Competition 2025

Born in Japan in 2001, Akira Oyauchi began his piano studies at the age of five with Meinhard Prinz and later with Maurizio Moretti, Toshihiro Kaneshige and Gen Matsuyama. He graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts, where he received scholarships from the Meiji Yasuda Cultural Foundation and the Ataka Prize, and from the Schola Cantorum in Paris, in which In the first year he received the unanimous congratulations of the jury. 
He is currently a student of Konstantin Scherbakov at Zurich University of the Arts as Master Specialized Music Performance - Major Solistin oder Solist, and Masataka Goto, Fumiko Eguchi at Showa Music University as a scholarship student. In addition to piano, he also studied composition and organ.
He has taken part in master classes with Kazimierz Gierzod, Pascal Devoyon, Krystian Tkaczewski, Kotaro Fukuma, Konstantin Scherbakov, etc. He has performed in Japan, Taiwan, Austria, Poland and Italy as a soloist with the Japan Classical Music Orchestra and the Tokyo International Association of Artists Orchestra.
He is a prize-winner of more than 30 national and international competitions, including the 2nd Prize at the 12th  International Piano Competition Città di San Donà di Piave PIANO PERFORMANCE MASTER, the 6th Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition JAPAN, the 24th Valsesia Music Juniores International Competition, the 6th International Music Festival in Vienna, and a semi-finalist of numerous international competitions, including the 27th Scriabin International Piano Competition in Grosseto, the 29th International Piano Competition "Giulio Rospigliosi" - Schumann Prize in Pistoia, the 11th J.N. Hummel International Piano Competition in Bratislava, the 11th Giorgos Thymis International Piano Competition.

Daniele Saracino graduated in piano in 2020 and obtained his second level diploma in 2023, both with the highest grade, honors and honorable mention, under the guidance of Maestro Elisabetta Pacelli at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Music in Rome. In 2022 he obtained a three-year degree in Mathematics with a grade of 110/110 in the excellence path.

He participated in several masterclasses with masters such as Andrea Lucchesini, Benedetto Lupo, Roberto Plano, Pierluigi Camicia and Bruno Canino. In June 2025, he completed the two-year course "Master of Advanced Studies in Music Performance and Interpretation" at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, under the guidance of Maestro Anna Kravtchenko.

He won national and international competitions, including first prize at the City of Albenga International Piano Competition in 2022 and first prize at the Rospigliosi National Piano Competition in 2018.

He performed with orchestra at the Paisiello Festival at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory, at the "Città di Cantù" international competition in 2024 and in the "We love Mozart" concert at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in 2025, in chamber formation with violinist Irené Fiorito at the "Festa patronale di San Rocco 2024" event in Lugano, and played in various recitals including the concert in the Courtyard of Palazzo Riva during the Lugano Piano event in 2025,  the "Evenings in Lugano" organized by the "Arbor" Cultural Association, "Thursdays in Via Giulia – the Santa Cecilia Conservatory and the Liszt Ferenc University of Musical Studies" at the Hungarian Academy in Rome, the "Piano Recital at the Academy of the History of Health Art" at the S. Spirito Hospital in Sassia, "Italy and its treasures in the piano repertoire" in the Academic Hall of the Santa Cecilia Conservatory,  the "Gemelli in Musica – young artists for the Hospital" and in numerous cities of Italy and Switzerland, enjoying success with the public.

Born in December 2006, Chiara Bleve lives in Santa Lucia di Piave (Treviso). She began studying piano at the age of four with her uncle Tiziano Nadal and since 2016 she has been a student of Maestro Giorgio Lovato at the "A. Corelli" School of Music in Vittorio Veneto and "Clara Schumann" Music and Culture Aps in Paese; he is currently attending the High Musical Specialization Course at the Accademia del Ridotto in Stradella (Pavia) with Professor Natalia Trull.

