Adjudicators

Delighting her listeners with "her warm, humane musicianship" and "mesmerizing charisma", ANNA LEE is an active concert violinist and chamber musician. She began violin studies at the age of four with Alexander Souptel and debuted two years later, performing Paganini's first Violin Concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. She has been soloist with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester) and the New York Philharmonic, and has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, Seoul Spring Festival, and Verbier Festival, as well as on radio shows such as NPR Performance Today.

Notable collaborations include Christoph Eschenbach, Gary Hoffman, Mitsuko Uchida, and Emmanuel Ax. Top prizewinner of the 2022 Ysaÿe, 2022 Classic Strings Dubai, 2019 Montréal, and 2018 Indianapolis Competitions, she has also been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Horatio Parker Memorial, Louis Sudler, and the Hahnloser Prizes.

She has studied with Ani Kavafian, Don Weilerstein, Miriam Fried, Ana Chumachenco, Cho- Liang Lin, and Masao Kawasaki while at the Yale School of Music, Harvard College, the Kronberg Academy, and the Juilliard School Pre-College Division, respectively. She has also inspired young musicians at institutions like the Kronberg Academy’s Mit Musik—Miteinander festival, Classical Music Institute in San Antonio, and MusicAlp Festival in France. Currently, she is an Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium under the guidance of Augustin Dumay.

Laura Gilbert, flutist, has performed worldwide as chamber musician, soloist, recitalist and guest lecturer. Previously co-artistic director of Monadnock Music, Ms. Gilbert is co-Founder and co-Artistic Director of Electric Earth Concerts, based in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Ms. Gilbert is a founding member of Auréole, a trio composed of flute, viola and harp; additionally she has performed with many ensembles including Musicians from Marlboro, Brandenburg Ensemble, the Borromeo, Brentano and Saint Lawrence String Quartets, Chamber Music at the 92nd Street "Y", Saint Luke's Ensemble and Orchestra, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, The New York Philharmonic and Speculum Musicae. Ms. Gilbert also performs frequently with Greek guitarist, Antigoni Goni: as advocates of folk-inspired classical music, the duo has commissioned many new works, some of which can be heard on their recording “From the New Village,” on Koch International Classics. Ms Gilbert’s discography includes numerous solo recordings and over 25 chamber music recordings (including a Grammy). She currently holds the principal flute chair of CityMusic, Cleveland and Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic. Ms Gilbert serves on the faculties of Mannes College of Music and Saint Ann’s School.

Pianist Amir Ron regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician across Israel, Europe, and the United States.

The second prize and audience award winner at the 2025 Telekom Beethoven Competition, Amir has won top prizes in all national competitions in his native Israel. Past appearances include concerti with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn and the Israel Camerata Jerusalem, recitals at the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts and the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, alongside chamber music performances at the Marlboro and Ravinia festivals.

A graduate of The Juilliard School and the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, Amir has studied under Robert McDonald, Arie Vardi, Asaf Zohar, and Sara Tal. Amir has also served as chairman of the junior jury at the 17th Rubinstein Piano Master Competition and the 16th Concours Géza Anda.