The Competition Jury will be comprised of nationally and internationally recognized performers and teachers. Any member of the jury who is related to a competitor, or has had (institutionally or privately) any sort of teaching contact with a competitor, with or without reimbursement for the tuition provided, and regardless of the number of lessons given, cannot score, mark, or rank that particular competitor. The Jury reserves the right to stop a performance if the competitor exceeds the prescribed duration.
Each competitor will be allowed to communicate with the members of the Jury once the Competition has reached its conclusion. The Jury’s decisions are final and are not subject to appeal.
Jury members for the 7th Competition “Anton Eberst” (in alfabetical order):
TADEJ KENIG (Slovenia), principal clarinetist of the Slovenian National Theater Opera Orchestra and an Assistant Professor at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, is one of the most successful musicians of our times. He graduated from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana in the studio of Professor Slavko Goričar, and completed his postgraduate studies, obtaining Solistendiplom, at the City of Basel Music Academy under the tutelage of Professor François Benda. In addition to winning numerous first prizes at national and international competitions, he holds the Absolute Winner title of the Marco Fiorindo Competition (Torino, Italy) in the solo clarinet category.
He has performed across Slovenia, as well as throughout Europe, in Asia, and the USA, as a soloist and as a chamber musician, and has collaborated with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Basel Symphony Orchestra, Bratislava Chamber Orchestra, Slovenian National Theater Opera and Ballet Orchestra, and the Cantus Ensemble. He has performed with a number of renowned conductors, including Marko Letonja, Stefan Saderling, Othmar Mága, Loris Voltolini, and Berislav Šipuš, among others. He is a member of ARTvento wind quintet.
He has appeared at a number of international festivals of contemporary music, such as Music Biennale Zagreb (Croatia), Electromediaworks (Athens, Greece), and S.O.U.N.D (Scotland), collaborating with distinguished soloists and conductors such as Felix Renggli, Sergio Azzolini, Heinz Holliger, Richard Craig, Roberto Fabriziani, Rohan de Saram, Krzystof Penderecki, Jürg Henneberger, Jörg Wittenbach, Adam Scott Neil, Robert Scott Thompson, Pete Stollery, and others.
His discography includes the following titles: Dialogue de l`ombre Double – 2007, Cantus d.o.o. Zagreb HDS; Molly Brallaghan, Quintet ARTvento and Friends – 2008, Whoopee Records, Germany; Vivid Air – 2010, Aucourant Records, USA; Alojz Ajdič – Skladbe za Klarinet – 2010, KD ADRIARS, Slovenia; Pihalni Kvintet ARTvento – skladbe slovenskih skladateljev – 2011, KD ADRIARS, Slovenia; Pushing Forward – 2011, KD ADRIARS, Slovenia, 2012, Aucourant Records, USA.
He has led a number of master classes held in Ljubljana, Berlin, Basel (The City of Basel Music Academy), and Lugano (Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana), at the University of Aberdeen, at the Art Center in Varaždin, in Pula (International Arena), and at Trieste University. In his rich career, Tadej Kenig has regularly received accolades in the domestic, and international media.
ĐURO PETE (Serbia) completed elementary and high school of music in Osijek (Croatia) in the studio of Vjekoslav Burić. He embarked on his undergraduate studies at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad (Serbia) in 1980 in the studio of Mihajlo Kelbli, graduating in 1984. In 2006, he began his master’s studies at the same institution under Nikola Srdić, completing them successfully in 2009. He has taken part in master classes led by M. Arignon (Paris, France), J. Kotar and M. Bekavac (Slovenia), and Z. Szatmari (Budapest, Hungary). As a student he won a number of prizes at clarinet competitions including the Second Prize at the Young Performing Artists of Yugoslavia Competition (Zagreb, Croatia, 1983), First Prize at the Vojvodina Province Students Competition (Novi Sad, Serbia 1981), First Prize at the State Competition of the (former) Yugoslavia (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1981), and First Prize at the Youth Festival (Knjaževac, Serbia). He has given numerous solo recitals and has performed as a soloist with the Pecs Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (Hungary), the Vojvodina Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Academy of Arts Chamber Orchestra. He served for a time as a clarinetist in the Orchestra of the Croatian National Theater in Osijek. He has made numerous recordings for radio and television stations in Novi Sad (Serbia) and Zagreb (Croatia).