Since 2017 she has been regularly invited as a soloist as part of numerous festivals and concert seasons in various Italian cities (Portogruaro International Music Festival; "Festival of Psychology – Enfant Prodige Theme" in Trieste; "Youth for Youth" at the Bon Theater (Colugna); "Pordenone City Plan"; Treviso International Piano Festival; "Mozart Italia" Association of Finale Ligure; "Piano Live" Turin – Pantheon Association; "Romantic Sounds" of Pordenone; "Gemme" – "Il Circolo" Association of Pordenone; Review "Music, Image, Word, Prayer" in Rome; Concert Season "Music in the historic residences" in Azzate; Concert season "Music and culture in the shadow of bell towers" in Laigueglia (Sv); Savona International Music Festival; Concert season "Together for Music" in Lignano Sabbiadoro; Music in the Landscape Festival of Conegliano; "Musica in Villa" in Paese; Ancient Fair of S. Lucia di Piave; in Croatia at the "Musical Evenings at St. Donatus" in Zadar; in Spain (Lleida, Barcelona, Girona); in Switzerland (Piano Festival "Week-ends du Piano au Temple du Bas" in Neuchatel 2023, at the "Sobrio Festival 2023", at the "Piano Wednesdays – Elisarion" in Minusio 2024, at the LAC in Lugano 2025); at the Teatro Accademia in Conegliano (TV). He has also played in the Conservatories of Venice, Verona, Udine and Castelfranco Veneto.

She made her debut as a soloist at the age of 10 accompanied by Kiara Ensemble conducted by Giuliano Pavan, performing the Concerto in G minor no.7 BWV 1058 by J. S. Bach, which was followed by the Concerto in F minor no.5 BWV 1056, the Concerto for two pianos in C minor BWV 1060 together with pianist Chiara Opalio and the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto; he has performed the Concertos Op.11 and Op.21 by F. Chopin with various orchestras: FVG Orchestra conducted by Paolo Paroni, the Kyiv Camerata conducted by Dmytro Logvin, the San Marco Orchestra of Pordenone, the Arrigoni Academy of Strings and the Friulian Philharmonic under the direction of Alessio Venier and the Naonis Orchestra conducted by Giancarlo Guarino.

Since the age of seven she has been the winner in more than 60 international competitions including: "A. Salieri" in Legnago, "Radovljica Piano Competition" in Slovenia, "City of Villafranca", "City of Treviso", "Gustav Mahler" Prize in Prague, "Paderewski in Memoriam" in Nowy Sącz – Poland, "Val de Travers" in Neuchatel – Switzerland, "A. Scriabin" Junior Piano Competition in Grosseto, "Chopin Sessions" in Felanitx – Spain,  "Città di Albenga", "Conero" in Kansas City – USA, "Ischia", "Città di S. Donà di Piave", "Città di Alessandria", "Luigi Cerritelli" in Milan, "Città di Palmanova", "Ricard Vines Piano Kids and Youth" in Lleida in Spain, "Sergio Fiorentino" in Novara, "Fausto Zadra" in Abano Terme, "Città di Riccione", "Oltregiogo Piano Competition" in Gavi (Al), "Kharkiv Meets Zurich" in Zurich – Switzerland,  "Amadeus" of Lazise, "Samson Francois" of Cagnes-Sur-Mer – France, "E. Tschaikowsky Award" of Sobrio – Switzerland, "Young Euregio Piano Award" of Geilenkirchen – Germany, "Città di Piove di Sacco".

She attended the International Music Masterclasses of the Santa Cecilia Foundation in Portogruaro with Maestros Giorgio Lovato, Boris Petrushansky and Alberto Nosé. She attended the Helsinki Intensive Masterclass with Prof. Jeremy Wing Kwan Wong; she participated in Masterclasses with Maestro Roberto Giordano in Imola, with Maestro Leonid Margarius in Krefeld (Germany) and with Professor Lilya Zilberstein in Bergamo.

She received a scholarship from the S. Cecilia Music Foundation in Portogruaro as the best student of the Summer Courses and one from Kawai Europe.

