VALENTINA BERMAN
PIANO PROFESSOR
Artistry and Interpretation: Tips from a Professor, a Juror, and an Audience Member
Valentina Berman is an exponant for the Russian piano playing tradition, which harks back to the XIX century. She was a piano pupil of Avram Schatzkes, who himself studied with Nikolai Medtner.
For 26 years she was a respected teacher at the Central School of Music of the Moscow State Conservatoire. Together with her husband, the renowned piano virtuoso Lazar Berman, she moved to Italy, where she became a highly sought after piano professor, teaching high caliber pianists and serving on competition jurys. She actively teaches masterclasses in Italy, Belgium, Germany, Slovakia and Lithuania. Valentina Berman resides in Milano.
MEIKE BISTRAM
PHYSIOTHERAPIST
Relaxation and Balance
Meike Bistram graduated from Rohrbach School in Hanover, with a degree in physical therapy.
Since 2006 she runs a private practice which focuses on orthopaedy, neurology, and surgery. Mrs. Bistram also teaches courses in gymnastics and aquarobics. She has attended training courses in taping, chiropractic, backcare, relaxation techniques, reflexology, and traditional Chinese medicine. In addition to this she has worked as an official medical advisor for Germany's womens' national volleyball team.
OLGA FILATOVA KONTRIMIENĖ
STYLIST
Performance Starts with the Appearance
Stylist Olga Filatova Kontrimienė is the co-founder of the conceptual fashion brand 2RU2RA. The trio behind the brand (including Airida Skrickienė and Miglė Janušaitė) rose to stardom after winning the famous TV project "Mados teismas" in 2014.
Over the last years, her vast fields of work have encompassed interior design, event decor, personal shopping and image consulting for artists. Mrs. Filatova Kontrimienė is also known from her work as a stylist for various TV shows, including "Auksinis balsas", "Chorų karai", "Žvaigždžių duetai" and "Kviečiu šokti". She has created styles for Donatas Montvydas, Vaidas Baumila, Jeronimas Milius and other Lithuanian A-List acts.
GERŪTA GRINIŪTĖ
TV & RADIO PRESENTER
Stage Presence and Presentation
Gerūta Griniūtė is well known to audiences as the presenter of the Lithuanian national preselection of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016, the hostess of the LRT KLASIKA show „Muzikinis pastišas“ as well as numerous other shows on Lithuanian national radio and television.
She graduated from the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Arts as a pianist and received her bachelor degree in piano performance from the Lithuanian Academy for Music and Drama. She went on to obtain a masters degree in analytic journalism at the Vilnius University. Since 2010 she organizes and hosts the popular charity concert series „Muzikinis linkėjimas“. In 2016 she also appeared as a judge at the Lithuanian National Forum.
ALEKSANDRA KERIENĖ
TONMEISTER
The Art of Recording: Technology vs. Psychology
Aleksandra Kerienė trained as a pianist at Vilnius Conservatoire and graduated as a tonmeister from both Kaunas University of Technology and the Danish Royal Academy. She is currently a sound engineer for Lithuanian National TV and Radio. She is also one of the founding members of the recording studio "Baltic Mobile Recordings".
As a tonmeister she has worked with numerous A-List artists, including Gidon Kremer, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Daniil Trifonov, Yulianna Avdeeva, Lawrence Brownlee, Anna Vinnitskaya etc. Her recordings were released by Deutsche Grammophon, ECM, Naxos, and other major labels, and have won numerous awards, including Opera News "Recording of the Year" award (2015), ECHO Klassik award (2016) as well as a Grammy nomination (2014).
TITAS PETRIKIS
COMPOSER
Freelance Artist: Every Detail Counts
Dr. Titas Petrikis gained his PhD in film and sound composition at Bournemouth University in 2014.
A finalist of the Talent Campus Volkswagen Score competition in Berlinale 2007 (Germany), his talent was also recognized at Cologne Soundtrack 6.0 2009 (Germany), where he was awarded the Peer Raben Award for his scoring of the music for the short film, Noirville. He has also been nominated four times for the Lithuanian Silver Crane Best Music Award (2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012).
In addition to his active artistic output, Mr. Petrikis shares his film making and music experience at universities, and since 2003 lectures in various international film teaching programs and master classes.
MACDARA Ó SEIREADÁIN
CLARINETIST
Psychology as a Backbone to a Stage Career
Macdara Ó Seireadáin is a native of Dublin and a First Class Honours graduate of both the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover and Royal Irish Academy of Music. He serves as the co-artistic director of the critically acclaimed chamber music group, the Ficino Ensemble.
A multiple prizewinner, in 2010 Mr Ó Seireadáin won the inaugural Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year competition and has performed as a featured soloist with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Uelzen Kammerorchester. A keen chamber musician, he has performed with John O'Conor, Ailish Tynan, Johannes Peitz, Sharon Kam, and the Apollon Musagete Quartet. He is supported by the Arts Council and Music Network's Music Capital Scheme, funded by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
ALVYDA ZDANEVIČIŪTĖ
PIANIST, EDUCATOR
Psychological Comfort in a Lesson: A Thin Line Between Building Confidence and Pampering
Alvyda Zdanevičiūtė is a prizewinner of international music competitions in Germany, Italy, Belgium, Latvia, and Lithuania. She is a founding member of both Clementi Piano Duo (with pianist DongJoohn Lee) and Ensemble "Sguardo a Due" (with flautist Anna Denise Rheinländer) that successfully tour both in Germany and abroad.
She also serves as a teacher of the piano department at the Hanover Central Music School. Her students are laureates of different national competitions, including "Jugend musiziert" and "Einbecker Klavierfrühling". She is frequently invited to lecture on various aspects of teaching, in particular on the psychological aspects.
VIKTORAS ZUJEVAS
DANCE INSTRUCTOR
Exercising Through Dance
Viktoras Zujevas is a multiple prizewinner of numerous dance competitions, as both a solo dancer, and as a member of the renowned crews "Acid Gang" and "Banzai". He has performed throughout Lithuania, as well as in Estonia, Latvia, and Sweden, and was selected to dance at the "Notorious IBE" festival in the Netherlands. He also made it to the finals of the Lithuanian version of "So You Think You Can Dance".
Viktoras received his first dance lessons at the age of six and has gone on to master both breakdance and street dance. He attended courses in classical, and jazz dance, as well as capoeira and tricking. He attended Lithuanian Sports University where he studied the padagogics of dance and body fitness. He now teaches sold-out courses throughout Lithuania and is a respected judge at numerous street dance competitions.
