The Jury, presided by Alain Crepin (Belgium), is made up of musical personalities who represent different schools around the world:
Koen Maas, Vice-President (Belgium), Alexandre Doisy (France), Cécile Dubois (France), Asya Fateyeva (Germany), Mariano Garcia (Spain), Chien-Kwan Lin (United States), Maria Noel Luzardo (Argentina), Joonatan Rautiola (Finland) et Nikita Zimin (Russia).
For the semi-finals they will be joined by Nina Senk (Slovenia) and Yuzuko Origome (Japan) and for the finals by the composer Dirk Brossé (Belgium) (p. 52).
The Jury will be assisted by a General Secretariat made up of Simon Diricq and Pieter Pellens. The Arbitration Committee is chaired by Romain Jadin, Judge at the 1st Instance Court of Namur, and is made up of Peter Cverle, Nele Tiebout and Romain Zante. A Mediator, Maitre Gyllen Kiabu, will ensure that the Competition runs smoothly in legal terms.
ALAIN CREPIN (BELGIUM)
A multifaceted musician, Alain Crepin studied the saxophone, cello, and piano in Dinant, before attending the Royal Brussels Conservatory, where he was taught by François Daneels and where he studied the saxophone, chamber music, harmony, counterpoint, fugue, orchestration, and orchestral conducting.
From 1975 to 2019, at the Royal Brussels Conservatory, he taught the saxophone and founded and conducted the International Saxophone Ensemble. He was also Professor of Orchestration and Orchestral Conducting at the Conservatory of Esch-sur-Alzette.
As a military bandmaster, he directed the Royal Music Band of the Belgian Air Force for 21 years. He was promoted to the rank of Major-Bandmaster in 2004 and was made Artistic Director of all the bands of the Belgian defence forces until his retirement.
The catalogue of his compositions is mostly made up of pieces for saxophone or wind ensembles. He has recorded more than 60 CDs as a soloist, conductor, or music director.
He was a founder member of the International Adolphe Sax Association (IASA) of Dinant in 1994 and has been the President of the jury for the International Adolphe Sax Competition of Dinant since 2005. He is a member of numerous other juries, national and international, and has given concerts and masterclasses worldwide. He has also been a guest conductor and has accompanied the world’s greatest soloists at the World Saxophone Congresses in Minneapolis (USA), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Strasbourg (France), and Zagreb (Croatia), as well as in Ciudad Real (Spain) and Brasilia (Brazil) and at the Asian Saxophone Congress in Chia-Yi (Taiwan) and in Shanghai (China).
KOREN MAAS (BELGIUM)
Koen Maas is a graduate of the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Ghent, where he was awarded First Prize in Saxophone and in Chamber Music and Master’s in music, for which he was taught by Willy Demey. He also qualified as a Performing Musician at the Conservatorium Maastricht (where he was taught by Norbert Nozy).
During his last years of studies, he took part in several saxophone competitions and won the National Belgian Saxophone Competition and the Josée Vigneron Competition.
He has played with renowned orchestras such as the European Union Youth Wind Orchestra, the Nieuw Vlaams Symfonieorkest, the Orchestre National de Lille, Il Novecento, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic, and Opera Ballet Vlaanderen.
Since 1999, he has been the soprano saxophone of the Bl!ndman quartet which is known for its innovative and experimental approach. The quartet is internationally renowned and collaborates regularly with other artists and ensembles, including Ivo Van Hove, Paul Van Nevel, Collegium Vocale, the Huelgas Ensemble, the Transparant ludic and theatre company, the Ictus ensemble, and the Quatuor Danel.
He is also very active as an independent saxophonist, both in classical and contemporary music.
Koen Maas currently teaches at the music schools in Neerpelt and Mol and is also a professor at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Ghent.
CECILE DUBOIS (FRANCE)
Cécile Dubois is a graduate of the Conservatoires à Rayonnement Régional de Lyon and Boulogne- Billancourt. She was unanimously awarded a First Prize at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in the Claude Delangle’s saxophone class and David Walter’s chamber music class.
Winner of international competitions (Paris, 1990 and Gap, 1991), she performs in the festivals of Aix- en-Provence, Montpellier and Edinburgh and is invited to play in orchestral groups such as the Capitole de Toulouse, the Opéra National de Lyon, the Orchestre of Lyon, the Orchestre de Paris… She has performed under the direction of prestigious conductors such as Kent Nagano, Peter Eotvos, Michel Plasson, Georges Prêtre… She is a member of the Orchestre Victor-Hugo Franche-Comté (artistic director : Jean-François Verdier).