Gianni Bergamo was born in Milan, Italy in 1941, attended primary school in Italy and Liceo in Switzerland. After a degree in Economy (1964) at the Catholic University of Milan, he dedicated himself to the study of music with Tissoni (harmony and composition), D. Maffeis (organ) and N. Sanzogno (orchestra conducting) at the Conservatory of Bergamo, Italy.
From 1964 to 1994 he was a businessman with his own import-export, real estate and finance companies, though at the same time he has remained close to music and to its world.
In 1990 he created the Cultural Association “Gli Amici Cantori”, first as a chorus alone, then later accompanied by an orchestra. He has given many concerts in Italy with them, preferring the symphonic-sacred repertoire (masses, oratories, passions, etc.). At present, he lives in Santiago del Chile.

Nora Doallo was born in Buenos Aires and studied piano with Juan Salomon at the Music High School of the Cuyo National University where she received her diploma in 1959. She then continued her studies with Vincente Scaramuzza, one of the most important teachers of the time. In 1960 she was unanimously awarded first prize at the “Mozart” competition in Argentina.

She performed in Latin America, Italy and Germany. Since 1978, she has been teaching piano at the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana – University of Music.

She regularly holds masterclasses in Switzerland and Argentina.

Italian native Roberto Plano performs regularly throughout North America and Europe – notably at Lincoln Center, Sala Verdi, Salle Cortot, Wigmore Hall and the Herkulessaal. He has appeared with orchestras all over the world, under the direction of renowned conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, James Conlon, Pinchas Zuckerman, Miguel Harth-Bedoya. He has been a featured recitalist at the internationally acclaimed Newport Festival, the Portland Piano Festival, Ravinia Festival and the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival (USA), Chopin Festival (Poland), the Bologna Festival - Great Soloists (Italy), and many others. He played with String Quartets such as the Takacs, Cremona, St. Petersburg, Fine Arts, Jupiter, Muir, as well as soloists such as Ilya Grubert, Pavel Berman, Jiri Barta, Enrico Bronzi, and in duo with his wife Paola Del Negro.

Mr. Plano was the First Prize Winner at the 2001 Cleveland International Piano Competition, Prize Winner at the Honens, Dublin, Sendai, Geza Anda and Valencia Competitions and Finalist at the 2005 Van Cliburn and the Busoni Competitions, in addition to having won 15 First Prizes in National Competitions in Italy.  In January 2018 he won the American Prize in the solo professional division. Mr. Plano’s engaging personality has made him a favorite guest on radio programs such as NPR’s Performance Today.

He has recorded more than 20 commercial CDs for Briliant, Sipario, Azica, Arktos, DaVinci, Concerto, being awarded five stars by several music magazines.  and he recently released several World Première CDs with music by Andrea Luchesi (1741-1801). Mr. Plano gave the world premiere of two Luchesi piano concertos with the Busoni Chamber Orchestra in Trieste, Italy; the US premiere took place with the Toledo Symphony, Stefan Sanderling conducting. Mr. Plano’s debut recording with DECCA Classics was also recently released, featuring the “Harmonies Poetiques et Religieuses” by Liszt, which have not been recorded by Decca since the 60’s. Recent events include soloist appearances with Kremerata Baltica at the Portogruaro International Festival in Italy, with the Royal Camerata at the Athenauem Theater in Bucarest (Romania) and with the Boston Civic Symphony at Regis College, and recitals and chamber music concerts at the Stellenbosh Symposium, Sudafrica, at the Yamaha Center, Taiwan, at Vivace Vilnius Festival in Lituania, Gijon International Piano Festival in Spain and at the Boston Athenauem in USA. He was also invited to give several concerts in Russia, including two concerts at the Kremlin State Palace in Moscow, and a 10-concert chamber music tour in China with The Juilliard School’s faculty Laurie Smukler and Darrett Adkins.

