Music Director Paavo Järvi has selected six candidates from five countries from among 260 applicants.
They are between 23 and 34 years old - and dream of a career as a conductor. They have already realized part of their dream; they have completed their studies, received prizes and scholarships, and gained experience with a wide variety of orchestras. And now they have been selected for Paavo Järvi's annual Conductors' Academy: another important step on a long journey.
The audience can accompany them, the master classes are open to the public. And there is no doubt that this year, too, we will see how differently the young conductors approach their task. For all those who want to know more about them already: Here we present the candidates of this year's Conductors' Academy.
After graduating from the Juilliard School with a degree in piano performance, Jiaying Ding studied composition and conducting at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music from 2021 and became a student of conductor Long Yu. Other mentors included Arthur Fagen, Hugh Wolff and Kenneth Kiesler. In 2023, she won the Carlos Miguel Prieto Conducting Fellowship in the USA, making her the only Asian conductor among the worldwide winners. At the same time, she was accepted into the Conducting Artist Diploma Training Programme, which was co-founded by the OAcademy (Orchestra of the Americas Group), the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Rosina Flueckiger studied conducting with Christof Brunner at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste and at the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana with Marc Kissoczy, Arturo Tamayo and Francesco Bossaglia. She was selected by Peter Rundel to take part in the Salzburg 2023 Pocket Opera Festival, where she conducted four performances of Oxana Omelchuk’s new opera. She has also worked as an assistant conductor on various other productions. Last year, she won 2nd prize at the International Conducting Competition of the Opéra de Baugé. She was also selected to conduct the final concert of the Athens Philharmonia Conducting Competition 2023. In 2020 and 2021, she worked with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and conducted its ensemble in concerts and recordings.
Xiaobo Hu is chief conductor of the Kunming International Philharmonic, with whom he has achieved great success with Chinese premieres of works by Janáček, Rautavaara and Franz Schmidt. He works closely with the composer and conductor Tan Dun and has been his assistant conductor on several projects and performances since 2023. Xiaobo Hu was a student of Ari Rasilainen at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg and is currently studying with Manuel Nawri at the Hochschule für Musik Saar. He has conducted more than 20 orchestras in Europe and Asia. He has been taught by renowned conductors such as Neeme Järvi, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Sakari Oramo, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Cristian Măcelaru, Eivind Gullberg Jensen and Sascha Goetzel at various music festivals and academies.
Julia Kurzydlak studies at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Last year, she completed her bachelor’s degree in the class of Maestro Tomasz Bugaj and is currently a master's student of Maestro Rafał Janiak. She has taken part in masterclasses, including with Marin Alsop at the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice. Her great passion is contemporary music. She has premiered numerous works by young composers. She made her debut at the Warsaw Autumn Festival in 2022. As an assistant conductor, she has worked with artists such as Andrzej Boreyko, Rafał Janiak, Lilianna Krych and Paweł Przytocki and renowned ensembles.
Ian Niederhoffer, who has been praised by the New York Times for his «intelligent, unusual programming», is the founder and musical director of Parlando, a «razor-sharp chamber orchestra that exudes the joy of music-making», now entering its fourth season. From the podium, he connects each piece with anecdotes and a common theme, so that every Parlando concert tells a story. Ian Niederhoffer, who was named a «Rising Star» by BBC Music Magazine in January 2024, won three prizes at the Khachaturian International Competition in 2021. In the same year, he was named «Artist of Promise» by the Conducting Academy of the Verbier Festival. In 2019 and 2022, he took part in the Järvi Academy at the Pärnu Music Festival.
Richard Octaviano Kogima is a Brazilian conductor, pianist and composer who currently lives in Zurich. In 2022, he was invited by Herbert Blomstedt to accompany him on a six-week tour of the USA. Since then, he has celebrated successful debuts. In 2023 he was an active participant in the Järvi Academy. He also took part in masterclasses with Marc Kissoczy and Johannes Schlaefli. After studying piano at the Universidade de São Paulo and the École Normale de Musique de Paris, he moved to the Zurich University of the Arts for his master's degree (classes: piano with Konstantin Scherbakov and choral conducting with Markus Utz). He currently teaches chamber music and conducting at the pre-college department of this institution as well as piano.
The four masterclasses and the closing concert will be livestreamed from 03 to 05 June. After the closing concert, the audience will have the opportunity to vote for the audience winner.
Supported by the Freundeskreis Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich – exclusive project partner
Board and lodging for the academy members supported by Ruth Burkhalter
