JURY
LEONEL MORALES
President
Professor at the Salzburg Sommerakademie, Alfonso X el Sabio University, Forum Musikae School of Music. Exclusive Artist of Yangtze River Piano (China), artistic director and founder of the María Herrero International Piano Competition (Granada) and the International Piano Competition for Spanish Composers (WFIMC) in Madrid, as well as the Granada music festival “Leonel Morales and Friends”. Since 2024 exclusive representative of the prestigious German piano brand Grotian-Steinweg in Spain.
Javier Herreros
Musician
According to specialist critics, he is one of the most outstanding Spanish pianists of his generation. Trained at the Conservatories of Granada and Madrid, he is an outstanding student of the masters Josefina Bustamante, Joaquín Soriano and Ricardo Requejo.
He was awarded a scholarship by the Ministry of Culture to take advanced courses in Granada (Manuel de Falla International Courses), Santander (Menéndez Pelayo University), and Thonon les Bains (France, Reencuentros Musicales), receiving advice from Rosa Sabater, Malcolm Frager and Louis Hiltbrand. Among his awards is the First Manuel de Falla Prize for piano performance from the University of Granada.
Andrey Reznik
Professor, Interpreter
Born in Ukraine of German descent, he graduated as a concert pianist from the PI Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow (one of the most accredited musical universities in the world), and is heir to the piano school of the legendary masters Neuhaus and Flier, studying with the famous musicians: V. Krainev, L. Vlasenko and S. Alumian. Over time, he had his own disciples who now stand out in international competitions.
His symphonic works have been and are performed by renowned institutions such as the Russian National Orchestra (under the baton of maestro Mikhail Pletnev), the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra in Moscow, the “Colon” Theatre Orchestra in Buenos Aires (Argentina), and the Kharkiv Symphony Orchestra (Ukraine), among others.
He is frequently invited to give Master Classes both in Spain and Russia and has an extensive discography, including his own works published in Russia and screened in Spain. He has made several recordings of Classical Music.
Myriam Sotelo
Teacher, Interpreter
She began her studies at the age of eight at the Ángel Barrios Professional Music Conservatory in Granada, obtaining ten years later the professional music degree in the specialty of piano with the highest grades under the direction of Ramona Herrero.
He completed his music studies at the prestigious Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden (Germany) with Professor Gunther Anger. He has worked with great pianists such as Eldar Nebolsin, Ludmil Agelov, Claudio Martínez-Méhner, Luis Fernando Pérez and Alexander Kandelaki among others, highlighting the enormous influence he received over several years from maestro Andrey Reznik.
Despite his youth, he has extensive experience in the chamber repertoire, having participated in cycles for young performers in Spain and Germany, including his appearance at the Granada International Music and Dance Festival (Fex) as well as in the cycle for young performers in Pulsnitz.
Lidia Haro
Musician
Born in Pulpí (Almería), she began his musical career at the age of 8 at the Narciso Yepes Professional Music Conservatory in Lorca under the guidance of Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Pujante, and continued his higher education at the “Victoria Eugenia” Royal Conservatory of Music in Granada under the direction of professor Juan José Pérez Torrecillas, finishing with the highest grades.
After completing her studies in Spain, she continued her musical training at the Royal Conservatoire de Musique in Brussels (Belgium) under the tutelage of Patricia Montero, a student of the illustrious pedagogue Eduardo del Pueyo, and furthered her study of chamber music with the masters J. Démériz and Elianne Reyes, among others.
Juan Elvira Marquez
Director of the Armilla Festival
Juan Elvira Márquez was born in Granada in 1998. He began piano lessons at the age of 6 and decided to become a professional pianist at the age of 14. He has performed as a soloist at the Elbphilarmonie in Hamburg, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and the Wiener Saal in Salzburg. He has also given numerous concerts as a soloist and chamber music artist in Spain, Norway, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary and Switzerland.
In the summer of 2021 he was selected to participate in Elisabeth Leonskaja's masterclasses at the HfM Lübeck. He has also received masterclasses from pianists such as Philipp Raskin, Viktoria Vasilenka, Claudio Martínez Mehner, Romano Pallotini, Iván Martín, Sergei Radkin, Marta Gulyas, Yves Henry, Luis Fernando Pérez, Nino Kereselidze, Mikhail Voskresensky, Stefania Neonato, Joanna Lawrynowicz and Klaus Hellwig. He has received, among others, the following awards: Special Prize at the "Concours International d'Ile de France", 2nd Prize at the "Rising Stars Grand Prix" in Berlin, Golden Hands Award and Best Schumann Performance at the "Charles and Sophia International Competition" and 2nd Prize at the "Aachen Mozarte International Piano Competition".
He is currently studying Konzertexamen with A. Madzar at the HfMT in Hamburg and teaches at the Shostakovich School of Music in Berlin. He is the artistic director and artist in residence of the Armilla International Festival of Classical Music Performers, which is now in its third edition.