Mr. Plano studied at the Verdi Conservatory in Milan, the Ecole Normale “Cortot” in Paris, where he earned the Diplôme Supérieur de Concertiste, obtaining first prize with unanimous decision and congratulations of the Jury, and the Lake Como Academy. Mr. Plano has been described by The Chronicle as the “Pavarotti of the Piano” for his lyricism and defined by Chicago radio commentator Paul Harvey as the heir to Rubinstein and Horowitz. In Italy, he has appeared on the cover of the most important music magazine, Amadeus, and has been awarded several prizes, including the Lumen Claro, previously assigned to such noteworthy people as soprano Barbara Frittoli, stylist Ottavio Missoni, and economist Mario Monti. NY Times music critic Anthony Tommasini has written: “This Italian pianist showed artistic maturity beyond his years… there was a wonderful clarity and control of inner voices in his performances…”.

After joining in 2016 the Faculty of Boston University, in 2018 he has been appointed as Associate Professor of Piano at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. One of the most sought-after teachers in the world, Mr. Plano also regularly teaches during the summer at Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival and at Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival. Starting in 2023, he will be on the Faculty of Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana (Lugano, Switzerland) and Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (UK).

Her radiant sound and poetical interpretations could sometimes reduce audiences to tears   The New York Times, Harold Schonberg.

Joyful piano playing to warm the heart and thrill the senses  The Daily Telegraph, Geoffrey Norris

Charismatic pianist, with a “luminous sound” and “poetic interpretations that can bring the listener to tears” (New York Times), Anna Kravtchenko, with her unique style and her extraordinary expressive strength, fruit of an authentically spiritual nature, makes every of her concerts an enthralling and enlightening experience.

Anna Kravtchenko established herself on the international scene after winning the Concertino International Competition in Prague and – in the same year, at the age of 16 and unanimously – the Ferruccio Busoni International Competition in Bolzano. She has played for the in the most important halls and worldwide events and  institutions such as: the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Goldener Saal of the Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in the “Meesterpianisten series”, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Sala Verdi in Milan for the “Musical Evenings”, the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Ruhr Klavier-Festival, the Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Festival La Roque D’Antheron, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the “Piano Aux Jacobins” Festival in Toulouse, the Bergen Festival, the Brescia Festival and Bergamo, to name a few. She has also performed in Japan, South Africa, the United States and Canada.

She has performed with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony, Baltimora Symphony Orchestra, Bayrischer Rundfunk Orchestra, Losanne Chamber Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra, Essen Philharmonic, London Royal Philharmonic, Noord Netherlands Orkest, Orkest van Het Osten, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Real Orquesta Sinfonica de Sevilla, English Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, la Israel Chamber Orchestra, Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra, Brabants Orchester, Prague Virtuosi, Orquesta Sinfonica Ciudad de Oviedo,  Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, National Orchestra Sweedse (Johannesburg), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (RSO), Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Orchestra Teatro Regio di Parma, Orchestra Haydn Trento e Bolzano, Orchestra Teatro Petruzzelli Bari, working with conductors including Gerd Albrecht, Daniele Gatti, Jaap van Zweden, Antoni Wit, Walter Weller, Gunter Pichler, Jan Paul Tortelier, Alexander Shelley ,Ralph Gotoni, Dmitry Sitkovetsky , Pavel Kogan, Martin Brabbins, Vassili Sinaiski, Joseph Swensen, G.Pehlivanian, Nikolai Alexeev, Heinz Wallberg, Mika Eichenholz, Petr Vronsky, G. Rath, Heinz Wallberg, Stefan Soltesz, Cristian Mandeal.

In addition to solo performances, Anna Kravtchenko collaborated in chamber music with esteemed musicians as Enrico Dindo, Pavel Berman, Sergey Krylov, Georg Hoertnagel, Stefan Milenkovich, Ole Edvard Antonsen.

In 2006 she recorded a CD for DECCA Records entirely dedicated to Chopin. In the same year Anna Kravtchenko won the International Web Concert Hall Competition in the USA.

Her latest CD for DECCA dedicated to Liszt has been reviewed with five stars and has received the award of the title “Cd of the month” in the main Italian magazines including Amadeus, Classic Voice, Suonare News and Musica.

In 2010 Deutsche Grammophone selected four pieces recorded by her including them in the “Grande Classica” and “Classic Gold” box, published in May 2010.

