Winner of the 2024 Leeds International Piano Competition and recipient of the Dame Fanny Waterman Gold Medal, 25-year-old Canadian pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko has been celebrated by audiences, critics and composers alike for his communicative power, refined technical command and artistic maturity. A few months before his triumph in Leeds, Jaeden became the first Canadian Grand Prize Laureate in an instrumental edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal in May 2024.

An experienced recitalist, Jaeden has made prominent debuts in the U.S., Canada, Spain, and Germany. Recent concerto performances have taken him to Spain, Canada and England. His playing has been broadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today, BBC Radio 3’s In Tune, BBC4 TV, Catalunya Ràdio, CBC Radio’s In Concert, New York’s WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase, and medici.tv.

Jaeden first gained international recognition in 2022, claiming first prize at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, the Maria Canals International Music Competition, and the 20th Paloma O’Shea Santander International Piano Competition, where he also won the Canon Audience Prize and the Chamber Music Award. In 2024, he was awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship.

“… one of Canada’s most exciting classical music talents.”
— Anthony Miller, Macleans
“He demonstrated exceptional artistic maturity and imagination, remarkable technical command, and a profound ability to captivate and transport the audience through his storytelling and poetry …”
— Dame Imogen Cooper, Chair of the 2024 Leeds International Piano Competition Jury

Historic win of prestigious competition

At just 22 years old, Manami Suzuki made history in 2024 as the first Japanese pianist to win the prestigious Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan. In addition to taking home the First Prize, Suzuki also earned the Chamber Music Award and the Audience Prize, marking an extraordinary achievement.

In August 2023, she received the Grand Prix and Audience Award at the 47th PTNA (Piano Teachers’ National Association of Japan) Piano Competition, as well as the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award and the Steinway Award. In October of the same year, Suzuki won First Prize in the piano division of the 92nd Japan Music Concours, the Iwatani Prize (Audience Award), Nomura Prize, Iguchi Prize, Kawai Prize, Miyake Prize, Argerich Arts Foundation Prize, and INPEX Prize. Following these awards, she gave recitals in various locations in Japan, receiving favorable reviews.

Additionally, Suzuki has performed with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. She participated in the Hamamatsu International Piano Academy and Kirishima International Music Festival. Born in Osaka, Japan in 2002, Suzuki began playing the piano at the age of four. Currently, she is pursuing a master’s degree at Tokyo College of Music and is studying under Katsunori Ishii.

An artist of versatility and depth

A native of Cincinnati, Megan Moore is quickly garnering attention in the repertoire of Rossini, Handel, and Mozart. Awards include first prize at George London Foundation Competition, Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition, Zenith Opera Competition, National Society of Arts & Letters Voice Award, and the Copenhagen Lied Duo Competition (with Francesco Barfoed).

She has performed in numerous operas internationally, singing many title roles—including her Boston Baroque debut of Handel’s Ariodante. Other notable roles include Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with San Diego Opera; debuting the role of Sesto in Handel’s Julius Caesar at Opera Theater of Saint Louis.

Moore has made both concert and recital appearances, including joining The Orchestra Now to perform the Berlioz song cycle Les Nuits d’été at the Fisher Center at Bard and participating in Plácido Domingo’s world famous singing competition Operalia in Riga, Latvia. She made a special appearance with the Borromeo String Quartet to sing Handel arias from Hercules and Alcina in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, and she participated in Carnegie Hall’s Song Studio with Renée Fleming in partnership with her frequent collaborator, pianist Francesco Barfoed.

Moore is co-founder of Lynx Project, which amplifies diverse voices through new song commissions, inclusive concerts, and educational programming. She received her training at Miami University, Eastman School of Music, Internationale Meistersinger Akademie, Santa Fe Opera and The Juilliard School.

“… rich, buttery mezzo tone, a genuinely beautiful voice.”
— Observer
“Her voice was remarkably flexible and varied, with range that was superbly agile from top to bottom.”
— Broadwayworld

Winners of the 2023 Young Concert Artists International Auditions

“Australian guitarist brothers making history” (The Age), Ziggy and Miles are two of Australia’s finest young musicians forging an international career. Their performances are known for their “deeply considered musicianship, immaculate care and superlative technique” (5MBS). Winners of the 2023 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the brothers became the first guitar duo and second guitarists to receive this prestigious award in the organization’s history.

