ANDRÉS CÁRDENES
EOIVC 2026
Chairman of the Jury
Recognized worldwide as a musical phenomenon, Grammy-nominated Andrés Cárdenes parlays his talents into one of classical music’s most versatile careers. A passionate and charismatic artist, Cuban-born Cárdenes has garnered international acclaim from critics and audiences alike for his compelling solo violin, conducting, viola, chamber music, concertmaster and recorded performances.
Since winning second prize at the 1982 Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition in Moscow, Mr. Cárdenes has appeared as soloist with over one hundred orchestras on five continents, including those of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Detroit, Moscow, Bavarian Radio, Dallas, Helsinki, Shanghai, Caracas, and Barcelona. He has collaborated with many of the world’s greatest conductors, including Lorin Maazel, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Mariss Jansons, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir André Previn, Leonard Slatkin, Jaap van Zweden, David Zinman, and Manfred Honeck.
Cárdenes’ discography includes over three dozen recordings of concerti, sonatas, short works, orchestral and chamber music on the Ocean, Naxos, Sony, Arabesque, Albany, Delos, RCA, ProArte, Telarc, Artek, Melodya, and Enharmonic labels. This year and next Mr. Cárdenes continues his project to record many standard and contemporary concerti.
In addition to his role as Chairman of the Jury for the 2026 EOIVC—he also served as Chairman of the Jury in 2023 and was a jury member at the inaugural competition in 2017—Mr. Cárdenes has served as a jury member of the Tchaikovsky Competition as well as the President of the Jury of the Stradivarius International Violin Competition.
Mr. Cárdenes is Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at Lynn Conservatory and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Carnegie Mellon University and is a co-founder, Artistic and Music Director of the Josef Gingold Chamber Music Festival, a keystone program of the Elevar Foundation.
ILYA KALER
EOIVC 2026 Jury
Ilya Kaler is the only violinist to win the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1986), the Sibelius Competition in Helsinki (1985), and the Paganini Competition in Genoa (1981).
Mr. Kaler has appeared with many distinguished orchestras throughout the world, including the Leningrad, Moscow, and Dresden Philharmonic Orchestras, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Danish and Berlin Radio Orchestras, the Moscow and Zurich Chamber Orchestras, as well as the Seattle and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, among others. Kaler has collaborated with several outstanding conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Dmitry Kitaenko, Mariss Jansons, and Jerzy Semkow, performing extensively on five continents.
As a member of the Tempest Trio with cellist Amit Peled and pianist Alon Goldstein, Kaler enjoys a very busy touring career and performs in the most prestigious venues to the highest critical acclaim.
Kaler currently serves as the violin professor at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He previously held Professor of Violin positions at DePaul University School of Music, the Eastman School of Music, and at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
IDA KAVAFIAN
EOIVC 2026 Jury
The versatile violinist/violist Ida Kavafian was the Artistic Director of the acclaimed festival Music from Angel Fire for 35 years. She is co-founder of Tashi, OPUS ONE, Trio Valtorna, and Bravo! Vail (running it for ten years); frequent artist at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for over 50 years; former violinist of the Beaux Arts Trio; and a faculty member of The Curtis Institute (where she holds the Nina von Maltzahn Violin Chair and was honored with the Lindback Award for Outstanding Teaching). She has premiered concerti by Toru Takemitsu and Michael Daugherty; toured and recorded with jazz greats Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, and Fiddler/Composer Mark O’Connor; appeared with the Guarneri, Orion, Shanghai, Harlem, and American String Quartets (as violist); and has had a solo feature on CBS Sunday Morning. A graduate of Juilliard studying with Oscar Shumsky, she made her New York debut under Young Concert Artists with the pianist Peter Serkin. Ms. Kavafian excels in another field, prize-winning Vizsla dogs. She and her husband, violist Steven Tenenbom, currently live with a retired Gold Grand Champion and a Master Hunter.
