Winner of the 2021 Neeme Järvi Prize, Swedish conductor Andreas Patrik Hansson held the position of assistant conductor with the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester in Switzerland during 2023. As a symphonic conductor Andreas is working extensively across Europe and has over the past few years debuted with orchestras such as the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Residentie Orkest and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Andreas completed his master studies in the Netherlands at the Dutch National Master of Orchestral Conducting and his bachelor in conducting at the Norwegian Academy of Music. During his time in Norway, he also won the prestige filled Opptakt, Norway’s top initiative for young conductors. Andreas has participated in a large range of masterclasses for such esteemed teachers as Riccardo Muti, Jaap van Zweden, and Neeme and Paavo Järvi.

Photo: Olle Gustafsson

Emil Jonason

Jonason’s impressive career includes solo appearances with renowned orchestras such as Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Stockholm, Göteborgs Symfoniker, Symfoniorkest Vlaanderen and the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra in the USA. In 2019, he gained notable recognition by winning the Kaleidoscope International Vocal and Instrumental Competition in Los Angeles with Emmy Lindström’s clarinet concerto “At the Hills of Hampstead Heath.” Since 2023, he has worked as the principal clarinetist of the Swedish Wind Ensemble (Blåsarsymfonikerna) and teaching as a Senior Lecturer at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and Mälardalens University in Västerås, where he shapes the next generation of clarinetists.

Frøydis Ree Wekre

Frøydis Ree Wekre has been a solo horn player with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra for decades. From 1991 to 2011 she was professor of French horn and chamber music at the Norwegian Academy of Music. Many of her students play in leading orchestras. She is in constant demand for masterclasses all over the world, is an honorary member of the International Horn Society and has had a large number of compositions dedicated to her by a variety of composers.

Gitte Marcusson

Gitte taught at Chetham’s School of Music for 16 years and is since 2016 Professor at the Royal College of Music in London. She is founder and director of Nordic Flute International Summer School as well as being a member of the faculty at Wildacres Flute Retreat, North Carolina USA. Many of her students are holding principal and second positions in orchestras worldwide such as London Symphony, Royal Scottish, Liverpool, Birmingham, Sidney Symphony, Oslo, Norrköping and BBC Philharmonic. Besides frequently giving Masterclasses throughout Europe, Gitte is a tutor at Tuscany Flutes and Voksenåsen Summer Academy, Oslo.

Gordon Hunt

Gordon Hunt is a British musician and conductor. He has served as principal oboe of the London Philharmonic and London Chamber orchestra and he has also been professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and is an Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. Hunt is a much sought-after soloist and has made several recordings. As a conductor he has worked with Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and Danish National Chamber Orchestra, among others. He was music director of the Swedish Chamber Winds 1991-1997. Hunt was the original “Gabriel’s Oboe” in the Morricone score for the 1986 period drama film The Mission.

Jonas Olsson

Jonas Olsson has accompanied the Polstjärnepriset competitors since 2010 and works as a repetiteur at Norrlandsoperan in Umeå. He belongs to a new generation of versatile pianists and is much appreciated for his work as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist. Jonas, who has studied with Hans Pålsson and Pierre-Laurent Aimard, is one of Scandinavia’s recognized experts on contemporary music and has collaborated with a long list of the world’s leading composers.

Judith Ingolfsson

Violinist Judith Ingolfsson is recognized for her intense, commanding performances, uncompromising musical maturity, and charismatic performance style. Based in Berlin and Baltimore and enjoying a global career, she performs regularly as soloist, chamber musician and in recital. Judith Ingolfsson studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Jascha Brodsky, David Cerone and Donald Weilerstein. A Gold Medal winner at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 1998, Judith Ingolfsson was honored by National Public Radio as Debut Artist of the Year 1999. She is currently Professor of Violin at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, co-artistic director and founder of the Festival “Aigues-Vives en Musiques” in France and the International Bach Academy Eisenach in Germany.

Katrine Gislinge

Pianist Katrine Gislinge is one of Scandinavia’s most striking pianists, giving solo and chamber music concerts in most of Europe and in the US. Her interpretations are characterised by a trembling sensitivity, where every little detail in the music makes sense and gathers in a clear and forward-looking stream. Katrine Gislinge’s repertoire ranges from Bach to the newest music. In recent years, Katrine Gislinge has particularly distinguished herself as an interpreter of Mozart’s piano concertos. She has recorded several CDs for, among others, Deutsche Grammophon and, in 2014, an acclaimed CD for Danacord Records with music by Schumann and Per Nørgård, who dedicated one of the works to her.

Kristoffer Dolatko

Kristoffer Dolatko is a Polish violinist who, after moving to Denmark, became known for his extensive and successful educational work as a talent developer of young violinists and viola players. He has worked both at the music academy in Aarhus and at the city’s music school. Kristoffer also started his own private music school – Auerinstitutet and now works at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, an internationally sought-after boarding school. Dolatko has additional international assignments, including at the Astona summer academy, where he is assistant artistic director.

Foto: Olle Gustafsson

Lorenzo Soulès

The French pianist Lorenzo Soulès’ international career began in 2012, when he, aged 20, won 1^st prize in the prestigious Concours International de Genève. Since then he has been a regular guest at venues like the Royal Festival Hall in London, Tonhalle Zürich, National Concert Hall in Taipei, the Festival Messiaen au Pays de la Meije, the Aldeburgh Festival and the Klavierfestival Ruhr, where he has been involved in the festival’s Education Project since 2011. Born in Lyon, Lorenzo studied with Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich in Cologne, and between 2006 and 2009 also took lessons with Alicia de Larrocha, working on the complete Iberia cycle by Albeniz.

