TENERIFE MUSIC FESTIVAL & COMPETITION
FESTIVAL - ACADEMIA MUSICIANS AND FACULTY
Violin - Judith Choi Castro
Judith is the Artistic Director of the Festival Academy of Music Tenerife. She graduated with a Masters degree from the Royal Academy of Music, after also studying at the Royal College of Music, London and the Manhattan School of Music, New York. She now performs worldwide as a chamber musician and orchestral player.
Judith is also an experienced orchestral player and regularly performs with world renowned orchestras including the London Sinfonietta, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. She is currently playing a violin by Lavazza made in 1740, kindly on loan from the Harrison Franck Foundation, London.
For more information please visit her website :
www.judithchoicastro.com
Violin - Andrea Kim
​
German violinist Andrea Kim, has performed as soloist and chamber musician in several international music festivals including her solo debut at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik
Festival in 2006 and her solo concert live recorded with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra in November 2010 under the direction of K. Järvi. In 2007 she and her piano duo partner won the German Music Competition, resulting in over thirty duo recitals in the 2008/2009 season. In February 2009 the duo competed at the international Schubert competition in Graz, Austria and won the special prize for best interpretation of the modern work.
Born in 1978 in Germany, Andrea began the violin at the age of four.
In 1997 she went on to study with Thomas Brandis in Berlin. During her studies she had many orchestral experiences, including Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, E UYO and in 2000 was concertmaster of the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra. This resulted in concert tours in Canada, USA and Europe and further tours with Mahler Chamber Orchestra (with conductors as C.Abbado, S.Ozawa, P.Boulez, D.Harding). In 2003 Andrea continued her studies in Vienna with Gerhard Schulz, violinist of the Alban Berg Quartet.
Andrea has collaborated with such artists as Thomas Brandis, Sabine Meyer, Wenn Sinn Yang , Ulf Hölscher. She also plays regularly with Ensemble Modern and Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
Since 2006, Andrea has been assistant concertmaster of the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra under Paavo Jarvi. In 2010, her dedication and love of chamber music drove her to start her own chamber music festival in the Frankfurt area. Her goal is to bring friends together to play and to donate the proceeds to a good cause.
Since January 2017 she is first violinist of the Bavarian Radio Symphonie Orchestra.
Violin - Polina Borisova
​
Polina Borisova was born in Ryazan where she started her violin lessons. Studied at the Moscow Frederic Chopin College of Music and at the Moscow Conservatory (class of Ara Bogdanyan). In 2014 she obtained a postgraduate degree at the Moscow Conservatoire. From 2014 Polina is a teaching assistant in Moscow Conservatory.
Prize-winner of more then 20 international competitions, such us -International Balys Dvarionas Competition (Lithuania), the International Robert Canetti Competition (Israel), Open Europe (Grand-Prix, Moscow), Saveliy Orlov Competition (Grand-Prix, Samara), Сompetition of Slavic music (1st prize, Moscow), Competition “Muses of the world”(1st prize, Moscow), Violin Competition in Yerevan and special prize of A. Khachaturyan (1st prize, Armenia), Competition “Night in Madrid” (1st prize, Spain), the International Agostin Aponte Competition ( 1st prize, Spain). In december 2018 Polina won the Grand-Prix at the Jan Sibelius Instrumental Music Competition (Turku, Finland).
Polina Borisova is a participant of many national and international Festivals. Tours across Spain, France, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Armenia, Belarus, Tunisia, Spain, Israel, Poland, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Laos, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Cyprus, Italy, Makedonia, Vietnam, Austria, etc
Since 2013 she has been a soloist with the St Petersburg House of Music. Since 2017 she has been a soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic.
Since 2009 takes part in the official International musical project «Polina Borisova&David Almerich», playing ensemble with the Spanish pianist and saxophonist David Almerich.
Piano - Aurélien Pontier
​
Pianist Aurélien Pontier first performed on the stage of the Paris Opera at the age of
nine. He came to the notice of Emmanuel Krivine, and was invited at a very young age to perform as a soloist with the Orchestre National de Lyon under Sylvain Cambreling and Péter Csaba, playing concertos by Mozart and Chopin.
At the age of 13 he entered the Conservatoire de Paris (class of Jean-François Heisser), being the youngest student of this institution. He graduated three years later with a First prize in piano and chamber music.
He is First-prize winner of the Vladimir Krainev Competition in Kiev ( Ukraine ) as well as Third Prize at the International Piano Competition in Chioggia ( Italy). He has played with numerous orchestras such as Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Padova-Venezia Orchestra, Kharkov Philarmonia, Camerata Bohemiana of Pragua with renowned conductors like Sylvain Cambreling, Peter Csaba, Enrique Mazzola.
A chamber music lover, he plays with distinguished artists such as Tatjana Vassilieva, Marc Coppey, Bertrand Chamayou, Roger Tapping, David Grimal, François Salque. Since few years, he has made a successful duo with the french violonist Matthieu Arama and recorded a CD for Brillant Classics.
He has given solo performances in some of the greatest Hall including the Great Hall of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the Auditorium du Louvre, l'Arsenal de Metz, the Opera de Paris, the Opera de Bordeaux, in various countries such as Italy, England, Germany, Swiss, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia,USA, Canada.
Piano - John Paul Ekins
​
In great demand as a recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician, John Paul Ekins has given performances throughout the UK, and overseas, and he has been broadcast on the BBC, on Romanian national television and radio, and on Polish television. In 2009 he graduated from the Royal College of Music with First Class Honours, was awarded the James Anthony Horne Scholarship by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to study with Charles Owen, where he graduated with Master of Performance (Distinction) in 2011. He was the recipient of a Music Education Award from the Musicians Benevolent Fund, and receives generous support from Making Music, The Concordia Foundation, The Razumovsky Trust and The Keyboard Charitable Trust.