She studied at the International Piano Academy of Imola, where she was admitted “ad honorem”. After teaching for 15 years at the same Academy “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola, she obtained a position as Piano Professor at the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana, in Lugano (Switzerland).

Gilles Grimaitre is a pianist, keyboardist, composer, performer and curator active in the field of contemporary creation, based in Switzerland.

He performs regularly as soloist, chamber musician and with ensemble/orchestras such as Ensemble Contemporain, Ensemble Modern, Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain (NEC), Basel Sinfonietta, Camerata Bern, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Ensemble Proton. He is a member of Collegium Novum Zürich, THRIPS, Antoine Françoise & Gilles Grimaitre piano duo.

He also founded HYPER DUO with the percussionist/drummer Julien Mégroz. The duo explores as much stylistic contrasts, the search for new forms of performance as intimate collaborations with artists from extra- musical backgrounds. In 2021, their first album "Indigne de nous" was released on Everest Records.

He also plays and composes for analog synthesizers, samplers, among other odd noise devices. This creative exploration extends to his work with HYPER DUO and the experimental rock band HYPER LA CHAISE.

He studied piano with Pierre Sublet, organ with Pascale Van Coppenolle and composition with Xavier Dayer at the Hochschule der Künste Bern. He was scholarship holder at the International Ensemble Modern Academy in Frankfurt/Main for the academic year 2013-2014. He won the first prize at the Nicati Competition 2013 in Bern for the interpretation of contemporary music.

In 2022 he was awarded a Pro Helvetia residency in South India to study Konnakkol (Carnatic music) with Vidwan B R Somashekar Jois and 'Ghatam' Dr S. Karthick.

Since 2023 he is Associate Lecturer in the University of Applied Arts in Lucerne.

He studied at the Parma Conservatory under the guidance of Roberto Cappello; subsequently, he continued his studies with Dario De Rosa, Trio di Trieste, Maureen Jones, Paul Badura-Skoda, Bruno Canino, Leon Fleisher, Emanuel Ax.

He is the pianist of the Trio di Parma since 1990. The group established themselves at the Chamber Music International Competitions in Florence, Munich, Melbourne and Lyon. In addition the Trio was awarded the Italian Critics' Abbiati Prize in 1994.

He has performed for the most important musical institutions in Italy (Santa Cecilia Academy, Rome; Amici della Musica, Florence; Grand Theatre La Fenice, Venice; September Music, Turin; Società del Quartetto, Milan) and abroad (Berlin Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, Konzerthaus Wien, Salzburg Mozarteum, Lucerne and Lockenhaus Festivals, the Hamburg Musikhalle, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, Colon Theatre Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo, Santiago in Chile, Warsaw, Dresden, Washington, Hong Kong...), collaborating with musicians such as Bruno Giuranna, Pavel Vernikov, Simonide Braconi, Wolfgang Holzmair, Alessandro Carbonare, Fabrizio Meloni, Eduard Brunner….

Further works with the Trio di Parma includes the complete recordings of the piano trios by Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Dvorak, Schostakovich; he also records chamber-music by Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Rota and Pizzetti.

Besides playing with the Trio, he performs recitals as a soloist as well as with important orchestras such as the Mantua Chamber Orchestra, the Piano Festival Orchestra of Brescia and Bergamo, the Emilia Romagna Symphony Orchestra "Arturo Toscanini", the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra da Camera di Padova e del Veneto, etc.

His repertoire ranges from Bach to Nono. He has recorded, for Brilliant Classics, a selections of Martucci's Piano Works as well as Schubert’s Klavierstucke, Variations, Fantasies, Dances, Miniatures; in addition, Movimento Classical will present his recording of Brahms’s Klavierstucke.

He has made numerous recordings for radio and television for RAI (Italian), Bayerischer Rundfunk, NDR in Hamburg (German), BBC, ABC Classical Australia and other broadcasters.

Alberto Miodini is piano professor at the “Arrigo Boito” Conservatory of Music in Parma and holds master classes in piano and chamber music at the Santa Cecilia Foundation in Portogruaro and the Pinerolo Academy of Music.