He began his career as a pedagogue at Music School Josip Slavenski in Novi Sad, and since 1987 has been employed full time at Isidor Bajić Music School. His students have won several dozen first prizes at national and international competitions and festivals, including first prizes and laureate titles at almost all of the clarinet competitions in Serbia. In 2008, Pete’s student Radovan Turović won the Third Prize at the First International Anton Eberst Competition and in 2010 Pete’s student Bogdan Bikicki won the First Prize at the same competition. He regularly takes part in master classes led by Nikola Srdić, serving as an assistant professor. He has served as an adjudicator and the president of the jury at the State Competition of Serbia, the Competition for Woodwind Instruments in Požarevac (Serbia), Davorin Jenko in Belgrade (Serbia) and the May Woodwind Meeting Point in Lazarevac (Serbia). He has organized a number of young clarinet players’ concerts throughout Voyvodina (in Subotica, Zrenjanin, Bačka Palanka, Kula, Sombor, and Novi Sad), with the aim of promoting and popularizing clarinet and classical music. He was awarded an Annual Prize by the Union of the Music and Ballet Schools of Serbia in 2010 for his pedagogical achievements. He maintains professional relationships with colleagues throughout Europe and the USA.
DAVOR REBA (Croatia) is a distinguished Croatian clarinetist and teacher. He studied with Professor Giovanni Cavallin and earned his Bachelor’s and Master of Music Degree in the class of Professor Josip Tonžetić at the Zagreb Academy of Music. Reba continued his studies with Professor Walter Boeykens in Antwerp and through participation in various seminars. He won the First Award at the last competition of clarinet students in the former Yugoslavia.
Reba has given many solo recitals in Croatia and abroad (Slovenia and Belgium) with such acclaimed pianists as Ljubomir Gašparević, Darko Domitrović, Veljko Glodić, Marina Pletikosa, Martina Cukrov, Vlasta Gyura, Lana Bradić, Anne Marie Wuyts, and many others. He has performed as a soloist with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Croatian Chamber Orchestra, and the Zadar Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed with many chamber ensembles (Cantus, the Zagreb String Quartet, the Porin Quartet, the Arundo Donex Clarinet Quartet, the Crowind Wind Quintet, the Varaždin Chamber Orchestra, and the Croatian Chamber Orchestra).
Reba is a co-founder of Wind Octet ZF and Septet Ad libitum ZF, with which he has regularly performed. Since 1997 he has been a full member of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, and since 2001 has served as its solo clarinetist. With the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, he has toured Europe, Japan, and Mexico, and has cooperated with many world-famous conductors and soloists. Reba represented Croatia as a member of the World Philharmonic Orchestra in Paris in 2006. He is employed as an assistant professor at the Academy of Music in Zagreb. He has held regular summer seminars in Medulin (Istria, Croatia) and Pučišća (Brač Island, Croatia). Reba is one of the founders of the Croatian Clarinet Society.
YVES SÉVÈRE (France) gained his music education studying at various French national music schools. In 1981, he graduated from Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. He is also licenced as a musicology teacher. He has been awarded a number of prizes, most notably the Ciffra Foundation Award (1984) and the Menuhin Foundation Award (1988). He regularly performs with various chamber music ensembles, displaying a wide breadth of approach towards varying aspects of performing practice. With the Bourges Group for Experimental Music and Blanc-Mesnil Music Center, he has realized numerous projects focused on the performance of new music (G. Grisey, J.B. Mache, J.Y. Bosseur, J. Rimer…). He regularly collaborates with the accordion player Max Bonnay, performing a repertoire that encompasses everything from the premier performances of various pieces (Hosokawa, Kyllonen) to adaptations of jazz and Argentinian music for clarinet and bandoneon. Under the auspices of the Jeunesse Musicale de France, these two artists have given numerous concerts. Another important aspect of his chamber music career is regular collaboration with different string quartets, including the Castagneri String Quartet, Danel String Quartet, Debussy String Quartet, and Manfred String Quartet, and with world renowned pianists such as Alexandre Rabinovitch, Emil Naoumoff, and Tunde Hajdu.
The experience of playing in the Paris Opera over a period of six years has profoundly enriched him as an orchestra musician. As a soloist, he has collaborated with a number of French ensembles, performing clarinet concertos by Molter, Mozart, Stamitz, and Copland. He regularly takes part in various music festivals in France, such as Perigord, Ile de France, and Folles Journees des Nantes. He has performed in Germany, Hungary, China, and Japan. Since 1988, he has been active as a pedagogue, teaching at the Conservatoire de Nantes, as well as giving master classes in China and France. He serves regularly as an adjudicator at CNSM de Paris and CNSM de Lion exams.
NIKOLA SRDIĆ (Serbia) graduated from the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade (1975) in the studio of Professor Bruno Brun. Two years later he earned his Master’s degree at the same institution. As a French government scholarship holder, he continued his studies in Paris under the tutelage of the eminent professor Ulysse Dellecluse.
He has won numerous first prizes at competitions in the former Yugoslavia, as well as the Bavarian Radio and Television Special Award (1973), and advanced to the final round of the Munich ARD International Music Competition (1973).
