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THE
JURY

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Photo © Molina Visuals

Mirijam Contzen

Mirijam Contzen studied with the legendary violinist Tibor Varga. She specializes in unknown repertoire, having recorded works of Nicolas Bolens, Stefan Heucke, and Franz Clement, among others. She has performed as a soloist with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and more. She is a professor at the University of the Arts in Berlin.

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Photo © Privat

Barbara Lebitsch

Barbara Lebitsch has been director of artistic planning at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg since 2018. After earning degrees in theater studies, musicology, psychology, and journalism, she served as an artistic planner and director of production at the Konzerthaus in Vienna and for the Wien Modern festival from 2002 to 2012. From 2012 to 2015, she was assistant to the artistic director at the Berlin Philharmonic Foundation. She joined the Elbphilharmonie in 2015 as lead dramaturge.

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Photo © The Washington Post

Anne Midgette

Anne Midgette was the classical music critic of The Washington Post for 11 years, from 2008 to 2019. Before that, she was for seven years a regular contributor of classical music and theater reviews to The New York Times. She is co-author of The King and I and of My Nine Lives, and is currently working on a historical novel about the woman who built pianos for Beethoven. 

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Photo © Marco Borggreve

Tamara Stefanovich

Tamara Stefanovich is a pianist who performs a repertoire ranging from Bach to the music of living composers. Raised in Belgrade, she studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and the Conservatory in Cologne. She has performed with orchestras such as the London Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and others, and performed solo recitals at venues such as Suntory Hall and the Salzburg Festival. She also performs with a free-improvisation quartet.
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Jeffrey Arlo Brown

Jeffrey Arlo Brown studied composition at the Mozarteum and the Music Academy in Basel. He joined VAN as an editor in 2015. His writing has also appeared in Slate, The Baffler, Atlas Obscura, TAZ am Wochenende, Narratively, and other publications. 

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Photo © Arnaud Ele

Julian Steckel

Julian Steckel was born in 1982 in Pirmasens, Germany. He studied cello in Berlin and Vienna. He currently performs with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. Besides performing as a soloist, Steckel has held concerts at festivals in Lucerne, Mondsee, Heimbach, Lockenhaus, Zermatt, Bonn, Jerusalem, and Prussia Cove; his chamber music partners include Lars Vogt, Martin Helmchen, Denis Kozhukhin, Paul Rivinius, Christian Tetzlaff, Antje Weithaas, Janine Jansen, Antoine Tamestit and the Ébène, Armida und Modigliani string quartets. He lives in Berlin with his family and teaches a small cello class at the Musikhochschule in Munich.

THE
JURY

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Photo © Molina Visuals

Mirijam Contzen

Mirijam Contzen studied with the legendary violinist Tibor Varga. She specializes in unknown repertoire, having recorded works of Nicolas Bolens, Stefan Heucke, and Franz Clement, among others. She has performed as a soloist with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and more. She is a professor at the University of the Arts in Berlin.

#BPFYA

Photo © Privat

Barbara Lebitsch

Barbara Lebitsch has been director of artistic planning at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg since 2018. After earning degrees in theater studies, musicology, psychology, and journalism, she served as an artistic planner and director of production at the Konzerthaus in Vienna and for the Wien Modern festival from 2002 to 2012. From 2012 to 2015, she was assistant to the artistic director at the Berlin Philharmonic Foundation. She joined the Elbphilharmonie in 2015 as lead dramaturge.

#BPFYA

Photo © The Washington Post

Anne Midgette

Anne Midgette was the classical music critic of The Washington Post for 11 years, from 2008 to 2019. Before that, she was for seven years a regular contributor of classical music and theater reviews to The New York Times. She is co-author of The King and I and of My Nine Lives, and is currently working on a historical novel about the woman who built pianos for Beethoven. 

#BPFYA

Photo © Marco Borggreve

Tamara Stefanovich

Tamara Stefanovich is a pianist who performs a repertoire ranging from Bach to the music of living composers. Raised in Belgrade, she studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and the Conservatory in Cologne. She has performed with orchestras such as the London Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and others, and performed solo recitals at venues such as Suntory Hall and the Salzburg Festival. She also performs with a free-improvisation quartet.
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Photo © Christine Fiedler

Jeffrey Arlo Brown

Jeffrey Arlo Brown studied composition at the Mozarteum and the Music Academy in Basel. He joined VAN as an editor in 2015. His writing has also appeared in Slate, The Baffler, Atlas Obscura, TAZ am Wochenende, Narratively, and other publications. 

#BPFYA

Photo © Arnaud Ele

Julian Steckel

Julian Steckel was born in 1982 in Pirmasens, Germany. He studied cello in Berlin and Vienna. He currently performs with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. Besides performing as a soloist, Steckel has held concerts at festivals in Lucerne, Mondsee, Heimbach, Lockenhaus, Zermatt, Bonn, Jerusalem, and Prussia Cove; his chamber music partners include Lars Vogt, Martin Helmchen, Denis Kozhukhin, Paul Rivinius, Christian Tetzlaff, Antje Weithaas, Janine Jansen, Antoine Tamestit and the Ébène, Armida und Modigliani string quartets. He lives in Berlin with his family and teaches a small cello class at the Musikhochschule in Munich.