of Husum (Germany), the Concert Hall Toyota (Japan), the ” Musical Evenings “(Serate Musicali) in Milan, the Fondazione del Teatro Lirico di Trieste, the Accademia Filarmonica di Verona, the” Tiroler Festspiele (Austria), the Konzert Hall and Chuden Hall in Nagoya ( Japan), the Rossini Festival (Pesaro), the New Auditorium of Milan, the Maison the la Musique in Montreal (Canada), the Bach Academy in Stuttgart (Mozart Saal) and Leipzig Bach Festival (Germany).
He also performed at the famous Teather San Carlo in Naples , to the Schleswig- Holstein Musik Festival (Hamburg ), in the castle of Bach in Köthen, Boesendorfer Hall in Vienna, for the Music Festival of the Saarland, in Weiden and Sulzbach Meisterkonzerte, in Bauman Auditorium in Newberg (USA) and many other U.S. cities as Washington D.C., New York, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Cleveland as well as other places in Europe (Czechoslovakia, Malta, Porto ,Oslo, Helsinki, Berlin, Frankfurt ) and China ( Shanghai SHCM , Nanjing New Concert Hall, Shenzhen Piano Music Festival, Pudong Piano Festival ) and for the 200th anniversary of Sauter Piano in China on 2019.
He has worked with important international orchestras : the Frankfurt Philarmonic Orchestra, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra , San Carlo Simphony Orchestra (from San Carlo Theater, Naples), Philharmonic Orchestra from the Marche Government Foundation (FORM), Gioacchino Rossini Simphony Orchestra (ROF) , Kasugay Symphony Orchestra (Japan), Shanghai Philarmonic Orchestra (China), “Filarmonici italiani”, the ECF ( Ensemble Concertant Frankfurt), the Chantily Quintett winner of ARD first prize ( Bavarian Radio) , the Deutsch Chamber Orchester as well as many others .
Aki Kuroda
Aki Kuroda (Piano) graduated from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and studied with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Hans Leygraf, and Bruno Mezzena, earning a degree with distinction in 20th-century piano music from the Accademia Musicale Pescarese.
She performs extensively across Japan and Europe, especially in Italy, as a soloist and chamber musician.
A prizewinner of the French Music Competition, the Contemporary Music Competition in Tokyo, and the Xavier Montsalvatge Prize in Spain, she is also a member of the Tokyo Gen’On Project.
Kuroda serves as Vice President of the Piano Teachers’ National Association of Japan (PTNA) and is a professor at the Accademia del Ridotto in Italy.
Kuroda is also acclaimed as a tango and jazz music performer.
Her recordings of “Final Fantasy X. XIII”, “Tarkus” and “Pictures at an Exhibition” have been universally praised.
Viniciu Moroianu
Viniciu Moroianu was born in Bucharest in 1962 and showed an early interest in composition, conducting, and literature. He studied piano with Marta Paladi and graduated from the Bucharest Conservatory in 1985, in the class of pianist Gabriel Amiraș, a disciple of Heinrich Neuhaus.
He gave his first recital at the age of 10 and made his orchestral debut in 1976 with Bach’s Concerto in D minor. The first philharmonic orchestra with which he appeared as a soloist was the Craiova Philharmonic in 1978. His concert career includes more than one thousand appearances in recitals, chamber music concerts, and performances as a soloist with orchestra.
His extensive repertoire, ranging from Baroque to contemporary music, includes premieres, three complete Beethoven cycles, thematic recital programs, and lieder evenings. He has collaborated with all major Romanian orchestras, as well as ensembles from Great Britain (“Academy of St. Martin in the Fields”), Austria (“Camerata Salzburg”), Switzerland, Greece, the Republic of Moldova and Bulgaria.
He has given recitals in Bucharest (Romanian Athenaeum, Radio Hall), Paris, Rome, Venice, Madrid, Berlin, and Munich, as well as chamber music performances in New York, Brussels, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Luxembourg, Bern, Zurich, Lima, and Chișinău. He has participated in the international festivals “George Enescu” (eight editions), “Dinu Lipatti” (three editions), “Academia Sighișoara” (eleven editions), and “Piano Nights” in Chișinău (two editions), as well as festivals in Besançon, San José, Graz, and Bratislava.
He is a laureate of the international competitions in Paris (“Guilde Française des Artistes Solistes”, 1979) and Bucharest (“George Enescu”, 1991). In Romania, he has received awards for his interpretations of works by Enescu and Lipatti.
For more than 30 years, he has served as Professor of Piano at the National University of Music Bucharest. Among his students are one prize winner and two semifinalists of the International “George Enescu” Competition.
His performances have been broadcast live by the EBU and Radio Bartók Budapest. He has recorded for record labels in Romania and Greece. At the “Dinu Lipatti” House of Arts in Bucharest, he produced a double CD featuring the complete solo piano works of Lipatti (2022), a world premiere recording. This project was also the subject of his doctoral thesis, defended in 2005.
At the beginning of 2026, he was awarded the Excellence Prize of the Union of Romanian Music Critics, Editors, and Producers.