As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed in all major musical venues across the former Yugoslavia, as well as in France, Belgium, Great Britain, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Hungary, and Germany. He has appeared with the Belgrade, Zagreb, Macedonian, Sarajevo, Vojvodina, Timisoara, and the Upper Czech Republic Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as with the Novi Sad and Mostar Chamber Orchestras, Dušan Skovran Chamber Orchestra (over 50 concerts), St. George’s String Orchestra, and with string quartets such as Klima Quartet, Kodaly Quartet, Moyses Quartet, Belgrade String Quartet, Serbian String Quartet, Tartini Quartet, etc.
Among his numerous appearances at music festivals, highlights include the Ohrid Summer Festival, Bratislava Summer Festival, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Grich Evenings, Music festivals in Talin (Estonia), Janáček May International Music Festival (Ostrava), and Košice Music Spring Festival, among others.
He is a professor at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad and the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka.
BENCE SZEPESI (Hungary), a 12-time prize-winner (Germany, Japan, Belgium, Italy, Hungary), he has performed concerts in more than 22 countries (USA, Canada, Japan, South-Korea, Qatar, Mauritius, Russia, Israel, China, Taiwan, etc.). He earned degrees at the Liszt Academy in Budapest and the CNSMDP (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris) in Paris, and recently began his doctoral studies at the Liszt Academy. He served as a guest performer of the Royal Netherlands Navy Marine Band and as concertmaster of the WASBE IYWO (World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles International Youth Wind Orchestra) in Hamamatsu (Japan). As a soloist of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music Wind Orchestra, he toured Spain, Italy, and France. He has made numerous appearances as a soloist with a number of symphonic, wind, string, and chamber orchestras, performing Mozart, Weber, Copland, Shaw, Grgin, Marcello, and Piazzolla, as well as collaborated with many string quartets (Mozart, Weber, Brahms). With the Dohnanyi Symphony Orchestra, he performed Clarinet Concerto by Aaron Harlap and accompanied by the Solti Chamber Orchestra he performed Psalm by the same author, under the baton of Harlap himself. Balazs Horvath wrote Clarinet Concerto especially for Szepes, which Szepes performed and recorded with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has been engaged as the principal clarinettist of the Dohnanyi Symphony Orchestra since 1992. He is the founder and artistic leader of the Budapest Saxophone Quartet. He is a former professor of the Velence Summer Arts Festival, and a jury member of the National Clarinet and Saxophone Competition (Hungary) and the International Saxophone Competition in Sestri-Levante (Italy). He has served as a guest clarinet professor of the Erno Dohnanyi Conservatory of Music in Veszprem (Hungary), at the Giuseppe Nicolini Conservatory in Piacenza (Italy), in Doha, Qatar, and at the Podsreda International Saxophone Summer Academy (Slovenia). Ennio Morricone featured him as a band member on a tour of Asia, Africa, and Europe in 2009. In 2010, Szepes was awarded the Artist of RICO title by D’Addario Woodwinds, USA. Since that year, he has been employed as a Professor of Saxophone at the University of Miskolc (Hungary). He is a representative of the European Clarinet Association and the National Chairman of the International Clarinet Association.
RICHARD VIEILLE (France) was born in Besançon, a town famous for its International Music Festival and International Competition for Young Conductors, where he began his music education. He completed undergraduate studies with the highest marks at his Diploma Exam at the CNSM (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique at de Danse) in Paris, majoring in Clarinet in the studio of Ulysse Delecluse, as well as in Chamber Music under the tutelage of Christian Larde. In the studio of Professor Christian Larde, he also earned his Master’s degree as a member of the wind quintet Paul Taffanel, winning the International Competition in Colmar (France), as well as the International Jeunesses Musicales Competition in Belgrade where the quintet was awarded the Special Prize Golden Harp. With the Paul Taffenel Quintet, Vieille has toured Europe and the USA, giving numerous performances.
In addition to his engagements as a chamber musician, he has performed as a member of the Republican Guard Symphonic Orchestra, as well as a solo-clarinetist for the French Radio New Symphonic Orchestra. In 1978, he became a solo-clarinetist of the Ensemble Orchestra of Paris (founded by Jean-Pierre Wallez). With this ensemble, and under the baton of Jean-Jacques Kantorow, he was featured as a soloist in the 1993 CD release of C. Saint-Saёns music entitled Muse and a Poet, which was awarded the prestigious Diapason d’Or Prize. In 2001, Calliope published a CD featuring Vieille as a soloist in W.A. Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and Quintet (conductor Armin Jordan, the Parisi String Quartet).
As a chamber musician and as a soloist, he has toured Holland, Japan, Germany, USA, and Cuba, and has performed at music festivals in Besançon, Toulon, Saint-Denis, Aix-en-Provence, etc. He is the founder of the clarinet studio at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional (CRR) in Paris, and since 2008 has been the main clarinet professor at the Paris Boulogne-Billancourt (PSPBB). He teaches at the summer academies in Nice, Biarritz, Flaine, Auris, adn Paris on regular basis.