jury
7th Steinway Youth Piano Competition Thailand 2025
The jury panel of the Competition is composed of three esteemed Steinway Artists.
Didier Castell-jacomin
Steinway Artist, French
Based in The Netherlands
Didier Castell-Jacomin was a disciple of Catherine Collard, Georgy Cziffra and Fausto Zadra. His debut at the Berlin Philharmonic with the Berliner Solisten Kammer led to performances at the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Carnegie Hall, and numerous American festivals as well as in London, Brussels and Spain. In Germany, Didier Castell-Jacomin has performed with the Baden Baden Philharmonic, in Switzerland at the New Year Festival in Gstaadt and in France at the Salle Cortot with the actress Brigitte Fossey in a programme dedicated to Clara and Robert Schumann. Didier also performs in chamber music with the Quintette à Vents de Paris and the Eurasia Quartet.
Norman Lebrecht has described him as "a sparkling pianist" and Paul Badura-Skoda, after they played together, said that he was "a true Mozartian".
Didier became president of the Klassika International Foundation and created the Wave of Art in Maastricht where he plays 2 pianos with Anna Fedorova. Since then, the he has become a "Steinway Artist", which has led him to play in the most important European and American cities. In 2023, Didier Castell-Jacomin performed in the USA, then tour Europe, Dubai and Bangkok. He has release a CD entirely dedicated to Schubert under the Naxos label.
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Norman Lee
Steinway Artist, Canadian
Based in Hong Kong
Born in Hong Kong, Norman started his piano studies at a very young age. Having been awarded the Sklarevski Scholarship, he furthered his piano studies in The Peabody Conservatory of Music with Walter Hautzig and Robert Weirich, where he received his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance. Norman furthered his repertoire by studying with Irina Zaritzkaya from the Royal College of Music in London England. He was also awarded certificates from the U.S.S.R. after studying with Anatoly Verdernikov and Tatiana Nikolava in Mozertum, Saltsburg. Mr. Lee received his Master degree of Music from The University of Western Ontario working under Professor Ronald Turini.
Norman plays frequently for various radio and television programmes all over the world (Hong Kong, Italy, Canada and the United States). He has also performed many concerts in Hong Kong (City Hall), United States, Canada (Toronto Center for the art, Markham Theatre), U.K., and most recently, a highly successful tour in Italy and U.S.A..
Norman had conducted master classes and lectures in Hong Kong, China, USA, Canada and Europe on the topic of piano injuries and movement retraining. Mr. Lee currently teaches at The Baptist University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University Of Hong Kong.
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Zhang CHi
Steinway Artist, Chinese
Based in Malaysia
Zhang Chi graduated from Monash University (Melbourne), Master of Music. He was engaged in many concerts and boardcastings during the years in Australia. After graduation, he moved to Penang, Malaysia, as concert pianist, piano teacher, piano collaborator, and composer. He often performs with both well-known local and international musicians, and played concertos with orchestrals as well as piano solo recitals. He is often invited to be jury in many competitions and hold masterclasses in different cities. Mr. Zhang Chi is a Steinway Artist and Steinway Teacher and Education Partner.
As a soloist, Zhang Chi has a wide range of performing repertoire – from the Baroque period including works by Bach, Handel and Rameau to the 21st century composers such as Messiaen, Kapustin and Erkki Sven Tüür. He is also particularly keen to discover lesser-known repertoires such as the opera transcription works for piano by composers Thalberg and Mikhashoff, song transcriptions by Earl Wild and Tausig, solo works by John Ireland, and virtuoso transcriptions by acclaimed pianists Horowitz and Ginsburg.
Currently based in Penang, Zhang Chi regularly performs and collaborates with acclaimed local and international musicians. He is in considerable demand as a tutor and has nurtured prize-winning students at piano competitions.
Zhang Chi was invited to Steinway New York to capture his live performance and preserved in the Steinway Spirio library.
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