Mihai Ungureanu
Mihai Ungureanu is quite an enigmatic figure of modesty that surpasses all expectations.
Never eager for publicity, he is too little interested in revealing the man behind the artist to the public. Yet, his name is known world wide due to the exceptional interpretative art demonstrated in an immense number of concerts and recitals sustained in Romania and abroad.
As a student at the University of Music in Bucharest, Mihai Ungureanu had the privilege of studying under esteemed musicians such as Dan Grigore and Ioana Minei.
Beginning in 1981 he embarked on an intensive concert career, collaborating with all Romanian symphonic orchestras, with his exceptional stage presence earning recognition internationally as well.
His name is well tied with Craiova “Oltenia” Philharmonic, being the soloist in residence since 1986 until present days.
Between 1990–2000 and 2003–2009, Mihai Ungureanu served as the General Manager of the “Oltenia” Philharmonic. Additionally, he held the role of Artistic Director between 2001–2003 and again from 2012–2016.
He has won several national competitions and was honored with the ATM Award — Music Critics Award, 1986.
As a soloist, chamber musician, and accompanist, Mihai Ungureanu has performed in renowned cultural centers in most countries across Europe, Canada, USA and South America — Argentina and Brazil — Russia and various parts of Asia — Japan, South Korea, Iran, and Lebanon.
With a broad presence in the musical field, he regularly serves as a jury member for prestigious international competitions.
Mihai Ungureanu has made significant contributions to discography through his recordings with Electrecord in Bucharest, where he promoted both the national repertoire and important works from the universal repertoire.
His notable recordings include G. Enescu’s Third Sonata for Piano and Violin op. 25 with violinist Luminița Rogacev, J. Brahms’ Piano Quartets with the Trio Consonanse ensemble in Craiova, and various sonatas and works for cello and piano with Ioana Ostafi.
Additionally, he recorded two CDs with Bella Musica in Freiburg, Germany, featuring J. Haydn’s Piano Sonata in E flat major Hob. XVI:52 and two Piano Concertos — G major Hob. XIII/4 and D major Hob. XIII/11 — with the Alicante Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Alfonso Saura.
Another important recording he made is G. Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and the “Concerto in F” for piano and orchestra with the “Banatul” Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of Timișoara, conducted by Camil Marinescu.
Notably, he has also recorded CDs of contemporary German music — Gerhard Rosenfeld — with violinist Jenny Abel and a special CD dedicated to the music of Pascal Bentoiu, at Hasted-WDR 3 Records, in collaboration with the Nordwest Deutsche Philharmonie, conducted by maestro Horia Andreescu.
In 2007, he continued his collaboration with Jenny Abel to record sonatas by German romantic composers — Joachim, Brahms, Dietrich, Robert Schumann and Clara Schumann — further showcasing his versatility and dedication.
Florian Wiek
Awarded with the gold medal of the Concurso Maria Canals in Barcelona and the award of the German Music Competition, Florian Wiek started a concert career, which led him to numerous international podiums.
He is at home in most musical configurations — from solo recitals and concerti with orchestras through ensemble work to large-scale chamber music and Lieder.
His repertoire ranges from baroque works to new compositions, and the music of the First Viennese School plays a focal role.
The exploration of this eloquent yet sparing musical language constantly poses new challenges for Wiek, something which has been reflected in programmes throughout his entire musical career.
Concert tours have taken Florian Wiek across Germany and Europe, as well as to Israel, Asia, North and South America.
His performances have been recorded and broadcast by numerous radio and television stations — WDR, BR, NDR, HR, SWR, DW, SFB, ARD, ZDF — and on CD.
Together with the flutist Christina Fassbender and the cellist Justus Grimm, he founded the “Trio Wiek” in 2002, with which he was a guest at numerous festivals and renowned concert halls.
As the son of a family of visual artists, it is particularly important to bring together a wide variety of artifications: music and poetry, for example in programs about Schubert and Mozart, music and visual art/figure theater, for example in the Carnival of the Animals of Saint-Saëns.
Cyclical performances of the piano trios and cello sonatas were the focus for the Beethoven Year 2020.
His pianistic training began with Monika Twelsiek and Rose Marie Zartner and later led Florian Wiek to the Musikhochschule Cologne and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris to the classes of Professor Günter Ludwig and Pierre-Laurent Aimard.
Florian Wiek acquired the pedagogical and artistic diploma and in winter 2002 completed his studies in the class of Professor Volker Banfield at the University of Music and Theater in Hamburg with the concert exam.
In addition to his concerts, Wiek shows an intensive interest in pedagogical work and will be appointed to a professorship for piano and chamber music in the HMDK Stuttgart at the age of 32.
Since then he has been running a successful class that has already produced numerous international award winners.
This activity is complemented by master classes at home and abroad.
Florian Wiek has also been asked as a juror of international piano and chamber music competitions for several years.
Most recently, he worked in Vercelli’s piano competitions — Viotti, Italy — and Jinjiang, China, or Josef Joachim Competition in Weimar.
Since 2020, Florian Wiek has also headed the “Resonance Rooms” Chamber Music Festival in Stuttgart and, together with his wife Anke Dill, the Mozart Society-Stuttgart.