Jury members

• Patrick MESSINA (France) President of the jury
• Marie-B BARRIERE-BILOTE (France)
• Shirley BRILL (Israel)
• Kenji MATSUMOTO (Japan)
• Spyros MOURIKIS (Greece)
• Ecesu SERTESEN (Turkey)
• Ronald VAN SPAENDONCK (Belgium)

Pre-selection jury members

• Patrick MESSINA (France). President of the jury
• Han KIM (South Korea)
• Maura MARINUCCI (Italia)
• Aude RICHARD-CAMUS (France)

Patrick MESSINA (France) President of the jury

Patrick Messina is one of the world'stop clarinetists, with a distinguished career in both Europe and the U.S., were he was partially trained.

A protégé of violonist Yehudi Menuhin, who has colled him "the Magic Clarinetist," he also a noted educator in France and beyond.

Of Spanish and Sicilian background, Messina was born in Nice, France. He studied the clarinet with Guy Deplus and Michel Arrignon, tacking top prizes in both clarinet and chamber music at the Conservatoire de Paris at only eighteen years old.

He then moved to the U.S. for studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music and at the Mannes College of Music in New York.

Messina scored a breakthrough in 1992 when he was named a laureate of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation. He won two major pizes in the U.S., at the East and West International Auditions in New York and the Ima Hogg National Competition in Houston, and in 1996 he started working with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York. In 2003 he returned to France to becomme the principal clarinet of the Orchestre National de France, under conductor Kurt Masur. Messina has also held guest positions with the Chicago Symphony and the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam.

His concerto soloist credits include performances with the Orchestre National de France, the Zürich Chamber Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Orchestre de Cannes, Orchestre de chambre de Toulouse, the Hioi Sinfonietta of Tockyo under the direction of Riccardo Muti, Bernard Haitink, Trevor Pinnock, Yhudi Menuhin, Daniele Gatti, Jaap Van Zweden and Kristjan Jarvi.

Patrick Messina has performed in chamber groups with Daniel Hope, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Garrick Ohlsson, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Kian Soltani, the Fine Arts Quartet, Beaux-Arts Trio, Philharmonica Berlin Quartett.

He is currently a visiting professor at the London's Royal Academy of Music and on the Faculty at the Ecole Normale Cortot in Paris.

Messina's performance of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622 under the baton of Riccardo Muti was recorded and released by Harmonia Mundi. This recording was critically acclaimed and described as "one of the great performances of the last twenty years".

Marie-B BARRIERE-BILOTE (France)

Marie-B. Barrière-Bilote, born in 1979, began playing the clarinet at the age of 10 at the Conservatoire National de Région in Bordeaux, where she studied with Richard Rimbert and Yves Didier, obtaining her advanced diploma at 15. At 16, she succeed at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, where she studied clarinet with Michel Arrignon and chamber music with Bruno Pasquier. She graduated with honors, receiving top marks in both disciplines and also won the Léon Leblanc Prize. She was awarded the Yamaha Music Europe Foundation for Young Artists scholarship and the Aïda Foundation scholarship from the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse. At the age of 20, she joined the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, where she has been the principal clarinetist for over 24 years, bringing her unique playing style to the ensemble.

She has had the opportunity to perform under the baton of renowned conductors such as Georges Prêtre, Charles Dutoit, Marek Janowski, Valery Gergiev, Lorin Maazel, and Riccardo Muti, experiences that have enriched her musical journey. Through the OPMC Mozart Festival, she has shared the stage with pianist Martin Helmchen and soprano Fatma Saïd. Passionate about chamber music, she is a member of the quintet Les Vents du Sud, which won the first prize at the Marseille International Quintet Competition. She has performed as a soloist with the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra (Budapest), the Monterrey Chamber Orchestra (Mexico), the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra, and the Picardy Orchestra.

In addition, she teaches clarinet at the Rainier III Academy of Music in Monaco. She also gives masterclasses in France, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico, and has served as a jury member for international competitions. An artist for Selmer and D'Addario, she is dedicated to the French school of clarinet playing and sincerely commits to both orchestral performance and the transmission of her art.

Shirley BRILL (Israel)

Shirley Brill's career was launched with a performance as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta. She has since performed with various international orchestras, such as the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester at the Berliner Philharmonie, the Hamburger Symphoniker conducted by Jeffrey Tate, the Symphony Orchestra of the National Theater of Prague at the Kölner Philharmonie, the Chamber Orchestra of Geneva, the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the Münchner Symphoniker at the Philharmonie im Gasteig.