IRINA MURESANU
EOIVC 2026 Jury
Renowned Romanian violinist Irina Muresanu continues to stretch the boundaries of classical music. A compelling soloist and chamber musician, she has appeared throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and South Africa.
Muresanu is a laureate and winner of top prizes in several prestigious international violin competitions, including the Montreal International, Queen Elisabeth, UNISA International String, Washington International, and the Schadt String Competition. Her awards also include a recent Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award, a Presser Award, and a prestigious New Music USA grant.
Her recent recordings are featured on the Métier, Centaur Records, and BMOP labels. Her acclaimed multimedia project "Four Strings Around the World" celebrates the diversity of music cultures around the world through the unifying voice of the solo violin.
Muresanu is an associate professor at the University of Maryland and has taught at Boston Conservatory and in the Harvard and MIT Music Departments. She holds an Artist Diploma degree and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the New England Conservatory. She plays an 1849 Giuseppe Rocca violin with an Etienne Pajeot bow.
PHILIP SETZER
EOIVC 2026 Jury
Violinist Philip Setzer, a founding member of the Emerson String Quartet, has appeared with the National Symphony, Aspen Chamber Symphony (David Robertson, conductor), Memphis Symphony (Michael Stern), New Mexico and Puerto Rico Symphonies (Guillermo Figueroa), Omaha and Anchorage Symphonies (David Loebel), and on several occasions with the Cleveland Orchestra (Louis Lane). He won second prize at the Marjorie Merriweather Post Competition and a Bronze Medal at the Queen Elisabeth International Competition.
Setzer currently serves as the Distinguished Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at SUNY Stony Brook and Visiting Faculty at CIM. He is also the Director of the Shouse Institute and has been a regular faculty member of the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshops at Carnegie Hall and the Jerusalem Music Center.
Setzer has given master classes at schools around the world, including The Curtis Institute, London’s Royal Academy of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory, UCLA, and the Mannes School of Music.
DMITRY SITKOVETSKY
EOIVC 2026 Jury
Dmitry Sitkovetsky is recognized worldwide for his impact on every aspect of musical life. In a career spanning more than four decades, he is celebrated as a violinist, conductor, creator, transcriber, facilitator, and recording artist featured on more than 40 albums.
As a soloist, he has performed with leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and Leipzig Gewandhaus. In a flourishing career as a conductor, he has worked with leading orchestras throughout Europe, North America, and Asia. In 1990 he founded the New European Strings Chamber Orchestra (NES), bringing together distinguished string players from several European ensembles. From 2003-2023 Sitkovetsky was also the Music Director of the Greensboro Symphony.
With his ability to turn any project into a highly anticipated artistic event, Sitkovetsky has led or coordinated festivals in the United States, Italy, Finland, Azerbaijan, and elsewhere.
He has also served on the several international juries including, the George Enescu International Competition (President of the Jury) and was recently named patron of The Purcell School for Young Musicians in the UK.
KYOKO TAKEZAWA
EOIVC 2026 Jury
Since winning the Gold Medal at the Second International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 1986, Kyoko Takezawa has performed with major orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Berlin Radio Symphony, and NDR Symphony Orchestra. She has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson Thomas, David Zinman, Alan Gilbert, and Charles Dutoit.
She has given recitals at leading venues and appeared at festivals including Aspen, Ravinia, La Jolla, Casals Festival, BBC Proms, and Lucerne. An active chamber musician, she co-directed the Suntory Festival Soloists and is a resident artist at the Martha Argerich Festival in Beppu.
She has served on juries for major competitions such as Indianapolis, Menuhin, Long-Thibaud, and Wieniawski. Her recordings appear on BMG’s RCA Victor Red Seal label.
She is currently a professor at Tokyo College of Music and Toho Gakuen.