He has performed at a number of prestigious venues in the UK and abroad, including Bucharest's Athenaeum, Zurich's Tonhalle, Prague's Martinu Hall, Bergen's Troldhaugen, Krakow's Florianka Hall, London's Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Fairfield Hall and Steinway Hall, Birmingham's Symphony Hall, Oxford's Holywell Music Room, Bath's Pump Room, Bristol's Colston Hall and Belfast's Ulster Hall. As a concerto soloist he has performed works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Grieg, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich and Gershwin with orchestras throughout the UK. His concerto highlight thus far was performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue at the Royal Albert Hall with Southbank Sinfonia.
John Paul was particularly honoured to be presented to Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip at a Reception for Young Performers at Buckingham Palace, and international competition successes have brought him as many as 19 awards and prizes.
You can find out more information on John Paul at www.jpekinspianist.com or follow him on Twitter @jpekinspianist.
Cello - Raúl Mirás López
​
Born in A Coruña, Spain, Raúl began to play cello with Ilia Keilin and graduated from Musikene with Asier Polo. He continued studying in Musik-Akademie Basel with Thomas Demenga and in Hochschule für Musik Rostock with Julian Steckel.
He has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and has performed in several festivals including the Zermatt Festival, Akademie Rutesheim, Festival Turina, Gustav Mahler Academy, Montreux Festival and Lucerne Festival.
He carries out an intense activity as a chamber musician. He has worked with A. Mercero, S.Azzolini, A. Kernjank, Walter Levin, Rainer Schmidt, and has studied string quartet with Natasha Prishepenko in the Universität der Künste Berlin. Member of the Joven Orquesta Nacional de España and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, Raúl was also academist of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. He usually collaborates with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Plural Ensemble, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Sinfónica de Galicia, OBC and Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana playing under the direction of D.Afkham, D. Gatti, V. Jarousski, C Davis, H. Blomstedt and M. Janowski.
Since 2015, he is Professor at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón (Zaragoza) and
from season 2018/2019 Raúl is Principal cellist of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife.
Viola - Sviatoslav Belonogov
​
Principal Viola at the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra (OST) since 1997, Sviatoslav has also incorporated the viola d'amore into his musical resources. A graduate of the Russian Music Academy under the tutelage of Professor Vyacheslav Trushin, he was awarded Master of Fine Arts Degree in 1992. During his training he was principal viola at the Young Symphony Orchestra of Socialists Countries, under the baton of Ádám Medveczky and JiÅ™í Belohlavek, and member of the International Quartet (1983-1987).
Sviatoslav was a prize-winner of the USSR National Viola Competition in Lvov (1988), and a laureate of the Dmitri Shostakovich String Quartet Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia (1993). He was soloist of the State Symphony Orchestra of Moscow (1989-1990) conducted by Vassily Sinaisky and Vladimir Ponkin, member of the National Orchestra of Russia (1990-1994) conducted by Mikhail Pletnev, and also soloist at the chamber orchestra camera Moscow Virtuosi (1994-1997) conducted by Vladimir Spivakov.
Sviatoslav Belonogov has toured under the baton of such world-renowned conductors as Mikhail Pletnev, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yehudi Menuhin, Vassily Sinaysky, Vladimir Spivakov, Mariss Jansons, Lu Jia, Vasily Petrenko, performing at venues as well known as the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Musikverein of Vienna, London's Royal Festival Hall, Châtelet Paris, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Sala delle Benedizioni in the Vatican, Concertgebow Amsterdam, and Auditorio Nacional de Música de Madrid.
Highlights of Sviatoslav’s performances include the Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Quartet by E. Chausson at the festival of Colmar, France (1996), with violinist Vladimir Spivakov and pianist Brigitte Engerer; Double Concerto by M. Bruch, with clarinettist Pierluigi Bernard, under Christian Badea (2000); Sonata per la Gran Viola and Orchestra by N. Paganini; and the Sonata da Chiesa by F. Martin both versions: for viola d'amore with strings and also with organ with Olesya Rostovskaya, organ.
​
Flute - Mihi Kim
​
Mihi Kim is currently pursuing her career as an international soloist in Europe, the Americas and Asia. She regularly gives master classes in France and abroad and has taught in Germany, Korea, Taiwan, Serbia, Japan, Slovenia, USA, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, England, Chile and Russia, and will soon appear in Brazil, Canada and China.
She currently is Professor at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris “Alfred Cortot” for Flute and Piccolo and at the CRD Conservatory of Issy-Les- Moulineaux, Paris. She has also been a member of the Ensemble Multilatérale since 2004 and is a Miyazawa International Artist, promoted by Miyazawa Flutes Inc. Japan, USA and Alto Musique - Flute Studio France.
For more information please visit her website :
Conducting- Jung Chul Choi
​
Jung Chul Choi studied orchestral conducting and composition with Armando Blanquer in Valencia, Spain and the technique of conducting with Lawrence Leonard and George Hurst in England.
Firstly trained as a trombonist, Jung Chul was principal of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra from 1978 to 1988 and professor of the Conservatoire Superior of Santa Cruz, Tenerife until 1998. He then founded and became Principal Director of Arona Music School until 2007.
In 2000, he won the Ganigo Prize in Spain and in 2012 was awarded by the Prime Minister of South Korea for his international music work.
Jung Chul has conducted around the world to countries such as Italy, Norway, Russia, South Korea and Spain and currently is in the process of publishing his methods of conducting techniques.