Together with her Duo partner Jonathan Aner, Ms. Brill has received for her ROOTS CD the OPUS KLASSIK Award 2024 in the Chamber music category. She is also the winner of the Geneva International Competition in Switzerland, the Markneukirchen International Competition in Germany, and has received a special prize at the International ARD Competition in Munich.  Shirley Brill has performed at international music festivals such as the BBC Proms in England, the Radio France Festival in Montpellier, the Schubertiade in Austria, the Davos Festival in Switzerland and the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival in Israel. In Germany, she gave performances at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Rheingau Festival, the Heidelberger Frühling and at the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival.

Ms. Brill has collaborated with such artists as Daniel Barenboim, Jonas Kaufmann, Sabine Meyer, Emmanuel Pahud, Janine Jansen, Tabea Zimmermann, the Jerusalem String Quartet, the Fauré  Piano Quartet and Trio di Clarone. She regularly performs with pianist Jonathan Aner, playing in such prestigious halls as the Carnegie Hall in New York, Tonhalle Zürich, Oriental Art Center in Shanghai and the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn.

After studying in Israel with Mr. Yitzhak Katzap, Ms. Brill continued her studies at the Musikhochschule Lübeck in Germany with Prof. Sabine Meyer and at the New England Conservatory in Boston with Mr. Richard Stoltzman. Shirley Brill was a guest professor at the Academy of Music “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin, a faculty member at the Barenboim-Said Akademie and Professor of Clarinet at the Hochschule für Musik Saar in Saarbrücken, Germany. Since October 2021 Ms. Brill has been appointed Professor of Clarinet at the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg in Germany.

Kenji MATSUMOTO (Japan)

Principal clarinetist of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, professor at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, and specially professor at the Tokyo College of Music.

After graduating from the clarinet department of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris with the "Léon Leblanc Special Prize", he began his performance career in earnest.After winning top prizes at the 6th Japan Woodwind Competition, the 4th Japan Clarinet Competition, and the 22nd Toulon International Music Competition.

He joined the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2002 and he is also a member of the chamber orchestra ARCUS and Trio Cinq Anches.

Spyros MOURIKIS (Greece)

Spyros Mourikis was born in 1974 in Corfu island (Greece). He is an Alumnus of Athens Concervatory in the class of Charalambos Farantatos and of Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in the class of Michel Arrignon for the clarinet and Maurice Bourgue for the chamber music.

In 1997, at the Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition in Odense, he won the first Prize, the Orchestra's Prize and the Audience Prize, while the same year he also won the young Artist Prize of the Greek Association of Theatre and Music Reviewers.

As a soloist he regularly performs with all the orchestras in Greece, including Athens State Orchestra, Thessaloniki State Orchestra, Armonia Atenea, Greek National Radio Symphony and has given concerts with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, the European Union Wind Ensemble, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Mexico City Symphony Orchestra, the Odense Symphony Orchestra, the Southwest Germany Philharmonic Orchestra, the Azerbaijan National Symphony Orchestra, the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rostov Philharmonic and MusicAeterna Orchestra.

He has participated in international festivals such as "The July Musical of Epidaurus", the Chamber Music Festival of the Athens Megaron, the Tivoli festival, the Avignon festival, the Diaghilev festival, the festival of Baden-Baden, the Salzburg festival and many others.

He is invited as a jury member in numerous international clarinet competitions, such as the "Carl Nielsen" and "Gheorghe Dima" competitions, and has given masterclasses and lectures in Music Academies and foundations all over Europe and the United States such as Nielsen Society, Bremen Hochschule, Vandoren Music House, Paderewski Music Academy, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania etc.

His discography includes the Brahms and Mozart clarinet quintets with the Sting Quartet of the Paris Opera Bastille (Agora), the Nielsen concerto with Odense Symphony Orchestra (Danish Radio), as well as Reflexion des Preludes for clarinet and orchestra of the Danish composer Erik Bach with the Symphony Orchestra of Aarhus (Da Capo).

He has worked as principal clarinet with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra with Claudio Abbado. The last few years he is the principal clarinet of Utopia Orchestra of Teodor Currentzis. He is currently playing with the MusicAeterna Orchestra and Armonia Atenea Orchestra as a guest solo clarinet also with period instruments. He is solo clarinetist at the Athens State Orchestra and professor of clarinet at the Athens Conservatory and Goldsmiths University (Athens department).

Ecesu SERTESEN (Turkey)

Born in 1987, Ecesu Sertesen began her clarinet education at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory in 1998.

In 2008, she won the audition and joined the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet Orchestra as a solo clarinet.