Holder of the «Certificat d’Aptitude aux fonctions de professeur», she has been teaching since 1996 at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Grand Besançon- Metropole. She teaches students from all over the world (Japan, China, Europe…). Driven by a permanent pedagogical questioning, Cécile Dubois is regularly called on as a trainer and pedagogical advisor by the Ecole Supérieure de Musique de Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, which trains students to become state-certified performers and pedagogues.
She is often invited to take part in professional juries (entrance examinations for the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, Territorial Public Service Teacher Competitive Exam).
ALEXANDRE DOISY (FRANCE)
Spotted at a very young age by the professionals he met, Alexandre Doisy was admitted at the age of 15 to Claude Delangle’s saxophone class. During his five years of studies at the Conservatoire of Paris, he gave pride of place to the piano and orchestral conducting.
At the end of these studies, he embarked on an intense and varied artistic career, primarily thanks to the international competitions he won: 1st Prize at the International Adolphe Sax Competition of Dinant in 1998, 2nd Prize and Audience Prize (no 1st Prize awarded) at the 50th ARD International Competition in Munich in 2001 and 1st Prize at the Jean-Marie Londeix International Competition in Bangkok in 2008. He also received support from the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe in 2000 and from the Groupe Banques Populaires Corporate Foundation in 2001.
His musical experiences have led him to play as a soloist with prestigious orchestras like the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunk (Munich), MDR Symphonieorchester (Leipzig), St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra. He also participates in recordings with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Orchestre National de Lyon.
Teaching is an essential part of his professional activity. He has been a professor at the Grenoble Conservatory since 2014 and is frequently invited to give masterclasses.
Passionate about the development of the musical equipment, he has been collaborating with the company Vandoren since 2007 as an artistic advisor for the production of mouthpieces and reeds. In September 2023, he made his debut as the musical director of the Grenoble Campus Orchestra.
ASYA FATEYEVA (CRIMEA)
Asya Fateyeva, born in Crimea, combines in her training the Russian tradition and the classical French school of saxophone. After spending two years at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne as a junior pupil of Professor Daniel Gauthier, Asya Fateyeva, then aged 17, began formal studies there. She went on to perfect her skills with Claude Delangle in Paris and Jean-Denis Michat in Lyon, before completing her chamber music training at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, where she now teaches classical saxophone.
She has won a long list of awards and scholarships. In addition to 3rd prize at the Adolphe Sax International Competition in Dinant in 2014, she has won numerous first prizes at international competitions in Russia, France and Germany. She is a laureate of the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb 2012, has received, among others, the Gerd Bucerius Encouragement Grant from the ZEIT Foundation as well as from the Orpheum Foundation. In 2015, she was awarded the Berenberg Culture Prize.
She has performed in many renowned theatres, including the Leipziger Gewandhaus with the MDR Symphony Orchestra under conductor Kristjan Järvi, the Lucerne Festival and the Berlin Philharmonic, the Berliner Konzerthaus and the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.
Besides original works for her instrument, she also performs works from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods, often arranged by the young musician herself. She has set herself the goal of giving the classical saxophone a more prominent place in musical life.
MARIANO GARCÍA (SPAIN)
Mariano García is a musician with a passion for music and pedagogy.
He teaches at the ESMUC in Barcelona, as well as at the LUCA School of Arts in Leuven, where he teaches the master’s degree and the postgraduate degree.
Since 2016, he has been a professor at the European Saxophone University for the summer courses in Gap (France). He taught for 11 years at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón in Zaragoza (Spain) and was also a professor at the Wiener Akademie Musik in Austria.
He has taken part in a number of international festivals as a teacher and concert performer, including the Andorra Sax Fest since its beginnings, the Vienna Sax Fest (Austria), the Birmingham School of Music, the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, Panticosa (Spain) and various cities in Portugal, Italy and China. He has been invited to teach at various American universities including those of North Carolina, South Carolina, the Furman University and the University of Georgia… He is also much demanded as a jury member in international competitions.
As a “Selmer” artist, he also forms the chamber duo AniMa DUO with the excellent pianist Aniana Jaime, with whom he has recorded three CDs that have been praised by critics and the public.
With a passion for the saxophone, Mariano García seeks to push the boundaries of this instrument in all of his performances, broadening his repertoire with both chamber music transcriptions and contemporary pieces.