Louise Pollock

Louise Pollock is Principal trombone with the Gothenburg Opera in Sweden and faculty member at the Gothenburg University Academy of Music and Drama. A winner of the 1st Prize and Audience Prize at the International Aeolus Competition for Wind Instruments 2016 and the prestigious ”Stipendiat des Deutschen Musikrates” at the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb 2014. She has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Zürcher Kammerorchester, Opera Orchestra Gothenburg or the Duisburger Philharmoniker. Prior to Gothenburg she played with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker 3 years. She has apperared at the Tourbon Brass Festival, Bjergsted Brass Festival Stavanger and the International Trombone Festival. Louise studied at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg i.Br., Germany, with Branimir Slokar, where she received her BM with distinction. She then went on to study with Henning Wiegräbe at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart, Germany (MM).

Malin Broman

Malin Broman is much in demand as an artistic director, soloist and chamber musician. Born in Sweden, Malin completed her studies in London with David Takeno. A passionate chamber musician she has toured and recorded extensively for the last twenty years as a member of the Kungsbacka Piano Trio, Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble and Nash Ensemble of London. In 2008 Malin was appointed concertmaster of the Swedish Radio Orchestra. During ‘lock-down’ her YouTube video of Mendelssohn´s Octet, where Malin plays all eight parts, went viral. In 2019 she was awarded H.M the King’s medal for services to music.

Marko Ylönen

Marko Ylönen has occupied numerous roles in the course of his career. A regular soloist with most of the Finnish orchestras, Marko has also appeared with the Camerata Salzburg, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestras of Adelaide, Melbourne and Stavanger, and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. In chamber repertoire he has performed with many of the world’s greatest musicians, at festivals, in Finland and elsewhere. He has also reaped success in many Finnish and international competitions and recorded a large volume of staple and contemporary cello literature. Marko Ylönen was Artistic Director of the Korsholm Music Festival in 2003, 2008 and 2010–2012 and of the LuostoClassic Festival in 2014–2017. He has been Professor of chamber music at the Sibelius Academy since 2009.

Randi Krogvold Lundqvist

Randi Krogvold Lundqvist has a deep and versatile background as a musician and teacher, with a special focus on talent development. She is currently head of the wind department at Barratt Due Musikkinstitutt in Oslo and has for many years held the same position at Valdres sommersymfoni. Randi studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music, has worked in all the major Norwegian orchestras and performed at leading festivals in Norway and abroad.

Sigurbjorn Bernhardsson

Icelandic violinist “Sibbi” Bernhardsson joined the string faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio in 2017 after 17 years of performing with the Pacifica Quartet. He himself graduated from the same conservatory in 1995 and among his teachers were Almita och Roland Vamos. Before moving to Oberlin, Sibbi studied violin in Iceland with the legendary Guðný Guðmundsdóttir. He serves as director of the Cooper International Violin Competition at Oberlin and as the artistic director of Iceland’s Harpa International Music Academy.

Simon Crawford-Phillips

Simon Crawford-Phillips has built a unique career as a pianist, conductor and creative programmer. He has held positions as Chief Conductor of Västerås Sinfonietta and Conductor Fellow of the NDR Elbphilharmonie and in 2023 made a critically acclaimed debut with the Stockholm Royal Opera conducting Britten’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. As pianist in the Kungsbacka Piano Trio, Nash Ensemble, Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble and Colin Currie Group he has performed worldwide and made several recordings for BIS, Orchid, Hyperion and Deutsche Grammophon. Regular collaborators include Malin Broman, Daniel Hope, Pekka Kuusisto, Anne Sofie von Otter, Lawrence Power, Torleif Thedéen, the Elias String Quartet and Academy of St.Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble. He currently holds a teaching position at Gothenburg University and a Professorship at Mälardalen University.

Soon-Mi Chung Barratt-Due, violin and viola

Soon-Mi Chung Barratt-Due studied at the Paris Conservatoire and at courses in Gstaad and San Francisco. She was solo violinist with the Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra before becoming concertmaster of the same orchestra. A number of works were dedicated to her, including the Thommessen Viola Concerto. CD and TV recordings, festival appearances and soloist activities took her to the USA, Asia and most Central European countries. She teaches at the Barratt Due Music Institute in Oslo, where she teached, among others, Eivind Holtsmark Ringstad, winner of Eurovision Young Musicians 2012.

Toke Møldrup

Danish cellist Toke Møldrup has performed across Europe and the United States, South America, Australia, the Middle East and Asia for two decades. Møldrup has performed in venues such as Vienna’s Musikverein, Daiichi Seimei Hall in Tokyo and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. As a soloist, Møldrup has performed with Danish and international symphony orchestras and festivals. Due to his busy concert schedule and his position as a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Møldrup has recently left his position as principal cellist of the Copenhagen Philharmonic, one of Denmark’s top orchestras and famous for its inspirational and successful initiative to attract new audiences to the world of classical music. He is now continuing this important work as artistic director of the annual Svanekegaarden International Cello Masterclass.