Jury

SERGEY SMBATYAN is the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and the Principal Conductor of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. A passionate advocate of classical music, he enjoys an extensive international career and is deeply committed to rejuvenating classical music audiences and promoting contemporary classical music worldwide. Born into a family of musicians, Sergey Smbatyan took his first steps in the world of classical music under the guidance of his grandmother, Tatyana Hayrapetyan, a distinguished violin teacher, before continuing his studies at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan and the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. In 2012, he furthered his academic training at the Royal Academy of Music, studying under Sir Colin Davis. His studies with Riccardo Muti and Valery Gergiev had a significant influence on the refinement of his conducting technique and artistic vision. A major milestone in Sergey Smbatyan’s career was his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra at Windsor Castle, under the auspices of Prince Charles, now His Majesty King Charles III. The outstanding success of the concert led to a subsequent invitation to conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra at Buckingham Palace. Sergey Smbatyan serves as Artistic Director of numerous annual music festivals, as well as of the Khachaturian International Competition, where, at his initiative, the conducting category was introduced. Among the festivals he founded are the Khachaturian International Festival, dedicated to preserving the legacy of Aram Khachaturian and other renowned Armenian composers; the “Armenia” International Music Festival, which brings world-class virtuoso musicians to perform in Armenia; the Penderecki Contemporary Music Festival, devoted to the works of leading contemporary composers; and others. In recent concert seasons, Sergey Smbatyan has appeared as a guest conductor with major orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dresdner Philharmonie, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, and many others. Sergey Smbatyan holds the title of Honoured Artist of the Republic of Armenia and has been awarded the French distinction of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. In 2023, he was appointed UNICEF National Ambassador.

PAOLO PONZIANO CIARDI, who embarked on his career as a conductor at a very young age, pursued musical studies in Italy in Piano, Composition, Organ, Orchestral Conducting, and Choral Conducting. From 1981 to 1985, he further refined his training at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna. He is a frequent guest conductor in both the symphonic and operatic repertoire with leading opera houses, orchestras, and international concert societies, with notable appearances at the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City (USA), the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the R.O.F. – Rossini Opera Festival, the Cecilia Meireles Hall in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), the Liszt Academy in Budapest, and the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato (Mexico). He has collaborated with internationally renowned soloists such as Raina Kabaivanska, Cecilia Gasdia, Mariella Devia, Simone Alaimo, Pietro Ballo, Katia Ricciarelli, Fiorenza Cedolins, Rolando Panerai, Ilya Grubert, Mario Ancillotti, Angelo Persichilli, Massimo Quarta, and Felix Ayo. From 2005 to 2021, he served as Full Professor of Orchestral Training at the “L. Cherubini” Conservatory of Florence. He has also held the positions of Music Director of the Orchestra Rossini of Pesaro and Artistic Director of the MUSICaISCHIA International Festival. He is currently Artistic Director of the Istituzione Sinfonica Italia Classica and of the festival “I Suoni di Sillene” in Chianciano Terme. In June 1998, he was awarded the honorary distinction of Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

ROBERTO GIANOLA enjoys a distinguished international career that has led him to conduct orchestras across Europe, the United States, Central and South America, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, China, Korea, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates. Since May 2023, he has served as Principal Conductor of the İzmir State Opera and Ballet, following nine years as Music Director of the Istanbul State Opera, where he conducted a broad operatic, symphonic, and ballet repertoire. His career has brought him to some of the world’s most prestigious stages, including the Vienna Musikverein, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, the Seoul Arts Center, Prague’s Smetana Hall, Milan’s Sala Verdi, as well as major theatres in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Macau. In Italy, he has collaborated with numerous leading operatic and symphonic institutions, among them the Fondazione Arena di Verona, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Teatro Verdi di Trieste, Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro del Giglio di Lucca, Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali of Milan, Orchestra Regionale della Toscana, I Virtuosi del Teatro alla Scala, Cameristi del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, the Puccini Festival Orchestra of Torre del Lago, and the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra. His repertoire ranges from the great Italian operatic tradition to ballet, from symphonic music to contemporary works. In recent years, he has conducted, among others, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Il Trovatore, The Nutcracker, and Romeo and Juliet (ballet) at the Ljubljana Opera; Don Pasquale and Lucrezia Borgia in Trieste and Novara; Manon Lescaut in Lucca; L’elisir d’amore in Cagliari; Cavalleria Rusticana in Livorno; Aida and Turandot in Skopje; Falstaff, Norma, Don Quixote, and Sleeping Beauty in Istanbul; La Bohème in Japan, Fuerteventura, and Hong Kong; Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Sassari; and Nabucco again in Fuerteventura. The year 2024 marked an especially intense and international season, with Roméo et Juliette at the Hong Kong Opera, The Nutcracker in Ljubljana, La Bohème and La Traviata in İzmir, Turandot in Skopje, and a major symphonic tour in China comprising 25 concerts, in addition to productions and concerts in Austria and Bulgaria. In 2025, his career reached a significant milestone with his debut conducting Otello at the Maribor Theatre (Slovenia), a production later revived at the Ljubljana Festival and the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb in September. In the same year, he returns to İzmir for Attila and a new production of Tosca, which he will also conduct in South Korea in November 2025 at the Seongnam Arts Center. His discography includes a CD released by Stradivarius with the Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali of Milan and a recording dedicated to Ottorino Respighi, made with the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra and published by Amadeus magazine.

Named one of Musical America’s Top 30 Professionals of the Year for 2025, Croatian conductor Miran Vaupotić has been described as “dynamic and knowledgeable” by the Buenos Aires Herald. He has collaborated with leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Berliner Symphoniker, the Russian National Orchestra, the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV, the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Argentina, performing in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, the Vienna Musikverein, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Rudolfinum, Smetana Hall, Victoria Hall, the Forbidden City Concert Hall, the Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Dubai Opera, the Tchaikovsky Hall, the International House of Music, and the CBC Glenn Gould Studio, among others. In addition, Vaupotić has conducted four annual Chinese National New Year Tours, respectively with the St. Petersburg State Hermitage Orchestra, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Izmir State Symphony Orchestra, performing at China’s most eminent concert venues. Miran Vaupotić has collaborated with internationally renowned artists such as Inva Mula, Ray Chen, Sergei Krylov, Yury Revich, Davide Alogna, Julian Steckel, Kirill Rodin, Andrey Gugnin, Anna Aglatova, Mario Hossen, Mariano Rey, Richard Galliano, and many others. A strong advocate of contemporary music, Vaupotić has premiered numerous works, including Carlos Franzetti’s Clarinet Concerto, Roberto Di Marino’s Guitar Concerto, Symphony No. 2 by Primous Fountain commissioned by 28-time Grammy Award–winning American producer Quincy Jones, and The Wild Symphony, composed by New York Times bestselling author Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code). He has also conducted the world premieres of several operas, including Sweet Dreams by Waundell Saavedra, Rumpelstiltskin by John Rose, directed by Tyler Bunch (The Muppets) at the National Opera America Center in New York, and Jelka by the late Croatian composer Blagoje Bersa, bringing this long-forgotten work back to life a century after the composer’s death. As a recording artist, Vaupotić has released albums on the Naxos, Classic Concert Records, Movimento Classical, and Navona Records labels. In 2025, he received the Gold Medal at the Global Music Awards in California. Miran Vaupotić won First Prize and a Special Award at the 12th Aram Khachaturian International Conducting Competition in Yerevan, Armenia. He has served as Chief Conductor of the Croatian Chamber Orchestra and the South Czech Philharmonic, and is currently Artistic Director of the Zagreb Symphony Orchestra.