With over 50 awards between them in guitar competitions and local Welsh music Eisteddfods across their home city of Melbourne, Ziggy and Miles proved their artistry as soloists and a duo from a young age. Among their early accolades are major prizes in competitions hosted by the Guitar Foundation of America, the Adelaide International Guitar Festival and the Melbourne Recital Center.

Their long-awaited new album, Sidekick, was featured as one of New York’s WQXR’s “Best New Classical Albums of 2023.” Praised by Soundboard Magazine, it showcases new works written for the brothers, their own “transfixingly beautiful” (Limelight) arrangement of Debussy’s Clair de Lune, and works that have shaped their musical identity from Spain, Latin America, and Australia.

Actively involved in community engagement, they have a passion for providing education and music to people without access to live performances or high-quality music education. They have collaborated with organizations across Australia and the U.S. Graduates of The Juilliard School, Ziggy and Miles were the first Australians and first guitar duo accepted into the school’s prestigious Artist Diploma program, where they also received the Norman Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant.

“Excellent ensemble skills and articulations throughout with virtuosity to spare.”
— This is Classical Guitar

“Personable, relaxed and utterly winning.”
— Limelight

Lends her singular virtuosity and verve to the concert harp

Bridget Kibbey, a native of Findlay, Ohio, is known for her great musical instincts that transcend the harp. She interprets the masters—Bach, Debussy, Ravel, Bartok—bringing “a fresh face to the familiar music” (Seattle City Arts Magazine), while being a bold advocate of genre-crossing storytelling and newly-commissioned works. Her virtuosic and soulful ability to communicate draws in the audience. She has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras and has been featured as soloist in top halls internationally.

Kibbey is the recipient of a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, a Salon de Virtuosi SONY Recording Grant, premiere prix at the Journées de les Harpes Competition in Arles, France, and won a place in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program. Her solo performances have been broadcast widely, and she has recorded to great critical acclaim. Her debut album was named one of the Top Ten Releases by Time Out New York; her next solo release with Pentatone Records, slated for 2026, is a set of surprising keyboard transcriptions.

She has commissioned concerti from Vivian Fung and Brazilian composer Joao Luiz, exploring the sounds of Carnaval on the harp; and she brings two newly-commissioned concerti to the stage in 2027. Known for her curatorial strengths, Kibbey builds touring projects merging her own solo transcriptions alongside powerful collaborations; she has performed in duo with Kathleen Battle and Dawn Upshaw, Avi Avital, Alexi Kenney, Samuel Torres, and Mahsa Vahdat, among others. She appears frequently as soloist and chamber musician at festivals and series across the USA. From 2022–2024, Kibbey was the Artistic Director of MOSA Concerts, elevating a local concert series to a notable world-class, cross-genre performing arts series.

“… the Yo-Yo Ma of the harp.”
— Vogue Magazine
“… made it seem as though her instrument had been waiting all its life to explode with the gorgeous colors and energetic figures she was getting from it.”
— The New York Times

“Martin James Bartlett is not only a prodigy of the piano but an accomplished artist who counts among the greats of his generation.”

Nice Matin

“With Martin James Bartlett on the piano, this was like hearing Gershwin for the first time, he gave it new life, new confidence.”

Behind the Arras, 5 stars, November 2022

British pianist Martin James Bartlett, known for his fearless technique, was the inaugural recipient of the Prix Serdang in 2022.  In 2021, he was awarded the Queen Mother Rosebowl by HRH Prince (now King) Charles and, in 2020, won the Virtu(al)oso Global Piano Competition by Piano Cleveland. From 2020 to 2022, Bartlett was the RCM Benjamin Britten Piano Fellow, and made his play-direct and conducting debut with the London Mozart Players at the Cheltenham and Ryedale festivals in 2022. In 2019, Bartlett earned first place at the 2019 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York and, in 2018, won second prize and the Audience Award at the Kissingen Piano Olympiad.

Bartlett’s early public success was as winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2014, leading to engagements with several orchestras.  In 2015, he was one of the youngest-ever soloists to debut at the BBC Proms, with reviews in The Daily Telegraph and The Times praising his musical insight and maturity.

Bartlett has performed with many European orchestras and in recital internationally, including a debut US tour in 2022 in the Young Concert Artists Series in New York and at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.  He has released two widely acclaimed albums: Rhapsody (2022), featuring concerti by Rachmaninoff and Gershwin; and his debut recital album Love and Death (2019), an exploration of elemental themes from Bach to Prokofiev.

Photo Credit:  Paul Marc Mitchell