YUZUKO HORIGOME (JAPAN)
Yuzuko Horigome began playing the piano at the age of four, then the violin the following year with Ryosaku Kubota. In 1975, she continued her violin studies with Toshiya Eto, before graduating from the Toho Gakuen School of Music in 1980. That same year, she became the first Japanese woman to win the First Prize in the Queen Elisabeth Competition (Belgium).
She has collaborated with famous conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Simon Rattle, Seiji Ozawa and performed with the London Symphony, Berliner Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic. As a passionate chamber musician, she shared the stage with Rudolf Serkin, Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky, Jean-Marc Luisada, and many others.
In addition to her performances as a soloist and chamber musician, Yuzuko Horigome teaches at the Dutch-speaking section of the Brussels Royal Conservatory. Her recognised teaching skills have led her to take part in numerous masterclasses in California, Japan, France and Denmark.
Yuzuko Horigome has been part of the jury of several renowned competitions such as the Queen Elisabeth Competition or the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. She is also the president of the Violin Section Jury at the Sendai International Music Competition.
Furthermore, Yuzuko Horigome is a philanthropist and organizes «Fukko Concerts» to support areas affected by the tsunami and earthquake that occured in Japan in 2011.
ASAKO INOUE (JAPAN)
After graduating from the Osaka College of Music, Asako Inoue continued her studies at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Cergy-Pontoise and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where she was unanimously awarded the First Prize by the jury.
As a soloist, she has performed many concerts in Japan and internationally. She has been a featured performer on the radio program ‘NHK FM Recital’. She has also performed Ichiro Nodaïra’s saxophone concerto with Tokyo Sinfonietta in Suntory Summer Festival and was invited to give a guest recital in Yekaterinburg (Russia) in 2009 and Paris in 2016.
Winner of many prizes, she received a fellowship to study in France under the Japanese Ministry of Culture Overseas Program for artists, and the Arts Encouragement Prize by Hyogo prefecture in 2007.
In a duo with the pianist Yoshiki Fujii (piano), she won the “Keizo Saji Prize” in 2007, awarded by the Suntory Arts Foundation for the most demanding musical performance of the year.
Additionally, she has been a jury member for many prestigious international competitions in France, Taiwan, China, and Japan, including a jury of the entrance and graduation examination of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, class of saxophone.
Now, she is a professor at the Osaka College of Music. In the saxophone world, her CDs «Prelude» and «Prelude II» have been a resounding success.
CHIEN-KWAN LIN (USA)
Chien-Kwan Lin (born in Singapore) holds a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music (Performer’s Certificate, DMA). His teachers have included Ken Radnofsky and Ramon Ricker.
He has performed as a soloist and guest artist with the United States Navy Band, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, the New World Symphony, the Beijing Symphony, the Singapore Symphony, the Boston Philharmonic, the Sichuan Philharmonic and the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra.
His critically acclaimed Carnegie Hall recital prompted the New York Concert Review to portray him as a performer “who has the passion and restraint and beautiful sense of line to take melody where it wants to go, fully and generously.” His recording of Lei Liang’s Xiaoxiang Concerto with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP/sound) was also named a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in 2015.
In addition to solo performances at important events including the World Saxophone Congress, North American Saxophone Alliance, Asia Saxophone Congress, Chien-Kwan Lin has conducted masterclasses in major conservatories in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
He is currently Professor of Saxophone at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he is also founding director of the Eastman Saxophone Project (ESP), and recipient of the 2012-2013 Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Chien-Kwan Lin is an artist and expert for Vandoren and Selmer (Paris) companies.
MARÍA NOEL LUZARDO FORNELLA (ARGENTINA)
Student of the maestro Hugo Pierre, María Noel Luzardo Fornella was the first graduate from the Saxophone Chair at the Carlos López Buchardo National Conservatory of Music (Argentina) in 1992, that she held after her professor’s retirement. She is also currently teaching saxophone at the Manuel de Falla Advanced Conservatory of Music (Buenos Aires).
She was awarded several prizes in prestigious competitions, such as the Art Biennial Competition, the Argentina Music Competition and the Buenos Aires First International Music Competition. In 2009, she received the “Merit Diploma” from the prestigious Konex Foundation – a distinction bestowed in Argentina once every ten years in the field of Classical Music.
Since 1994, she has played solo alto saxophone at the Buenos Aires City Symphony Band and has also extensively played as a soloist with the Teatro Colón Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra (Argentina), as well as Latin American orchestras like the S.O.D.R.E Orchestra (Uruguay) or the Costa Rica National Symphony Orchestra. She also toured Brazil and France.