In 2012, at the request of Fazıl Say, Ecesu Sertesen, under the baton of Naci Özgüç, performed his clarinet concerto Op. 36, "Hayyam" with the Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality Symphony Orchestra, achieving great success.

In 2014, she premiered Hasan Niyazi Tura's Clarinet Concerto with the Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tolga Taviş.

In 2015, she was invited to perform with the Hong Kong Festival Wind Orchestra, where she played Hasan Niyazi Tura's Clarinet Concerto with the wind orchestra and gave a masterclass in collaboration with Tom-Lee Music and Buffet Crampon.

In 2016, she was a jury member at the Buffet Crampon Clarinet Competition in Taiwan, where she also gave a recital and masterclass.

In 2017, she performed a recital at the Buffet Crampon Show Room in New York.

In 2018, she recorded Max Bruch's Op. 88 Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Howard Griffiths, alongside Kyoungmin Park, violist at the Berlin Philharmonic. With the support of the Orpheum Foundation, this album was released worldwide by SONY Classical the end of 2019.

Selected as a pre-selection jury member at the prestigious 5th International Jacques Lancelot Clarinet Competition in 2020,

Ecesu Sertesen was invited to Czechia, Domazlice, and to Poland several times, where she performed solo concerts and gave masterclasses in Gdansk, Krakow, and Katowice.

In 2021, she gave masterclasses at the Buffet Crampon USA Virtual Summer Academy.

In 2022, she performed a solo concert at the opening of the 11th European Clarinet Congress and, as part of the International Clarinet Association's 50th-anniversary celebrations, gave a solo concert with the USAF Academy Band as the "Headliner" artist, gave masterclasses during the event week with nearly 2000 participants.

In October 2023, she was a jury member at the FINALIS International Wind Instruments Competition in Bialystok, Poland, followed by masterclasses and concerts at Koszecin Palace.

In July 2024, she gave a masterclasses and a concert for the Buffet Crampon Summer Academy in Florida.

Currently, Ecesu Sertesen is the principal solo clarinetist at the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet Orchestra, parallel to her solo and chamber music career.

Ronal VAN SPAENDONCK (Belgium)

Ronald Van Spaendonck is teacher at the Brussels and Mons (Arts2) Royal Conservatories and at the famous « Ecole Normale de Musique » in Paris (Alfred Cortot). He is also teacher « Honoris Causa » at the Guangzhou Conservatory (China).

Since 2016, he is artistic director at the Lasne Festival.

Ronald Van Spaendonck is considered as one of the best clarinettists of his generation. In September 2000, he was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist and was invited to perform with the BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the latter with whom he made his debut at the BBC PROMS in July 2002.

He is a founding member of “Ensemble Kheops” with cellist Marie Hallynck and pianist Muhiddin Dürrüoglu. His other chamber music partners include strings quartets like Skampa, Ysaye, Belcea, Ebène, Szymanowski, Aviv, Modigliani and the Royal string quartet, the pianists Alexandre Tharaud, Johan Schmidt and Frank Braley, the violinists Gidon Kremer, Renaud Capuçon, Graf Mourja, Lisa Batiashvili and Ning Kam, the violists Lise Berthaud, Gérard Caussé, Laurence Power and Antoine Tamestit, the cellists Mischa Maisky, Gauthier Capuçon, Marc Coppey, Peter Whispelway, Alban Gerhardt and Jean-Guihen Queyras, the flautists Emmanuel Pahud, Marc Grauwels, Gaby Van Riet, Aldo Baerten and many more.

Ronald has received numerous international awards as follows: European First Prize at the International TROMP competition, First Prize at the Dos Hermanas International Competition and First Prize at the A.Gi. Mus Wind Instruments International Competition in Rome. He is also Laureat « Juventus » in 1991 and « Rising Star » in 1998, which gave him the opportunity to play in the world's greatest concert halls. In 2014 he received the « Fuga Price » and in 2018, the Heritage Commission of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels awarded him the DARCHE FRERES prize for a musician whose entire life is devoted with honor and devotion to the service of musical art.

Ronald Van Spaendonck studied the clarinet with Léon Jacot, Walter Boeykens, Anthony Pay (London) and Karl Leister (Berlin).

He recorded extensively (Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, Supraphon, Fuga Libera...) to great unanimous critical acclaim (Choc du « Monde de la musique », 10 de « répertoire », ffff de « Télérama », « Diapason d'or », « Gramophone » Choice, joker de « crescendo », ...)