JENNIFER FRAUTSCHI
EOIVC 2026
Qualifying Round Committee
Two-time GRAMMY nominee and Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient violinist Jennifer Frautschi has appeared as soloist with innumerable orchestras including the Cincinnati Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. She is an artist-member of the Boston Chamber Music Society and has appeared as a chamber musician at Chamber Music Northwest, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Music@Menlo, Tippet Rise Art Center, Toronto Summer Music, and the Bridgehampton, Cape Cod, Charlottesville, Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, Moab, Ojai, Salt Bay, Santa Fe, Seattle, and Spoleto Festivals. Her extensive discography for the Albany, Artek, and Naxos labels includes the Stravinsky Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerti with the Seattle Symphony. Born in Pasadena, California, Jennifer attended the Colburn School, Harvard, the New England Conservatory, and the Juilliard School. She performs on a 1722 Antonio Stradivarius violin known as the “ex-Cadiz,” on generous loan from a private American foundation with support from Rare Violins In Consortium. She currently teaches in the graduate program at Stony Brook University.
LUCIA LIN
EOIVC 2026
Qualifying Round Committee
Violinist Lucia Lin has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and with orchestras throughout the U.S. and internationally in a multifaceted career that also includes teaching as well as collaborations in the visual and performing arts. Lin made her debut at age 11 performing the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She went on to be a prizewinner in numerous competitions, including Moscow’s prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition. Her critically acclaimed performances include solo appearances with orchestras in Europe as well as a recital at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.
At age 22, Lin won a position in the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She has also been acting concertmaster with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and spent two years as concertmaster with the London Symphony Orchestra. She has also focused on chamber music, founding the Boston Trio and joining the Muir String Quartet in 1998. The quartet’s dedication to teaching helped foster Lin’s passion for guiding young musicians to discover their own musical voice. Lin teaches applied violin, chamber music, and orchestral studies as a professor at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts.
ARNAUD SUSSMANN
EOIVC 2026
Qualifying Round Committee
Winner of a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Arnaud Sussmann has distinguished himself with his unique sound, bravura, and profound musicianship. A thrilling musician capturing the attention of classical critics and audiences around the world, he has recently appeared as a soloist with the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, the Vancouver Symphony, and the New World Symphony. As a chamber musician, he has performed at the Tel Aviv Museum in Israel, London’s Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the White Nights Festival in Saint Petersburg, the Dresden Music Festival, and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. He has been presented in recital in Omaha on the Tuesday Musical Club series, New Orleans by the Friends of Music, and at the Louvre Museum in Paris. He has also given concerts at the OK Mozart, Moritzburg, Caramoor, Music@Menlo, La Jolla SummerFest, Mainly Mozart, Seattle Chamber Music, Chamber Music Northwest, and Moab Music festivals. Mr. Sussmann has performed with many of today’s leading artists including Itzhak Perlman, Menahem Pressler, Gary Hoffman, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Wu Han, David Finckel, and Jan Vogler.
ELIZABETH PITCAIRN
EOIVC 2026
Jury Alternate
Concert violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn is considered one of America’s most beloved soloists, concertizing widely in Europe, North and South America, and Asia. Pitcairn is the CEO and Artistic Director of the Luzerne Music Center in the New York Adirondacks. She is a former member of the faculty at the USC Thornton School of Music and the Colburn School in Los Angeles. She taught at the Encore School for Strings and served as Concertmaster of the New West Symphony. She has participated at the Marlboro Music Festival and the international Tchaikovsky and Indianapolis Competitions. Former teachers and musical influences include Robert Lipsett and members of the Emerson and Guarneri Quartets. Pitcairn has commissioned works by composers Tommie Haglund, David Finko, and Sara Graef. Her recording of Haglund’s Poem for Violin and Orchestra, “Hymns to the Night”, was nominated for a Swedish Grammis Award. She performs with the “Red Mendelssohn” Stradivarius of 1720 and uses Wittner Finetune-Pegs and a carbon titanium case courtesy of GEWA.