Her recording works for saxophone and piano, saxophone quartet as well as reed quintet mainly focus on music by Argentine composers, including pieces by renowned Astor Piazzolla and Mauricio Kagel.
She is currently a member of the “4MIL” Saxophone Quartet, the “CLAM” itinerant quartet (Cuarteto Latinoamericano de Mujeres Saxofonistas) and the “TORRE 7” woodwind quintet.
JOONATHAN RAUTIOLA (FINLAND)
Joonatan Rautiola is a saxophonist, singer, and multidisciplinary artist. He is a graduate of the Paris Conservatoire and the Sibelius Academy and holds a degree in classical voice and vocal pedagogy from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences of Helsinki. Advocate of a holistic pedagogical approach, Joonatan Rautiola is lecturer in saxophone music at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts of Helsinki.
His collaborations with various artists, including actor Jean- Claude Drouot, author Alain Foix, choreographer Lin Da, and the physical theatre group Kallo Collective, have led to the creation of performances that blend music, improvisation and theatre.
As a soloist, Joonatan Rautiola has performed with numerous orchestras, under the baton of renowned conductors such as Mikko Franck, Michael Sanderling and Dalia Stasevska, and has appeared at prestigious venues such as the Lucerne Festival and Carnegie Hall in New York. Through partnerships with composers, he has premiered numerous new works, including the saxophone concertos by Guillaume Connesson, Tapio Tuomela, and Olli Virtaperko. The duo he forms with the pianist Marko Hilpo has been delighting audiences for over twenty years.
He is currently preparing Euryead, together with the composer Lauri Supponen, the librettist Milka Luhtaniemi and the harpsichordist Marianna Henriksson, with a premiere scheduled in Helsinki in 2024. His upcoming performances also include the new work for singer-saxophonist and accordion by the experimental music theatre composer Miika Hyytiäinen at the Tampere Biennale.
In 2010, he was a laureate of the International Adolphe Sax Competition of Dinant.
NINA SENK (SLOVENIA)
Nina Šenk graduated in composition from the Ljubljana Academy of Music under Pavel Mihelčič, then continued her postgraduate studies in composition in Dresden under the mentorship of Lothar Voigtländer and obtained her master’s degree in the class of Matthias Pintscher at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich.
She is a recipient of many awards, including the Prešeren Fund Prize for her creative work in 2017 and Johann Joseph Fux Prize 2021, awarded by the government of the Austrian state of Styria, for her new opera Canvas.
Nina Šenk’s works have been performed at numerous important international festivals such as the BBC Proms and the New York Philharmonic Biennal, and by numerous orchestras and ensembles throughout the world (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra…).
Since 2019, she is an associate member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the artistic director of the Concert Atelier Concert Series of the Slovenian Society of Composers since 2015, the artistic director of the Concert Series Koncertni abonma Ribnica since 2018 and a member of the organisational board of the international contemporary music festival New Music Forum Ljubljana since 2020.
NIKITA ZIMIN (RUSSIA)
Nikita Zimin is one of the most outstanding representatives of the Russian school of saxophone. First laureate of the International Adolphe Sax Competition in Dinant (2014), he currently serves as the president of the Eurasian Saxophone Association and holds a teaching position at the Frédéric Chopin Moscow State College and the Lomonossov Moscow State University.
Nikita Zimin has received laurels from over 18 national and international competitions, including the 4th International Aeolus Competition for Wind Instruments (Düsseldorf, Germany, 2009).
From 2007 to 2013, Nikita was a scholarship recipient of the Mstislav Rostropovich Foundation (Sergey Prokofiev scholarship). He also earned several distinctions, including the “Golden talent – 2008-2009” (Best Musician of the Year; Russian Performing Arts Foundation), the “Breakthrough” forum (2009), the diploma of the prize of Honour for Young Talent (created in 2006), the “Best Student of the Gnessin Academy” (2010), the title of “Teacher of the Year” (2017 and 2020), from the mayor of Moscow, S. Sobyanin, for his decisive work in the field of Moscow culture (2018), the title of “Best teacher in the field of the arts” (2019) and winner of the Best Teacher Scholarship as part of the “Blue bird” television project (2018).
Nikita Zimin performs recitals and numerous masterclasses both in Russia and abroad, including Switzerland, France, Germany, Spain, USA, Korea, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan. He collaborates with orchestras such as the Volgograd Symphony Orchestra, the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, the Udmurtia State Symphony Orchestra, the Mecklenburg State Choir, the Northwest German Philharmonic, among others.
Nikita Zimin was made an Honorary Citizen of the city of Dinant upon his victory in 2014.