Aude RICHARD-CAMUS (France)

Graduate from the Conservatoire National Supérieur of Paris (1^st Prize and Prize Léon Leblanc), Aude Richard-Camus perfected her art at the Mozart Academy (Czech Republic), the Stuttgart Musik Hochschule (Germany) and at the Yale University (U.S.A.; Master of Music).

She won a 1^st Prize at the european competition « Festival Musical d'Automne des Jeunes interprètes », at the Concerto Competition (U.S.A., Connecticut), at the Woolsey Hall Competition (U.S.A.) and was finalist at the Ima Hogg National Competition in Houston (U.S.A.). She is also Laureate of the Pierre Salvi Prize and of the Thomas Daniel Nyfenger Prize (Yale University).

Former principal clarinet at the contemporary music ensemble L'Itinéraire , she regularly performs with prestigious orchestras such as the Orchestre National de France, the Paris Opera Orchestra, the Rouen Opera orchestra and the Tours Grand Théâtre Orchestra,  conducted by Daniele Gatti, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur  and Myung-Whun Chung, amongst other. As a soloist she playes, amongst other, in France, U.S.A., Czech Republic, Poland, Costa Rica, Germany, Portugal, Mexique and Israel.

Since 1999, Richard Camus Aude is Professor of clarinet at the CRR in Rouen, a position that previously occupied Jacques Lancelot.

In 2017, Aude Richard-Camus founded the A.M.R.C posturology teaching method, which is based on the Alexander technique. This revolutionary teaching approach has led her to teach at the “C.N.S.M.D. de Lyon” in France, the “Haute École de Genève" in Switzerland, The Zhejiang Conservatory, China, the Chamber Music Northwest of Portland, USA and the “Lourès Festival”, Portugal, as well as at many universities and conservatories in France.

Han KIM (South Korea)

Appointed by Maestro Gustavo Dudamel in 2023, Clarinetist Han Kim is the principal clarinetist of the orchestra of the prestigious Opéra national de Paris, working as the first and only Asian Super-soliste in the orchestra of 350-year history.

Born in Seoul in Feb. 1996, Han began playing clarinet at the age of eight. Rarely as a wind instrumentalist, he has been recognized for his talent as a soloist since young age, performing with leading orchestras such as the SWR Symphony Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a chamber musician, he had artistic partnerships with Seong-Jin Cho, Igor Levit, Arto Noras, Daniel Müller-Schott, and so on, and performed at festivals such as the Heidelberg Spring Music Festival, the Pablo Casals Festival, the Japan International Clarinet Festival and Tongyeong International Music Festival.

Han also an enthusiastic orchestral musician, since the start of his career as an academist of Zurich Opera orchestra at the age of 20. He then moved to Helsinki in 2019 to join the Finnish Radio symphony orchestra, which he served as 2nd Solo Clarinet player for 4 years, and he regularly worked as guest principal at numerous orchestras such as London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre national de France, BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Han Kim is the winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2nd Beijing International Music Competition at the age of 13, and won  the 1st Prize by unanimous decision, the Audience Prize, and the Sacem Prize for the best performance of Fuminori Tanada Sommerwind IV concerto at the 3rd Jacques Lancelot International Clarinet Competition-Rouen France in 2016. In 2019, he won the 2nd prize, Henle-Urtext prize and the Audience Award at the 68th Munich ARD International Music Competition.

With a YouTube community of 26k subscribers and over 10 million views, Han is trying to building new audiences in clarinet music which is rather unknown instrument compared to Piano and Strings. Han Kim completed his studies with honors at the Musikhochschule Lübeck under Sabine Meyer.

Maura MARINUCCI (Italia)

Maura Marinucci is the principal clarinet of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London since September 2023, after having held the same position with the Brussels Philharmonic for the previous four years.

She's regularly invited as Guest Principal Clarinet with many orchestras, such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ulster Orchestra, Welsh National Opera, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de la Monnaie (Brussels), Orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo (Naples). Before that, she has played with many youth orchestras, like the Gustav Mahler Jugend Orkester, the Animato Orchestra and the Swiss Youth SYMPHONY Orchestra.

She performed as soloist with the Transilvania State Orchestra, the “Solisti Aquilani” and the Orchestra of the De Sono Foundation.

She plays chamber music with many different groups, travelling across Europe with both classical and contemporary repertoire. She has performed recitals with piano in Europe, Australia and the United States.

She's clarinet professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, after being clarinet teacher in Italy, at the conservatoires of Novara and Pescara. She has also given masterclasses in Italy, at the Royal Conservatoire of Brussels, the Royal Welsh College of Music, the Michigan State University, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College, the Gheorghe Dima National Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca (Romania).